Atelier Kohta, Shortcake and Tarte Tatin

After verifying that Pierre Gagnaire wasn't going to give me a new cake Wednesday morning, I walked and ran with an umbrella down to Paris S'éveille Thursday morning (this time taking half-day off work), which hasn't changed it's new cakes, though the recent new cakes are excellent. I came back by train to Atelier Kohta, but I went to the wrong location and had another 1.5 km to walk, plus it isn't close to the station I wanted to come back, so maybe half that again, besides the final walk, so I had an active morning. 

I actually owed them for a cake-off, plus the whole category is about to get reviewed, so I got two cakes to be efficient. Actually, there wasn't much choice, though there was also a tiny tart that I suppose would count as a cake. When I got was the Shortcake and the Tarte Tatan. I've learned to appreciate shortcake, and I guess I was in the mood for whipped cream, as I decided that it deserved an excellent rating.

The Tarte Tatin had so much cinnamon on top, that I could really see how to eat it to balance that out without a lot of drink, but I don't want to rate it too low, because I accidently left it out on the counter for a few hours (and put it back for a couple hours before eating), so it obviously wasn't in peak condition. Still, I can't see how that would change my appreciation of the amount of cinnamon, so I'm going to rate it as good, which sort of balances out the first. This shop should remain in the quite fine category, I think.

Atelier Kohta: Mont-Blanc

In response to their winning a round of cake-off, I finally got back to Atelier. My best option for a new cake was Mont-Blanc, again, for 470 yen. This one was definitely good. It's a chestnut on top, French chestnut paste which was sweeter than average (reminding me of frosting), rum-flavored cream, which was good, on a nice almond tart. I was happy with it, but did not find it special (besides being sweet, which does not impress me, even if it appeals to my sweet tooth). Still a fairly good shop.

The run was fine. I seem to have been slow lately, so I tried to push it a little harder and averaged 11 km/h going out and 10 km/h coming back, for only about 6 km total. I don't have any short runs for next week's weekday runs, so I might only be able to reach one new shop, due to running budget constraints (104 km at 12 km/h is expected to be the maximum for 7 days) unless I take a rest day, which might happen just from spring weather.

Cake-off: Classic Chocolat over Rhône-Alpes

Yesterday, I tried to catch Plaisir at home, which is apparently impossible. Since I was so close, I tried La Base Secrète du GAMIN and found out that Wednesday was its closed day, which is good to know and information that was not available from my other sources. I chose to swing back through Hikarie at Shibuya Station for research purposes rather than go somewhere new for cake, such as Lui's cafe. About 16 km at 10 km/h. So that left me down one cake, meaning today I could do cake-off.

I thought I was going to get cake at Jean-Paul Hévin, but apparently White Day rules still apply and there was a huge line at Isetan. Since I already reserved a Classic Chocolate from Atelier Kohta and needed to get it by 8 pm, I didn't stick around. Instead, I went to Amitié, which is within 400 m of Atelier Kohta, and got the Rhône-Alpes and took both home before going out again for some non-cake errands (well, mainly I needed a new fastener for my running backpack, which is related to cake). Another 10 km at almost exactly 10 km/h average, despite the kills and cake-running.

These were both cakes from small shops that I've not visited so much but made a strong impression at the time. I've had a lot of chocolate cakes since then, though, so maybe I wouldn't rate either as great now, but they are still definitely excellent. The Classic Chocolate has layers of chocolate whipped cream, as well as the whipped cream on top between chocolate biscuit, whereas the Rhône-Alpes has meringue tubes on top which, I still think are nice, and ganache, maybe, between thicker biscuit layers, . But I have to give this match to the Classic Chocolate: I'm warming to whipped cream over time. Actually, I've only had one other cake from Atelier Kohta, so a third cake would level it up with it's neighbor Amitié, which I'm not quite ready to drop from the excellent list, although it probably will end up sliding down to a quite good list eventually, when I get around to needing that. All depends on several newer shops, of course.

