Cake-off: Au Bon Vieux Temps' Marjolaine over Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille

Thursday (so no cake since Sunday), I went for a long walk with a little running for lights and downhill, enough to arrive in about 110 minutes, even with with the lights I didn't beat. I was afraid that it would be three hours, so it wasn't as far as I thought and I wasn't as slow as the beginning implied. The goal was a cake-off, with the primary being Au Bon Vieux Temps' Marjolaine, a classic. I started a little after 8am, thinking they would open at 9am (based on their not up-to-date homepage), but arriving at 9:55 am, they were closed and I was first in line, arriving just ahead of the second person. I got my cake, no problem. Would have been nice if they had had one of two other great cakes not recently in the line-up, but I wasn't expecting them. I took the train back to Isetan and got Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille their standard tart. Very different in size and in price, though the larger is cheaper by weight. Tarte Infiniment Vanille remains a great vanilla cake, but the variation and bitterness of the Marjolaine brings me to give the classic the win. I should say this was a 5th round for two cakes with only one loss each going in. I have have two more likely available cakes left in that group, which I plan to hit this weekend, after which I'll have to expand the competition to include two-and-two cakes. Haven't had as many new great cakes or returned great cakes this year, so I'm whipping through the planned list rather quickly. I'll put ABVT down for a backup visit this weekend if Paris S. doesn't come through with new cakes, though I'll probably also pick up something from the main Dalloyau in that case, taking care of two shops in one neighborhood visit.

Pierre Hermé, Tarte Infiniment Chocolat

I'm coming back to pick up a cake I skipped reporting, accidently, from before last weekend. From their cake-off win, I owed Pierre Hermé a cake, which I picked up from the Isetan Shinjuku counter. I really like the Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait, so I thought I'd try the Tarte Infiniment Chocolat, though I think I misread the card, as I thought it had some pralin going on, but no, just chocolate. Still, it was up to their Tarte Inifiniment standard, and the chocolate was excellent, so I can't complain. 

Cake-off: Pierre Hermé's Carrément Chocolat over Paris S'éveille's Giverny

Running very far is not possible, so  I did a cake-off buying by bicycle, which is why the fruit maybe isn't as originally placed. Still, the cake managed pretty well. I started by going to  Paris S'éveille to get the Giverny, a cake with three wins and one loss. I matched it with the next cake in line that was convenient for the return trip. Since the Aoyama stop isn't open until noon now and there's bicycle parking at Hikarie, I went there to get Pierre Hermé's Carrément Chocolat. In some ways it's a pretty lopsided match, since fruit cakes have a harder time with me than chocolate, but then chocolate cakes have to live up to my memories of other chocolate cakes to stay in the greats group, so it's fair to a certain degree. However, this turned out to be a really nice cake, with some thick chocolate cream in there and good texture. Still, the greatness of Giverny was not questioned. 

Pierre Hermé, Baba Classique

Not much to say about this one. I recently have appreciated the baba from Viron, so as a new cake for a cake-off win from Pierre Hermé, I thought I'd try their Baba Classique (which since had been replaced by a different baba from the Vantine's lineup). Not sure how classic it was, but I'll assume not so that much that they didn't use rum, though not in enough quantity to raise this above just good.

Cake-off: Lenôtre's Feuille d'Automne Rouge over Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait

Sunday, as another cake-off, which was not my original plan (my original plan was that I would hit a couple exceptional shops, to finishing raising that category to 8 cakes each). However, the day before I saw that Pierre Hermé had their Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait in for the Christmas season, like other years (the connection is that it's robust enough that they can make them far ahead). It's complicated, but both it and Lenôtre's Feuille d'Automne Rouge had a mistaken 3rd round, where I accidently pitted them against something that had already had a third round. Officially, they are both one and one but each secretly has a win against a 1-win-of-3 shop, so the winner of this cake-off will get credit for 2 wins out of 3, and the loser has their previous match count, so they become 2 winds out of 4, so win-win, essentially, except only one can get a new 4th round whereas the other will probably sit next year out, since they have two losses.

