Presqu'île Chocolaterie, Chocolat

Couple kilometers past Shinjuku Station.

Did a long run today, about 28 km, plus another couple kilometers walking under Shinjuku Station and near Kichijoji Station. It rained in the morning and was cool to the point of being cold in just my mess running shirt, though the rain did not return despite the dark clouds all around. I knew it was a long run, so I was running between 8 and 9 km/h the whole way.

Getting near Kichijoji Station

Mid-way, in car country.

My intended target was L'epicurien, but there is not good information on when they are open other than not particularly during the posted hours, at least for cake. Today, there was a sign on the door saying that they were closed for today, though I did not read it very closely, for one reason cause it was 1 meter away, do to a shutter over the entrance. Last time I went there and they were not open for cake, at least you could go inside and see that they were not open for cake (they were just selling the non-fresh-baked baked goods, like cookies).

I had a couple alternatives that I wanted to get to in the area, so I made a second visit to Presqu'île Chocolaterie, which was open (which is kind of amazing in itself, as far as not being out of business, but someone was buying before me, so maybe they sell enough). I got "Chocolate", which is classic chocolate cake with thick layers of ganache and enough biscuit for a reasonable texture. The chocolate was a beans-to-bar Granada chocolate, which they also hard bars for. It's a little basic, but definitely excellent. That's two excellent cakes from them, so if the Excellent shops ever make room, Presqu'île is perhaps the top candidate among the Quite Good shops for promotion.

In other news, September starts tomorrow, which means we've left hottest month behind and shops can move away from summer substitutes and get back to cake. Jean-Paul Hévin has four great cakes that are being reintroduced to the line-up, one for just a month, so it's going to need to be in the next cake-off, as well as their regular Chocolate Tart, which I have not blogged yet, so maybe I'll get it (with something new from Sadaharu Aoki as a back-up, for the previous cake-off win). Another JPH great cake is thru Oct., and another is the Mont-Blanc, which is an old favorite that would otherwise be the top priority based on when I first blogged that it was great.

(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).