Noix de Beurre: Mille-feuille

Went to Isetan, thinking I was going to Morozoff, but remembered why this shouldn't be a priority: they don't have fresh cake (I like baked cheesecake, but, like pound cake, it not the same as "fresh/raw" cake, in the Japanese sense). Also, I need to buy a full 1000 yen pie-sized cake, so I'd rather wait until I'm buying for more than just myself, although it is something that having leftovers would be okay, so it's always available as a backup plan when I can't get anywhere else.

Instead, I followed up on getting a different cake from Noix de Beurre, so I made the safe choice and got their Mille-feuille (540 yen), which they don't assemble until you order it. This was excellent as expected as well as being reasonably priced and convenient to obtain, so more evidence that this shop/counter is quite good.

The run was going to the Akasaka Palace course to see whether I could manage 12 km/h. So I lasted all of 8 days before breaking my promise not to run hard when it's 5 deg out. What can I say, running is addictive and makes me do crazy things. But this time I took a day of rest since my long weekend runs, so I'm expecting to be okay. I only know the 1 km and 2 km marks for the course, so it's hard to pace myself. Plus, the slopes are not evenly distributed, so the goal isn't to keep a steady pace, but get head on the first half and not lose too much on the uphill parts in the second half (although there is also some downhill again). Since I wasn't really confident that I could make it, I just tried to run as fast as I thought I could keep up the full 3.3 km, based on how hard I was breathing compared to when I was doing 13 km/h last week. This meant about 4'30'' for the first kilometer, and maybe 4'45'' for the second. In the end, I finished before the target 16'30'', at 15'29'', which is actually above 12.5 km/h, so it's not impossible that I could do 13 km/h some day, but it's not seeming very likely and trying is not a priority.

Just as full disclose, on the "rest day", actually I had to do a couple hours overtime and I got a half of a Baguette Meule (I think) from Le Petit Mec, which was definitely good break, but not my favorite of theirs.

Le Petite Mec: Baguette

No cake today, but I did stand in line at Le Petit Mec and managed to get half a baguette (140 yen) before they sold out this time. It was excellent, nice and chewy.

The run was a 12 km/h training run at Meiji Jingu Gaien, this time 6 laps, which is 50 m short of 8 km. The first lap was hard, as always, and yet checking every 100 m, I kept a constant pace then, and was still on track on the last one, when I was checking every 600 m. More than one lap, I speed up near the end, just in case, because my time was just a couple seconds from exactly 12.0 km/h, and I didn't want to loose the lap to a mishap. Was still okay on the last one, so I assume that I could keep this up for a 10K. Eventually, I'll test that at the 5 km moat course, though that's less flat. Pretty crowded now all the all the usual courses. Guess we're about a week out from the Tokyo Marathon.

Le Petit Mec: Flan Tart

Went to Le Petit Mec for bread, but ended up with a Flan Tart, which is sort of cake and was good.

Repeat of yesterday

It turns out that P. l'Abricotier closes at 7 pm, so it was never some place I should go on a weekday. That's a shame, because now I'm used to the run and I could make most of the lights in the middle. So no cake. Instead, I stopped at Le Petit Mec and got half a rustic baguette, which I ate with strawberry jam, along with a brownie from yesterday.

The run was 8.3 km out at a moderate pace, 6.7 km back at a slow pace, then some walking where it was really crowded, including to Le Petit Mec, and another 1.2 km slow, so 16.2 km total. I'll rest from running tomorrow and get some cake from Isetan.

Great cake shops/patisserie of Tokyo

No running today, which I may regret. Yesterday Saturday's weather sounded better than what they are saying now for Saturday, so I might have saved my legs for nothing.

Anyway, I ate too much bread from Le Petit Mec, what they call a cannelle, I think, which is a kind of cinnamon bun. It's good, but I'd like to find something better. Also, olive and cheese baguette, I think, which is especially great with cream cheese.

So I had time to finish going through my blog posts, adding up the ratings, and figuring out where everyone stands (although it's going to take a second pass to correct inconsistencies).

Definitely great shops:

(1) Dalloyau. Very French, dominates Ginza, but also appears at some department stores with cake and has shops/salons also in Jiyugaoka and next to Meguro Station.

(2) Henri le Roux (Isetan). This Isetan counter only gets in because they only have 4 cakes, but 3 of them are great and the other is excellent. Midtown store has great Kouign Amann, but not fresh cake.

(3) Jean-Paul Hévin. All chocolate. Dominates Isetan basement (in the sense of being great and having eat-in space) and also found in Ginza, Midtown, and Omotesando.