The tart remains in good favor. Though the name indicates milk chocolate, the caramel and crunchy pits define it. However, I have to give the win to Feuille d'Automne Rouge. At first glance, it's a simple variation on their star cake (in Japan), but I'm coming to think it's a real upgrade, though one might not always want raspberry. Haven't seem they try any other variations, but I'll keep hoping. In any case, both shops win a chance for another sample, but that's going to probably wait until next year, as I'm busy, unless I get something the 31st. 

Cake-off: Bien-être's Mont-blanc over Pierre Hermé's Deux Mille Feuille

I'm working through the last cake-offs of the year. Saturday's was expected to be the last, a fourth round for two more two-of-three winners, both regular year-round cakes, so were never a priority until the end. One I could get at Isetan, which opens at 10am, so I did that one first: Pierre Hermé's Deux Mille Feuille, their praliné mille-feuille. Getting the other at Bien-être required a little waiting in line (only two customers at a time for ordering, though the café is available with a reservation. I ended up being lazy and going by bicycle. I can note that I went to Isetan the long way, running down the Shibuya Sta. northeast area to check out a shop that turned out to be closed despite their posted hours (it was the Stream Coffee Company shop and I caught them later; they only had chiffon cake, which I've decided doesn't qualify as fresh cake; a brownie would suit me better). I did hit the nearby WeWork café (Foru Cafe) and had the croissant, which was good, if overly fluffy for my preference. Back to Bien-être: they didn't have the Mont-Blanc showing (I could see through the glass), but I was optimistic that even if they cut the lineup during the Christmas rush season, they wouldn't cut that one, which this is especially the season for. The service person was probably inexperienced, as they had to ask the person working at actually making things (they kitchen opens directly on the shop and isn't very big). Note sure what her exact answer was other than that it would come later, which was the answer passed back to me. Questioning further, she said all they had now was what was showing, but I asked how long I needed for wait for the Mont-Blanc. At this point someone who either knew more about how things worked, or recognized me and how I operate (I know what I come for and I don't buy anything else, but I'll wait or come back if I have to), asked the same kitchen person whether she had the Mont-Blanc ready and immediately got a tray of them and told the other clerk to ring one up, so I got what I came for. 

I was satisfied with both of these as great cakes. The Mont-blanc is a straight mont-blanc, no fruit or any other bells or whistles that need to be mentioned, just what you see, whipped cream in the middle (I can't remember already whether there was any additional chestnut in the middle, but if there was, not so much compared to the top), and some sort of softish sablé or hardish cake biscuit base supporting it. The mille-feuille, on the other hand, is already a pretty complex standard, this one including three thick layers (an advantage over FC's, excellent though they are) and lots of praliné. It's a tough choice, but I have to give it to the mont-blanc, that wins with simplicity. Not sure why it beats all the similar mont-blancs, but they've been dropping out one by one, which this one seems in no danger of doing.  

 

Cake-off: Au Bon Vieux Temps' Pourriture over Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette

Saturday, I had a late morning appointment, so I set off at 8am for Au Bon Vieux Temps to get their Pourriture for a third-round cake-off of one-and-one cakes, matching it with the new Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette from Pierre Hermé. Maybe because this was my fourth time, but I appreciated the lighter and fruitier flavor of the Pourriture over the heavy tart this time. One little cup of tea really wasn't enough to cut the praliné. 

Pierre Hermé, Tarte Infiniment Pistache d'Iran

Skipped a day, since really I already used the week's cake allotment, though I always planned to get ahead on the next week, since I'll be busy the following weekend. Also, I was still hoping to find another great cake to pit against a JPH cake that ends its run Saturday. In response to the previous cake-off win, I had an excuse to visit Pierre Hermé in Jinguumae to get the special Tarte Infiniment Pistache d'Iran, which seemed a good bet based on the recent hazelnut cake. I needed a half-day off to visit on a weekday, since they are only open noon to 7pm now, which is a little tight. It was tight for a morning off, too, and the web site still shows 11 to 8pm, so I had an hour to kill after my first visit. 

Jumping ahead, I did get the cake. I note that the hazelnut cake is praliné, so this pistachio cake is a lot nuttier, and a different nut, so I couldn't get into as much, and there's a lot of it. It was good, of course, but won't make the great list as I had hoped.