Le Coin Vert: Fortissima

Back for a second cake at Le Coin Vert finally. This time, I went with the Fortissima for 617 yen. This is a dense chocolate cake with rum and did not work for me. The type was very familiar, but it's not sweet, it's not creamy, and there is not a lot of taste, just a sort of "watery" chocolate, and rum (which I'm fine with). That makes it sound less good than it was, but that's my interpretation if this kind of chocolate taste, which is actually quite common, so presumably intentional. So far, I've yet to learn to like this taste. I'm going to rate this "okay", at least for me, and take Le Coin Vert off the possibly excellent list. Shame, because it's nearby.

On the plus side, I had no residual problems from yesterday's long walk, and I walked faster today and again no problems. Actually, my goal was a relaxed walk, compared to yesterday's deliverately slow, controlled walk, but today I often slid into my more usual higher paced walk but with no problems. Still think I should hold off on running, because I can't say that I've been problem-free for a week, but I'm hoping twinges have been due to lack of use rather than remaining inflammation from over-use, since pain is tricky that way I've heard (from professionals) and experience, especially with my back. So I'll hold off on running (and cycling) a few more days and keep raising the level of walking and see how that goes. There have been a lot of disappointments so far, so I don't want to rush things. It's obviously going to take several months to train back up, so another week is not going to matter much.

Today was a big 2 km run toward (P.) Le Coin Vert (Kagaruazaka Tokyo) attached to The Agnes Hotel and Apartments Tokyo. The first kilometer was no problem, which is an improvement, though that might just reflect running first thing in the morning rather than after work. Last week's Wednesday 1 km was long and difficult. The Friday one was a little uncomfortable but mostly okay. Today, the end was a little uncomfortable, but not as bad. However, I decided to walk the rest of the way and then walk another 1.5 kilometer to Kitonomaru Park, which was too much. Fortunately, cake cool packs are dual purpose.

The cake was Renard for 500 yen, same as the cake I had recently from Avranches Guesnay. This is caramel mousse with hazelnut. I didn't actually remember what the previous one tasted like or its construction, but I write these things down, so I'm reminded now and know that I like the structure of this one better: I don't like an anchor lump in my mousse cake. This had a flat base with no surprises. I had hard a hard time deciding that it was excellent, but decided that it was and that I definitely want to follow up on this, so that might be where I go next Sunday. I might even make it there just running (although not back again).

As yesterday, I tried to survey some new potential targets added to the map from Sweet Sonobe and had much more luck. I had to walk some distance anyway to get to a train station, so I figured I might as well try before taking the train home, as I decided was the best plan. As it happened, my knee gradual improved so I was not having any problems by the time I got home. First was Palace Hotel Sweets & Deli, which is in the basement shop area. Lots of hotels have cake shops, and I've haven't found one that was especially good yet, so without a recommendation, I wouldn't bother, but this is in a fairly convenient area, so I should look into it, especially now, when my range is limited.

Next, I went to find Chocolatier Palet D'or in the Shin-Marunouchi Building. Actually, I've looked in here before and saw that they have expensive cakes, but I'll actually plan to visit now. On the basement level are igrekplus, which I've tried to visit in Kobe but found them close (Sannomiya) or without cake (across from Kitano Hotel), so I suppose I should try there, and 14 Julliet Tokyo, which looks okay, so I might as well add it as well.

Lastly, I went down to Marunouchi Brick Square to see Echiré Maison du Beurre, where there was a line (controlled by whatever you call those poles and ribbons that are used to define queues) but also mille-feuille, as promised. I also noticed that La Boutique de Joel Robuchon there has cake, so it goes on the map too.

