Jun Honma: Waguri Mont-Blanc

Still trying to sort out the quite fine shops versus the exceptional shops, I ran to Jun Honma again. I didn't get turned around 180 degrees again, but I also didn't pick my route that well, so it took about the same time. Actually, coming back with cake took the same time, and I walked under Shinjuku as far as Isetan. Takes a couple hours total.

I went with the Waguri Mont-Blanc this time, very traditional. And it was very traditional tasting, so good but nothing special, so Jun Honma slips behind, giving a different shop a chance for the next day. I'll say that this had a sort of almond tart base, since besides using Japanese Chestnuts, the base classifies it within the Mont-Blanc family.

Jun Honma; Edo Matchi

Did a run out to Kouenji to visit the Jun Honma branch there, since it's closest. It was a longer run than necessary because I got turned around past Shinjuku Station and ended up heading back south and losing all my northern progress, though that was probably just a few minutes of running. Coming back, I didn't have trouble and actually walked from the west Shinjuku subway entrance to pass under the station, and then had shopping in Shinjuku (though that was it's own kind of exercise).

At Jun Honma, I got Edo Matchi, which is a traditional heavy (think, central/eastern Europe) layer cake with matcha, matcha ganache, chocolate, and some mandarin in there (I assume the sort of gelatin looking layers is matcha and fruit gelatin). I chose it thinking that chocolate and matcha is a good combination, but I didn't really have high expectations that it would be very exciting, based on the type and the previous two cakes from there. Certainly, it is not something that blows you away from the first bite, but it impresses over the full eating, so I can easily say that is excellent. It surprised me, though I expect most chefs to the bigger places to be able to make excellent cakes, just what I think is excellent is not necessary what sells well for them. Because of one early great cake that I've never seen again, they score high enough to challenge the bottom of the exceptional group, but now it's looking more like they have an actual chance of moving up. Of course, a different shop is at the top of the quite fine shops, but they are closed Tuesdays and there is room for two to be promoted, so Jun Honma got their chance, and did well. One nice thing about them is that they are open until 21:00, so even if they are little far and getting past Shinjuku Station takes time, there was a pretty good selection.

Jun Honma: Bois de la Cambre/Cambre no Mori

Hitting a maybe quite good shop that's come back into consideration now that I'm penalizing shops less for less than excellent cakes (this is the third and the second was just ok), focusing on the potential for great cakes (which the first one seemed at the time, but I've never seen it since). I went for Cambre no Mori (or Bois de la Cambre, depending on how much of the Japanese you want to translate into French), name for the Belgian park. My reasoning was that the cake that I liked from them had orange and this looked solid enough to travel well by bicycle, which it certainly was. It's a chocolate on top of an orange tart. Actually, it's pretty much chocolate fudge to the point of the chocolate being slightly grainy, presumably from sugar crystals, which is a new experience for me in Japan. This seems like it wouldn't be out of place in a family restaurant or dinner, and it would be a pretty good choice, because it's good at what it does, but it's amazingly crude in aims for a patisserie cake, so I sort of just have to shake my head at it and laugh. It seems very mom and pop's style, but actually this is a branch shop of a shop further along the same train line, and they also have a workshop a little south, so it's all by design. As I said, it was good, and I can laugh at it, so I'm not disappointed really. It's fun to have something from a different kind of shop, but definitely not the kind of shop I'm usually look for, since I'd like something more sophisticated (especially at regular patisserie prices).

Friday: Jun Honma (Isetan) and racing shoes

Since the last cake from P. Jun Honma was great (although not exciting), I returned to Isetan for another piece of cake, this time Majestic for 550 yen.

