Dalloyau, Chou Cubique Fraise

Continue on about last Saturday, after Midtown, the next cake stop was Ginza Mitsukoshi, where I wanted to get a cake from Dalloyau. Actually, the cake I wanted was not there, but the overall goal was just to get a new cake, so got their Chou Cubique Fraise, if I've got that right. I worried more about the pastry versus a normal cream puff, but it was fine. Too much fruit in the custard for my tastes, though, even if it was good fruit, making a good cake. 

Dalloyau, L'Isolent Fraise

Catching up, last Sunday evening, I walked over to Dalloyau for a new cake and could. I got their L'Isolent Fraise (I assume from the phenetic Japanese). The macaron is rusk, I think, and the cream is coconut cream, which are both fine. This ended up being definitely good, certainly as good as I expected and good enough that I need to hit them again, since I let myself get behind in keeping them up with Sadaharu Aoki.

Cake-off: Lenôtre's Feuille d'Automne Rouge over Dalloyau's Trois Chocolat

Did a cake-off on Saturday with the newly returned Feuille d'Automne Rouge by Lenôtre and Dalloyau's Trois Chocolat, which is also a recent try (this having replaced the old similar chocolate cake). This was a second-round cake-off, with both having lost their first round. In this case, the Feuille d'Automne Rouge is definitely an unsubtle appeal to my sweet tooth, the same as the regular Feuille d'Automne, with chocolate cake and (straight baked) meringue inside a lot of decoration chocolate, only with raspberry sauce inside (I'm not sure whether the outside color reflects flavoring). That said, raspberry is a strong flavor, so this could go wrong, but it doesn't. Trois Chocolat is great in being an ideal light chocolate cake for me, but that isn't my first choice, so Lenôtre gets the win, though their cake is pretty messy to eat, as these types always are. 

Just running to Ginza to score both of those wasn't much, so after bring them back, I went out another two hours. I had used up my Odakyu coupons, but still had points that expire this year, so I used them to get a Pain au Chocolat from Pompadour, but it was just competently good.  I won't both to include the photo. I also got a first sample from a shop (really a food truck) in the Omotesando/Harajuku area. This is the Omote-Sando area exclusive Tokyo Honey and Pepper, I think, and is a cream cheese sandwich, basically mini cheesecake. It is excellent for what it is, but the pepper wasn't really in a noticeable amount. 

I also hit various café and have added quite a few places that I should try to cake from that are already territories included in at least the main sites part of my new neighborhood running courses (which I haven't been using much lately), so I want to visit them before deciding on the final neighborhood cake route and was out in an evening run that includes ones I forgot and visited Picard, which has a lot of expensive desserts on special for Christmas, which I don't really trust. Besides, I still have something from there I haven't tried in the freezer, so I should get around to baking that his Friday, maybe.

Dalloyau: Coccinelle

I'm leading with the cake from Wednesday, when I reached my cake limit for the week. This is Coccinelle, which is French for the obvious. It is not a mousse dome, but rather than chocolate cake around chocolate and vanilla cream. It's good, in a basic way, but really you're paying for the the design, which is not what I want cake for. This drops Dalloyau down low enough that it's definitely hot challenging Sadaharu Aoki any more, though it will again unless Sadaharu Aoki can get a great cake first.

On Tuesday, I got out early enough to visit a new place on my (new) neighborhood routes: Kitasandou Coffee. I don't drink coffee, but they advertised sweets, so I got a Florentin Fruit, which is more confection than cookie, if that makes sense. Anyway, very high sugar. It was good, though.

Dalloyau, Triangle Citron

The other cake I got last Sunday, also at Ginza Mitsukoshi, was Triangle Citron. According to the brief description on Facebook, it's lemon mousse, solidified, which I guess is possible, though mousse and solidified doesn't really go together in my mind. Anyway, the resulting texture is not so exciting and lemon mousse by itself is apparently really weak, so I can't recommend this cake for anyone. It doesn't taste bad (so it's okay), but I regret eating it, much less buying it. Still, Dalloyau had one great cake recently, just is enough to give them one more chance to stay in play for promotion.