(4) Paris S'éveille. Able to stand next to Dalloyau in Jiyugaoka. Also great Kouign Amann.

(5) Pierre Hermé. Also has a special place in Isetan, although you need to go to Aoyama for a café.

(6) Sadaharu Aoki. Doesn't need a French name or great variation in shape of cakes to share Isetan and Midtown, which has café space, although Marunouchi has more space for eating in, I think.

(7) Viron. Marunouchi has a full restaurant, but Shibuya has some eat-in space and they both have excellent bread as well (actually, they are more bakeries anyway).

Potentially great shops:

(8) Frédéric Cassel at Ginza Mitsukoshi based on just four cakes (not that they have many more than four at any one time).

(9) Yu Sasage out in northwest Setagaya based on just three recent cakes.

Others that I listed as great in the beginning failed to live up to the designation, although some of these are among the definitely excellent. It's resolving all the potentially excellent ones that are going to take a lot of time, so I have to count up how many there are and decide how to split up my cake-buying. That will be a different post.

35 km to Seijo Alpes

This is the running route map. The first leg was to Shinagawa Station. This was good, although muggy even at 5:30 am, and I should have bypassed the route I took through Roppongi: very crowded with people doing the bars or working for the bars (I assume).

Next was Shinagawa to Jiyuugaoka, which had the usual problem of me having trouble navigating Ota-ku. Trying to follow the path above a train line where it is underground, I took a wrong turn just after here

at a five-way intersection. I should stay of Ota-ku unless I'm following a river or something obvious.

After the turn at Jiyuugaoka, I got a sports drink from a convenience and drank it pretty quickly (although I carry two 500 ml water bottles and refill them as I go past park drinking fountains) and then past Nakameguro, I got a Bostoc at Aux Bacchanales,

so now I know what this is. I didn't like it as much as the one from Fraoula. I think this one was a lot moister in the middle. It was okay and only 180 yen, so it was a good midway snack.

I turned east near Yoyogi Park. The last leg following the train line to Seijo Gakuenmae Station (named after a school) was great: enough pedestrian traffic to slow cars but not enough to be a problem except maybe the last couple stations where first there were first almost no pedestrians and then for the last little bit, where I had lost sight of the train line (even though I was near the station), suddenly there were dozens of high school girls going the other way. I think there must have been an open campus event, since they were from different high schools (they wear uniforms, so you can tell, although they tend to travel in packs of like uniforms).

Today, the humidity seemed to burn off a little around 7 am but never felt any hotter and it was cloudy. Guess I'm going to have to pay attention to the weather reports more: no running when the heat stroke index is in the red "danger" zone (last night they said noon for southern Kanto, which includes Tokyo, but actually the temperature was falling by 11 am in eastern Tokyo. It rained from around noon and sometimes afterward, which spikes the humidity, so my timing was good. I'd like to leave earlier next time, though, maybe 4:00 or 4:30.

The cake was okay, but not great. I should have left it in the refrigerator for a few more hours or popped it in the freezer to firm up the mousse, but it did not actually melt. They ask you how long you have to carry it when you buy, but the question is either rhetorical or they have no sense of the difference between summer and winter, since they put in only one tiny freezer pack with my three pieces of cake. Even if I'm not dressed for a cafe, I should eat in.

I got the Noble （ノーブル）for 470 yen、which is hazelnuts in ganache with bavarois (Bavarian cream) chocolate.

Then I had the Mireille (ミレイユ) for 440 yen, which is blueberry and cassis (blackcurrant) mousse with condensed milk cream, with a little white chocolate on top and the chocolate shop name plate, which I respect.

Finally, I had the mousse chocolate and Tahiti vanilla cream, Anphicles (アンフィクレ）for 450 yen. They all seemed fine. If I lived near here, I would go back (actually, my next route takes me back there anyway, but they'll probably be closed when I pass them), but I don't need to.

In the evening, I got this linzer tort and a baguette from Le Petit Mec. This is tiny for 300 yen, but actually the right size. It's raspberry and very good.

(Thursday) Rest with Le Petit Mec

After running four days in a row, and with the typhoon making heavy-rain warnings, I didn't run Thursday or Friday. Thursday I made curry, so I bought this "rustic" baguette, one of several types they have, from Le Petit Mec on the first floor of Marui department store at Shinjuku Sanchome (across from Isetan). I'll put it on the map. I have not searched around, but this is the best place I now for baguettes.