Back to on the way there, I hit the Harajuku Sta. area on the first pass but spent the extra hour doubling back to a café on the Sendagaya-Jinguumae boundary and then confirmed that Dandelion Chocolate no longer has macarons in the Omote-Sandou Road shop, as well as that it was empty on a weekday. I also need to update my cake post, as I'm not sure what chocolate I had the opera. They have six flavors, and I think I mistook the chocolate that wen with almond. I need to update those posts next. New places I found/revisited included the Ron Herman Café, which is a top priority as a new place to visit, being the nearest along the neighborhood running route and having several cakes (it's a chain with a shop in Kobe also). I have to wonder if it's just cake from the nearby Amiri (formerly, Nana Gâteaux), but they don't seem to be doing anything right now, so probably not. Though I'm off at least weekend Harajuku cafés for the covid duration, a new building opened near the station that has a Café Aux Bacchanales with cakes out front, though not the same as the great cakes that used to be available from Ginza. Still, I should try them. In the same building (With Harajuku) is Eataly, which I should sample something from. The other one I'm most interested is the Depla Pol Chocolatier, which connects two otherwise dead-end back streets in the maze-like area there south of Takeshita Street, but there are up to four more, though one relates to Shiseidou Parlor, and is on the 8th floor, so maybe irrelevant for both running and take-out cake (which I can get from Isetan).

As a non-cake place, I got the An Scone from Toraya Café An Stand. It was good, which no problems with the an. 

 

Cake-off: Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette over Viron's Baba

Tuesday, I ran to Viron straight after work to get their Baba to do a cake-off versus Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette that I had gotten the night before and put in the chill room of the refrigerator. I also confirmed that Viron definitely a had another new cake that I could try. By rights, Dalloyau could have been the second cake Monday, but since I was already carrying the tart the previous night, I didn't try to run down to the Dalloyau at Meguro Station, which would have still been open (these days, the Dalloyau across from Virion closes at 18:30, so useless on a workday). Also, I trust the Dalloyau cake to be around any time except maybe right at a major holiday, when it might get pushed out by specials.

Back to the cake-off, these are both super strong tasting cakes (unlike the Dalloyau cake, though I don't usually think that far ahead when setting these up), as well as being focused on a single flavor. In this case, I'll give the win to the hazelnut praliné taste, though I'm still happy for the rum kick of the Baba (in taste only, not intoxication) as part of my greats. I shouldn't forget to say that this was only a second-round cake off between two losers, and I've got other cakes waiting for both to do third rounds (though some day I hope to get to another fourth-round cake-off for the winner's bracket). 

Cake-off Jean-Paul Hévin's Longchamp Feuilleté over Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette

Thursday, I took the afternoon off. It was raining, so I got a haircut rather than immediately run, but I did got to Isetan afterward and of course had no trouble scoring Tuesday's cake, Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette from Pierre Hermé, and one of the recently promoted Jean-Paul Hévin cakes, Longchamp Feuilleté. I cake the cake first, after lunch, but did do a 2 hour run in the evening, when the rain had stopped. In terms of quantity, the tart has the obvious advantage and both are great, but Longchamp Feuilleté has that crunch going, and maybe a higher sugar density, along with chocolate, so in the end I have to give it the win, but I'm still happy with the hazelnut tart and hope to get to the pistachio version (only at the mother store) before it ends its run, which is not until December. 

Pierre Hermé, Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette

It's been years maybe, but it's finally Pierre Hermé's turn to get a new cake not related to a cake-off win (though it has earned a good number of those so far), as I've already had a new cake from FC and no where at the same or higher level either has a new cake or has had few enough for me to be looking for one. The timing is good, too, because the Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette is in the form of their best tarts (the vanilla one is a standard) and also promising in terms of the ingredients, at least for me. It lived up to expectations and was great. Since I've promoted two JPH cakes in the line-up to great, the plan for Thursday became an early cake-off, again sourced from Isetan.