Dalloyau, Fromage Frais

The other cake I got while I was a Mitsukoshi on Saturday as a cake from a challenger to the quite superb category, Dalloyau. Of course, they are an old shop depending on a reputation from a few years back, but they are getting their chance to make their mark again. The old main cheesecake (at least excellent) was retired and replaced by Fromage Frais. Unfortunately, the freshness doesn't really come through enough to make up for the general blandness. It is good, but in keeping with the cakes that have kept me away in recent years.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Addiction over Dalloyau's Trois Chocolat

Not a lot to say. I did some neighborhood running in the afternoon, working on a new major park route as far as north Sendagaya. Not that many parks qualify, but it takes me to some neighborhoods that the cake shop route doesn't and takes a different path. In the evening, I ran to Ginza Mitsukoshi and despite the late hour managed to score cakes for a cake with the seasonal cake Addiction by Frédéric Cassel and the newly confirmed replacement standard chocolate cake from Dalloyau, Trois Chocolat. I say confirmed, because just because their own standard was great doesn't mean the new version has to be, but it was and I still felt it in this cake-off. However, Addiction is much more attractive, as well as being one of the few tropical cakes that I think is great (PS has one, but it's dropped off the line-up, despite being featured on the cover of a book). Unfortunately, I don't have another first-round winner to test Addiction against right now. I'll just have to hope for a couple more great cakes to come along. I do now have two standard line-up first-round losers, so if I get another seasonal cake like that, I'll be ready. Otherwise, I'll hold off for awhile before I revisit them, since they are both from this year.

Dalloyau, Trois Chocolat

Wednesday July 1st was the only weekend new cake, and even that was somewhat of a cheat. SA has been introducing a lot of new cakes that don't really match their classics and slipped enough that it was Dalloyau's chance to challenge, based on several good cakes from years ago, before who ever is in charge now. Anyway, Dalloyau got a new cake, which was Trois Chocolat. Now, other than the name and design on top, it might be exactly the same as the old L'Echiquier, which was great, though never won a cake-off in two rounds. This was also great, as a creamy milk chocolate cake. This is enough to put it at the top of the superb shops and maintain it's challenge of Sadaharu Aoki. Sneaky, but successful, and I'm happy to finally have a stable new great cake for cake-offs.

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours' Rhum Raisin over Dalloyau's Croquant Fraise

Monday, I did a cake-off with what I could get together on a Monday afternoon. I first picked up Éclat des Jours' Rhum Raison on the way back from the airport. I was thinking that I could get a cake from BE, but they were closed down for walk-in cake for weekdays (which they had announced and I forgot), so I ended up cruising south in the late afternoon searching for a matching cake. I had to try two more shops, but found Croquant Fraise at the Jiyuugaoka Dalloyau. This was for a 4th-round cake-off for two wins to one loss. However, as it happens, these are both rather weak entries to the great list, or at least the Rhum Raisin failed to impress me last time as deserving to be among the greats, so it needed recognition this time to stay. It got it: I appreciated its simplicity and how filled a niche. The Croquant Fraise also fills a niche, being an excellent balance of tastes and textures, except I should remove the croquant part as early as possible, because it tends to soak up moisture too quickly as take-out. I actually had more trouble with that the previous time (now I remember), but the Rhum Raisin has the edge regardless. I maintain my respect for both these cakes. 

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Tan Gram over En Vedette's En Vedette

Monday, which was a holiday, after a morning appointment which ran late, I went out around noon to try to gather cakes for a cake-off. The main target was Frédéric Cassel's Tan Gram which is a standard that I wasn't too worried about having to be early for, but I've had experience coming too late for En Vedette's signature cake, so I had a back-up in mind in the same direction. Also, it seems seems to be on rainy days that I've going to En Vedette, although Monday was relative light.

I stopped early or snack at a future neighborhood course site, Chez Kazama, out in Ichiban-chou neighborhood in Chiyoda-ku and got a Croissant d'Almonde. It was good, and had some almond paste inside, plus the powered sugar on the outside to give it sweet kick, but dry for my taste, though perhaps not really for the type. Part of my review of pastries is turning out to be a review of what type I should be targeting. Later, I got a regular Croissant (not shown) from Dalloyau (at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi), who I once thought great croissants. Note sure whether they changed (they have a lot since then) or just my perception but, while definitely good, it was not extraordinary as a baked item, being more bready than I expected.