Amitié: Fraise Fraiche

Rainy evening, but didn't go far, just Amitié around Kagurazaka. Ate in, and let the rain thin out. Not many choices today, though. I asked for a recommendation, so I choose the Fraise Fraîche, which is strawberry short cake. I'm not that into strawberry short cake, but it was good and I was okay with it as a change. At only 390 yen, it's a good deal, but still, I need cake I like better to keep me running. I'm tempted to just call this a normal shop, but I'll keep it on the "of interest" list. I still haven't found a course I want to take to get there, though.

Short run to Amitié: Rhône-Alpes

This was a run to the northeast part of Shinjuku, in the neighborhood of Kagurzaka. Took a short direct route from Yotsuya Sanchoume, which I don't recommend. I think I need to take the main road from there to the New Mejiro Road, take right and come back to it from the north next time. It will still be close compared to Ginza and Shinbashi. The more direct route that I used was too crowded relative to the sidewalk or mazy in the back streets.

The cake is the Rhône-Alpes from Amitié, which is a basic chocolate cake, layers of ganache between "biscuit" regular cake layers, but with meringue and powered sugar on top. Still pretty simple but delicious and only 450 yen. I'm calling it great. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything else I particular wanted. Noix Noix was listed on the hand-written board out front but I didn't find it inside and the website says that its currently retired. However, maybe something I don't know that I particular want is also great, so I'll definitely go back. One point for Joshi+. This week, they visited Noaki, which I've already done, so no replacement for the list to visit from there.

Saturday run around central Tokyo

Did a classic wandering route, more wandering than the map shows (I actually stopped to ask a cop, since I had no map, but not on any street shown there). Was more than 16 km, but it was difficult to jog parts of it because of pedestrian density, such as the east part, but I could do some even there. Was doing 1 min alternating intervals of slow fast for more than an hour of running, although it is all relative. No pack because of my back, and felt a little sick from the pain and from having had my eyes dilated at the eye doctor (no problems detected) which was not much returned to normal even after 3 hours, but at least it was darker outside then and I was running east to begin with, so I didn't wait any longer.

I got a cake from Patisserie Yamamuro first (actually, I got that right after the eye doctor, which is a couple doors down, but ran past there again when I went out running). This is a little neighborhood shop with fairly limited selection but no other competition in the Shinanomachi area. I got the Chocolat Pistachio for 480 yen, which is the chef's recommendation and probably the only thing I'm interested in there, although there is nothing wrong with the Pare (?) Chocolat and maybe other things, but not that exciting. This cake is standard chocolate over chocolate mousse with some pistachio mousse inside, but there is also a little berry (not sure whether it is raspberry or strawberry) compote or something, and the balance is good. Definitely one of the better of this standard cake that I've had.

Somehow, Seiyo Ginza got bookmarked, so I looked for it at Matsuya but failed to find it there. I thought about swinging by Hidemi Sugino, but decided I really wanted to go to somewhere new to me. I did stop at the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi and there I found Seiyo Ginza (which their website says will close after Tuesday) and saw that there was a reason that I've never noticed them before (not a lot of cake, and not what I'm interested in), so that was taken care of. Next, instead I went to find Atelier Kohta, who are at Shinjuku Isetan now, I think, so their eat-in counter is closed. Very small shop really. Actually, it's in an alley, so I went past it and knew I had gone too far and went back and had to search again to find it. Only maybe six types of cakes, include standard items I never want like mont-blanc, opera, and (strawberry) short cake. I got the Classic Chocolat for 515 yen, which was great, although just layered chocolate cake with whipped cream. The only other cake of interest in the selection (which was sold out) was an opera pistachio, but that is something I'm particularly interested in so it's hard to forget about it. I have to go back or get over to Isetan before Wednesday and see if they have it. Their webpage doesn't actually list the pistachio and they list several others, so maybe there is a high rate of rotation. I've add them to the map, along with the Le Pommier, which basically across from them on a different side street, but it is also tiny and I've never really found anything thing there that was special, although it's okay, so they don't really make a cluster of interest, and Anniversary down the street is not much better (notice that I've finished adding all my "A" cake shops to the map).