 

Pierre Hermé, Elena

Tuesday, I worked relatively late but got to Isetan in time. I still owed Pierre Hermé a new cake, so I chose the Elena without knowing anything about it but that it was different and had pistachios. Actually, it's based on a traditional Italian cake of ricotta cheese with a fruit juice soaked sponge, cassata, which sounds less exciting. Of course, I wanted a great cake, but rarely get it. I was hoping for excellent while I ate it and thought maybe it would be justified, but in the end I'm satisfied having had a good cake and learning something new about sweets. I still remain too far ahead on this shop and it's dangerously low as far as ranking, so it could be under threat again soon, but it will probably hang on for a while as one the superb Tokyo cake shops. It's still got at least one more cake-off coming this year, even if one of the couple great tarts I'm looking for from them doesn't reappear soon.

Cake-off: Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille over Michalak's Mont-Blanc

Last Sunday, I had a 4th round cake-off between Michalak's Mont-Blanc, which was next up based on when I first sampled it (though it's actually available year round), paired against another Isetan great cake with two wins to one loss, Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille. These were definitely both great, so it's hard to decide, but I'm going with the Tarte Infiniment Vanille, which might be my favorite vanilla cake of Tokyo, though there is one more contender for that title. Maybe it will get resolved in next year's cake-offs. The Mont-Blanc, though was still great. It's distinction is a little chocolate, I think, which mellows the chestnut.

Pierre Hermé, Bayadère

For last week, I had three cakes left for the weekdays, but didn't expect to find that many. However, if I wanted to try a lot of new shops, there are places out there on my neighborhood running map, such as this cafe, which was open close to 9 pm in Roppongi, with an outdoor cake case and a "take-out" sign, so it gets added to the map. There are still closer in ones open on the neighborhood course.

One major player that is still open until 7 pm is Pierre Hermé, which I owed a cake from a cake-off win a while back, so I got something new, Bayadère. This is lime in the white chocolate with strawberry and rhubarb compote, passion fruit with lime gelatin and a sablé breton base. It's definitely good and interesting, but perhaps I should have gone for the new cheesecake, though I can't regret taking a gamble on something more ambitiously different. Among my supposedly superb shops, this one is most precarious, so a couple challengers from the quite exceptional list once again have a chance to overtake it (not that either has enough new cakes to match it anyway).

Cake-off: Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille over Jean-Paul Hévin's Matcha

The (previous) cake-off of the week was sourced in the morning, and it's been too long since to remember what the running was, but I'm sure there was a lot of it, working on revised loops and clumps of loops. Jean-Paul Hévin's Matcha, which was one and one coming into a third cake-off, had just entered the line-up. I matched it up against Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille just because it was convenient and I was not sure how easy it would be to get to other shops. I had forgotten that Matcha had gotten a warning the previous time around. This time too, I couldn't really remember why I singled out this cake. It's definitely at least good, but I didn't think the fruit, chocolate, and chocolate were harmonizing that well. I'd rather jettison the fruit, which seems. Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille remained reliably great, so it picks up a second win and should get a fourth round this year.

Pierre Hermé, Tarte Rose et Jasmin

Finally got to Isetan (by virtue of taking PM off Thursday) and got a new cake from Pierre Hermé in response to their recent cake-off winner. I even got the (probably) monthly cake I was targeting:  Tarte Rose et Jasmin. This looks a lot like their vanilla tart, which is one of their great cakes. I had this after a half lunch, before even running (there was afternoon running for more cake, to catch up from lots of overtime work this and the previous week, and then evening running). This cake was definitely excellent. I really like this solid tart. The mascarpone cheese has a good texture, but no flavor, so it's good for adding sutler flavors. I think even Earl Grey tea was a little strong for this cake, but in general I prefer stronger cake, so I doubt it makes a huge difference, just something to think about for next time. This is a good enough showing that the shop is not in danger for it's superb shop position from challengers below, for the moment.

Cake-off: Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait over Pièce Montée's Mont-Blanc

Friday night, I went to Pièce Montée's Mont-Blanc for Saturday, once they confirmed that Saturday they wouldn't be selling it. They open late, so that's still within 24 hours of them putting it on display, which seems reasonable. I mostly carefully walked it back (they do not take it down, just limit its movement by a partition and icepack). My snack instead came from the Marusho, in the form of a Plecia Basque Cheesecake, which was definitely good, unlike my last coffee shop cheesecake.