I was successful at getting En Vedette from said store, and took the train to Ginza to get the Tan Gram and took them home to chill. Meanwhile, after a half-lunch, I went out to do neighborhood course loops in Sengadaya that I had updated. I was successful, but since revised one loop. That took about an hour (including taking photos of three sites).

The result of the cake off was a win for Tan Gram. Unfortunately, En Vedette, with it's rum, doesn't pair with everything, so the choice of green tea (which goes with chocolate fine) maybe didn't match well. Still, two great cakes.

Cake-off: Au Bon Vieux Temps' Marjolaine over Dalloyau's Croquant Fraise

It was a busy day. First, I ran to Jiyuuoka and got my favorite (still available) cake from Dalloyau, Croquant Fraise, and then continued two more stations distance and got Marjolaine from Au Bon Vieux Temps to have a third-round cake-off with two undefeated cakes. I'm not going to get through all the third rounds this year, I think, so I'm prioritizing to at least staying caught up, in terms of month, on the top winners. Next week I can do a pair one-and-one shops for August cakes.

I came back by train and had a half-lunch before going out by bicycle to try to learn what had been the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Komaba--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Oohara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop when I ran it, but might need a name change when I finish renewing it. I've had to split off about one third of it as separate loops, as I add shops or notice inconsistencies. In 3 hours, I could do about half, checking out new shops or routes and trying to follow the old route, which I've never known. I may never get this loop, so I'll probably alternate with other more reasonable loops.

The result of the cake-off was that Au Bon Vieux Temps' Marjolaine is perhaps a perfectly executed traditional cake that is nutty, creamy, and not too sweet. I'm less excited about other traditional cakes, but this was is rich and flavorful enough to satisfy me. The Croquant Fraise lost some of its croquant, in that the crunch decoration wilted over time (it should be sticking up behind the strawberry). Seven hours is a long time to wait, but then sell it over a longer period of time. I'm now trying to adjust my handling to un-box cakes when I get them home. The drawer I put them is much smaller than their regular showcase but should be better than just the box. Sorry Dalloyau. I'll try to treat you better next year. (They still have a non-baked cheesecake in line for a third-round, but it lost the first two rounds and I wouldn't surprised if I drop it from the greats list after the next round.)

In the evening, I went out to do neighborhood run down in the Azabu area again. Note sure whether I was wrong about Friday and this was the night I got the Azabu-Dai--Azabu-Mamiana-chou--Higashi-Azabu loop clockwise or what the deal was. I can't think how I would mess it up once, but I'm missing a try somewhere. As I wrote for Friday, the next loop south is still under construction, so even if I got it correct (which I think I did), the course itself was wrong, so no advancement. Southwest of that is the Minami-Azabu west loop, since is a little over 3 km, but I really don't know that one, so I didn't even try to do it without consulting the map. It seems to leave out a correct I thought I had already made to avoid a traffic light, so I adjusted it, but then found a bakery cafe in a hotel, so I adjust it again. Also, there is a tiny path of the main road that looking down it doesn't really resolve whether it is correct to go back a little green space squeezed between apartment buildings.

I went through a lot of Calorie Mate packets (800 kcal worth). I'd like to eat better things or lose a little more weight, but after 1 hour running, I need some energy to keep my immune system sharp, so I watch my time and take care of myself.

Paris S'éveille: Menton

Sunday, I finally got, by bicycle, the new cake at Paris S'éveille, the Menton. They were busy to the point of asking someone to wait outside, but the tables were not full, so I could eat in. This is a very light lemon cake. The top is lemon flavored milk foam, but the inside is a very dry, very aerie meringue (or something similar) with space for some more lemon (compote or something; I still don't have those kinds of things straight in my head), but nothing to overpower the milk foam, so fairly milk tasting. I'm into stronger cakes, but can allow that this was excellent.