The run was intended to be a short run, but I wanted to use the racing rather than thick novice shoes, which I have not used since my injury. First, I ran down to the start point of the Gaien loop course (the course has a start/end marker at the south point and 100 meter tiles, which I was not making much use of when I timed from the entry point at the northwest point): a moderate 9'03'' for 1.5 km. I did just two laps, from there, focusing on keeping my pace fast but stride short. To avoid dragging/swinging my right leg around, I tried to focus on bringing the right heel down and rolling off it. Also, I checked my time at the 500 m and 1000 m markers to make sure I was keeping my target speed. I had set up my timer to ring every 36 s but didn't use it (since the track is 1325, it would not have stayed in sync after the first lap anyway). Just two laps at a moderate speed taking 7'49''.33 and 7'46''.40 left me tired; yup, I've lost some muscle. Continuing back around before, and I thought trying less hard (but maybe that meant longer stride despite the slower pace) was 1.62 km in 9'25''24, which is actually fast; don't remember why now. So the today was 1.6 km fast and 4.1 km moderate.

The cake struck me as only good at the time, but I've downgraded that to okay later because ultimately it really made me want to have great cake, which is a bad sign. It is another chocolate mousse, this time with caramel crème brûlée. Like the orange cake, this was pretty unexciting and the basic flavors did not really add up to something worthwhile to me. Not bad or poorly made, but not something that I need. Sorry about the picture; guess the auto-focus or something failed. That's toasted puffed rice, maybe, covered in caramel, on top.

I got these last Thursday and have been trying them, just to explore what else the sweets section of Isetan has to offer. This is from the Yokohama Francais counter. I suppose should show what they look unwrapped, but I don't need three photos of them and I've only eaten one a day. The three flavors in this set, "Mille feuille", of six are chocolate, which was excellent, caramel, which was okay or good, and gianduja、which was at least good. "Gianduja" was a term I did not know for a mixture of chocolate and hazelnut. I've had what looked like chocolate but tasted like this and had not known what the weird flavor was and wondered if it had gone bad. This is the first I've finally "gotten" it. I think sometimes I mistake this taste for coffee, but the nuttiness is definitely there. This set is about 600 yen, about the price of a piece of cake, but can be stretched to six servings. Not sorry I tried it, but it's not going to replace cake in my life.

(P.) Jun Honma (at Isetan): Orange Noisette

Got cake from the visiting Jun Honma, since I've never blogged them, although I've had their cake before and visited their store at some point, I think. Since I did fast running last time, which I did not do last week, I kept it slow today: 4.3 km in 26'51'', which is 6.24 min/km, going out to the Akasaka Nikunohanamasa to get nuts (mostly roasted peanuts, but some almonds). Coming with my pack stuffed with nuts (it's not a big bag, but I had more than 1.5 kg) took 29'31'', which is a very slow 6.87 min/km. I don't want to make the mistake of running too much during the week, so Friday I'm thinking 8.3 km would be ideal, since that would give me 30 km for weekdays. Fast would be bad, but some moderate running would be okay. I'll probably get cake from Jun Honma again, so maybe I'll join the mob running around the Gaien loop. Less than 11 days until the Tokyo Marathon.

Today's cake was an oddly named Orange Noisette, for 460 yen. Well, not so odd, because it does have a little orange inside and there is a hazelnut on top, and I assume hazelnut is involved elsewhere, but mostly it is the standard chocolate mousse dome with a centimeter disk of Bavarian cream (?) inside, right above a couple millimeters of orange. The taste was very smooth and well blended (I don't mind the white chocolate, either), so I can imagine that the secret is how the hazelnuts are used, unless they are just involved in the couple millimeters of sponge base. Anyway, it is chocolate without being overpowering, watery, or anything else chocolate mousse cakes are prone to. I'm reminded of the ice cream-like mousse cakes that I have had, but this doesn't go that far in richness or sugar, which I appreciate. So it's doing something right, and I'll say that it is great and that Jun Honma is worthy of special attention. Since they are out of easy jogging range, I'll take advantage of them while they are at Isetan at least one more time (as I try to bring up all the "worthy" shops to 2 cakes before needing to get back to "great" shops).