Afterward, I went to Dalloyau. I hadn't had any pastries the previous week, so I decided to make up for it by having my first pastry-off. My favorite shop for pastry is Fraoula, so I was looking for a match for their Croissant d'Almonde. I was open for an orange pastry, but Dalloyau didn't seem to know what I was talking about. My previous pastry purchases were mainly from the Mitsukoshi counter, and there may have been changes since the Ginza shop was closed. The other great pastry I've had from Dalloyau is their Croissant, which I've had more than once. But when I tried it this time, it seemed rather ordinary. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it was excellent, so Fraoula wins the first pastry-off. There is no reward other than staying on the extremely short list of great pastries.

On the way, I ventured to grab a few pictures of sites along planned future parts of the neighborhood course. Hadn't known about this school/restaurant? They have a Tabelog entry, but there is only one comment, from 6 years ago, and no pictures, which I've never encountered. The homepage link gives an error message in Chinese and the Facebook page posts are from 2014. Maybe it really is just someone's house now.

Sadaharu Aoki, Saint-marc Praliné

Jogged to Sadaharu Aoki in Marunouchi for a new cake. Unfortunately, too late for the Baba (I hope I understood right, that they weren't just sold out, it had ended its run). Guess I was too slow. The next new thing is a variety pack of little pieces of other cakes, which doesn't interest me, unless someone visits and I want to give them a sample. However, the main shop in Marunouchi also has Saint-marc Praliné, which I had only had a little of before, not enough to give a fair evaluation.

I also went to Ginza Mitsukoshi to make sure JPH hadn't stuck something into their line-up (since I don't have another good source for information), which they hann't but I got the little Boulette au Marron from Dalloyau again because I thought I didn't give it a fair evaluation before. The problem before was that I put it on top of my cake box for the trip back. I didn't keep it there, but pastries need to be warm and I didn't do anything to heat it back up. I tried it again, eating it as I crossed back west underground to Hibiya Park (I continued walking the entire way home, as Sadaharu Aoki boxes are too unstable to run with, being basically just big enough and in the same shape as their cakes), and I'm willing to change the rating of it to excellent.

The Saint-marc Praliné is subtle, which saint-mark usually are, but they could have gone heavy with the praliné, but didn't. It pretty much took until the last bite to decide that was great (i.e., I definitely want to have it again). I wonder, though, whether there was maple in the top caramel layer or that was harmonization. In any case, happy to find another great cake, even if it's not one that I'll see much after it's gone (I'm not sure whether it will continue through December or March, but I think it started this year as the exclusive Marunouchi cake and will have a one-year run). I don't feel in a huge hurry to do a cake-off with it, so I'll stick with the Mont-Blanc from Ryoura for the next one, but I should get to it next month, if I can find another great cake to pair it against.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Longchamp Feuilleté

Sunday, I went out a couple more hours by bicycle and picked up photos a new missed places in otherwise finished maps and corrected an order for cake for Tuesday (I keep forgetting to check what I've had before). Then I went out and got Longchamp Feuilleté from Jean-Paul Hévin at Ginza Mitsukoshi. Also, I saw a new pastry a Dalloyau, Boule de Marron I think they were calling it, so I had to get that. On the way to my actual necessary errand for being in the Tokyo Station area, I swung by Toshi Yoroizuka and happily saw that they had a great cake from 2015 in the line-up (and claimed that it would stay in the line-up for the season, i.e., until December), so now I know what I want to do for a cake-off next weekend. I'll have four chances to find something else great, otherwise I'll be running to Ryoura on Saturday, take the train back, and run to maybe to Tokyo Midtown (which is closer than Kyoubashi, where I went today).

Today's cake was fill of good things that I like, dark chocolate mousse and both almond meringue and feuilleté, though the latter made it tend to break up into small chunks, which is a little awkward using a tiny cake fork. Maybe I should use a spoon. I still haven't found a sharp table knife for cutting cake (I assume sharp would be better than a serrated blade). It was excellent cake, though I've rating other of the similar cakes higher; it could be I'm spoiled now or just I liked the simpler versions (I think they were simpler).

The Boule de Marron seemed deflated in that there did not seem to be enough pastry for the amount of chestnut, at least for me, though I'm sure more people would complain if they were cheap with the chestnut. Still, it was good, but it reminds me that I want to get to Clair de Lune again, I hope Wednesday of this week, though for cake this time, not pastry, though a pastry from there on Sunday wouldn't go wrong.

Don't really need my camera in super-wide mode for cake, but I think I've already fixed that now.

Bien-être, Chou à la Crème

Thursday, I went to F. Cassel again, but again failed to find their Chou à la Crème and settled for a ninth pastry from Dalloyau, this time the Danish/Pastry à la Crème (I need to go back to figure out which it was in the Latin character version of the name), which had the Japanese name Custard Danish, I think. This is quite substatial, more than many cakes. From the beginning, there was no doubt that it was good quality, but I wasn't actually that interested in eating so much custard, so it was a slog by halfway through, as it's a big pastry (sorry, no sense of scale in the picture, but I would say that it was a little wider than my hand is) and the custard was almost 2 cm thick. And yet, because there was so much of it, in the end, I had to concede that this was excellent and that the custard was excellent and distinctive from custard that one would find in, for example, a Chou à la Crème. Fitting for a pastry, this custard had a buttery or butterscotch accent. So, I seem to be learning to respect custard more.

On that note, on Friday, when I went to Bien-être for cake (an iffy proposition anywhere after work on a Friday), I chose the Chou à la Crème over the melon (?) shortcake. In keeping with counting this as cake, I eat pieces after cutting it with a sharp knife (which makes a different for the texture). And this was also excellent, with its different kind of pastry crust and different kind of custard than the previous day (also smaller and cheaper).

Satsuki: Tokyo Super Cheesecake

Monday, I tried again for the cream puff of F. Cassel at Mitsukoshi but no luck (of course, I could probably pre-order, but where's the sport in that), so instead I got the one available new pastry from Dalloyau, the Belle des Pommes (I'm assuming). This has apple and butter [update: no it was custard, just it was diluted by apple juice maybe], perhaps (I didn't notice the latter until the end) inside a flower/bell-shaped pastry. Actually, I put this in my bag and squished it, but it opened up again without much difficulty, so I certainly approve of the structure. In some ways, it seems simpler than other standard pastries, but it achieved it's goal and I can say that it was excellent.

On Tuesday, I caught the headliner (of this post), Satsuki, who was visiting Isetan (not that they are very far away, between Yotsuya Sta. and Akasaka Mitsuke Sta). They are extremely famous, but not for anything that I'm impresses me. Still, I've reached the point where I want to give second chances to good shops that visit Isetan, so I did. This time I got the Tokyo Super Cheesecake. The dirth of cheese makes it super, apparently, which is to say, this is the kind of cheesecake with lots of flour, so it's a cheese-flavored cake. Though not what I want in cheesecake, it is consistent with their line of fruit short cakes (this too had fruit inside, fig) and I enjoyed it, as it was dinitely good, but I'm not likely to get back to them soon, which is just as well given the prices (I stayed away from the high-end ones, which use high-end brand fruit).

P. Ikeda: Cassiser

Tuesday, I went to Shinjuku Takashimaya looking for something different and got a cake from Patisserie Ikeda via the Patisseieria, which may be their only Tokyo distributor. They count as a neighborhood cake shop, so I felt obligated to try them, though nothing looked very appealing. Maybe I should have gone with cheesecake again, but I choose Cassiser, or at least that is my guess at the spelling, if there is a French spelling. It's cassis mousse and cherry custard cream. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, it was not any better than it looked. Not that it tasted bad, it was ok, but what seemed like a not very good idea was not improved by the execution, though I'm not an audience for the this cake, so this shop and its cake might be fine for someone else.

Exercise was about an hour of riding over the more extreme parts of yesterday's shadowing of the east Yotsuka neighborhood course, though in the reverse direction (so the worst slope I could do going up), plus one lap around Akasaka Palace Grounds. Then it was push-ups at home.

Wednesday, I cycled again, toward Ginza, stopping by P. Shima to verify that they still had the same pastries that I've tried previously, which they do. At Ginza Mitsukoshi, I tried again and failed to get the basic cream puff from F. Cassel (sold out), and instead got a couple Mini Pain aux Raisins from Dalloyau. Even perhaps a little not fresh at the end of the day, they were excellent.

Dalloyau: Chausson aux Pommes

Last Friday, wanted to get a pastry from Dalloyau, which is my top pastry shop, at least based on my limited data. I started by going to Ginza Mitsukoshi, but they were sold out, so I swung down to the Meguro Stn. Dalloyau and picked up the Chausson aux Pommes. This was all cycling, of course. Probably no running through June. It was late, though, so everything was already bagged, which means soft. Really, I want my pastries crispy, but I'm not sure how crisp it can be with apple filling anyway. It was good, but not really beyond that. There's a reason (besides cost) why I usually start simpler.

Dalloyau: Fromage Brulée

Finally got to that 20-kilometer run using the memorized kilometer points to see about doing 7 min kilometers for a long distance along my neighborhood map. Not that this was that long, but it was the next step. The first couple kilometers were perhaps too fast, around 6'10'' each, but that part is completely flat and the next kilometer, for example, has a few flights up of stairs up and a couple down, as well as an uneven park with some steps to cut through and a somewhat steep slope, so it was close to 6'50'''. Things settled close to 7' after the first several kilometers, so I was going too fast on average for the first part, but I actually went over a little three kilometers in a row around the 15th segment, so I'll probably have to expend some effort to go farther. Anyway, I didn't have trouble meeting my goal for 20 kilometers, but it doesn't seem a waste of time to do 30 km first before trying 40 km. First, though, I'll need to make a few more kilometer markers and memorize the next 30, which means I'll have to confirm the route through Yoyogi before getting back to confirming the new long loop through Akasaka and Roppongi that I was working on last week.

After the 20 km, I ran and walked over to the main Toukyuu Dept. Store in Shibuya. I also need to confirm the part of the map over there, some time, which I did a little of today for a new part that includes the department store and Viron across the street, which was good. I hadn't realized that I could connect that up by continuous neighborhood running. The main interest at Toukyuu is the Dalloyau. They did not have any that haven't see at Ginza Mitsukoshi, but they much more convenient today. As planned, I went with their Fromage Brulée, which is tiny, but that's fine; it's also proportionately priced. Like their Fromage Cru, this was excellent, being sort of an ideal baked (in this case) cheesecake along the lines that I would expect to make with a simple recipe, if my simple recipe actually worked perfectly. Maybe the thickness is important, as this is very thick.

Cake-off: Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille over Dalloyau's Fromage Cru

Let me first say that there was a good deal of running Friday night, when the desert was a Croissant from Le Pain Quotidien at Tokyo Midtown. As the shop name suggests, this is more of a bakery, with really only this croissant and a pricey apricot (?) tart to count as pastries. The croissant was good, but very bready, even as croissants go, so not really what I'm looking for. The run was exploring loops of my neighborhood course in Roppongi, where I encountered more missing roads (relative to my interpretation of Google Maps). On the plus side, now that I've decided that pedestrian underpasses are allowable, I found a way across a main street and have merged three Roppongi loops and some of the old links to make a shorter simpler map. The little part just north of the US Embassy remains it's own loop, which I still haven't practiced yet. This is all expanding one side of the Tokyo neighborhood map.

Woke up early and hungry Saturday morning, so I got up despite not having had enough sleep. This time, I went and explored Yoyogi, taking lots of pictures, which I've added to the map. This is the other (East) side of the neighborhood map, specifically the north or counterclockwise end that I'm trying to expand. There is lots more on the southeast end, so its too big a puzzle to figure out the optimal course covering everything all at once. I left off Yoyogi and headed down to Dalloyau for Fromage Cru, stopping at a shop along the way to catch that a cake for next week was still in the line-up, which it was. From Dalloyau, I came back by train and got Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille.

Both of these are losers from the first round but good enough to stay in. Also, these are pretty early in the list, so my criterion has evolved. At this point, though still excellent, the Fromage Cru is just too basic a rare cheese cake to get me excited. I'm more into double forms, with a rare layer and a baked layer, and this particular cheese flavor is good by not so special that I need it again regular. Still, I don't want to bump it down from Great based on one review, so it should make at least one more appearance. Tarte Infiniment Vanille still remains an exemplary tart and example of a "cake" with vanilla as the prominent flavor, so it's easier for me to recognize this as a great, despite my strong chocolate bias.