Saturday, I woke much to early, so I same neighborhood course I mentioned previously, but found another little shop next to Shinanomachi selling little traditional cakes, so the map needed to be revised (the shop is Bunmeidou, and I got their Honey Castella Rolls, which was definitely good, as packaged cakes go).

That being the case, I decided that I should add the various Soga Gakkai buildings, the same as I would if they were religious buildings of other groups, even though this area is their central complex. The streets are public, so it's not really a campus or like a temple grounds, where many building might be assembled. I took a few pictures of obvious candidates for revising the map and then headed to Isetan, where I arrived just before opening and easily got my Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait for a cake-off between two zero-for-one cakes.

Unfortunately, I didn't move the mont-blanc from the chiller before serving (probably should have moved it to the regular part of refrigerator an hour before eating), so it was maybe too firm for the whipped cream to express itself. I just wasn't feeling the need for this to be on the great list, so Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait, which I still think deserves to be on the list easily won. The mont-blanc will get another chance this year, and I'll try to remember to be more careful about the temperature, as appropriate for a cake that depends on whipped cream.

When I was out again, confirmed more Soka Gakkai buildings, I stopped at their souvenir shop, Hakubun Eikōdō, and got a little Shinanomachi Agemochi (fried rice cake), which was good in the standard way.

Tokyo viennoiserie: Caffe Pascucci and Pierre Hermé

Sunday, did a long morning run to Aobadai to practice a new loop counterclockwise. On the way, I made my first stop at a new brand of shops in Tokyo, Caffe Pascucci (the Japan flagship store in Kitaaoyama, though the other two are also within the same Tokyo running neighborhood). I got the Saccottini al Cioccolato, which is different from a typical Pain au Chocolat as it's not trying to to have big flakes on the outside. The main texture is similar and it's more compact and less messy, so I can say that it was excellent.

Was successful at the loop, which is tiny and simple. I circled back, stopping at Fukuras (which has at least one interesting high-end dessert shop, besides coffee shops and a tapioca tea shop). Went to Isetan for cake, which I'll post separately, but since it was morning and I'm reviewing all the pastries, I also picked up plain Croissant from Pierre Hermé, who I dismissed after two a while back. As it happens, my opinion of them stands: its well made enough that I have to admit it's good, but suited for some sort of spread rather than to be eaten alone.

Emporter (Yotsuya), Harmonie and Gateau Fraise

Was mostly busy over the weekend. Saturday, though, I went a couple new places. One was only semi-new, and without cake: the Pierre Hermé in Marunouchi, which sells drinks, some suitable gift items, soft ice cream, and a few baked goods. We got Marron Pie and some ice cream (orange and passion fruit, maybe). The Marron Pie counts as a pastry, though it was after 4 pm, so I'm not called it fresh. Still, it was well made, so counts as excellent within that scope: no complaints.

The soft ice cream was fine, though not within my scope of interest, even with the macarons (which were particularly hard and not like macarons I've made, so I'm suspecting the modified recipe to produce something more robust and cookie-like to stand up being stuck into ice cream, though the shape was correct).

The actual cake came from a new shop in the root clump of loops in my neighbor running course, Emporter (a name shared with a Setagaya shop). I asked for a recommendation, and had suggested Harmonie, which is white chocolate with a (suitably) limited amount of raspberry. The other cake chosen was the Gateau Fraise, though I would have gone with something dark chocolate.

I thought both cakes were good, though that standout good. However, my co-eater was quite impressed by the Gateau Fraise and its generous amount of whipped cream.

Since Japanese strawberry short  (which even the name card gave as a description) is not my thing and my partner definitely does like them, I'm to assume superior power of discernment and record the strawberry cake as excellent, which at least puts this shop in the solid part of the fine shops (important, since this this and the category above it are grossly bloated, so it would only take about ten more new shops to force me to create a new lower category for most of these shops).

Cake-off: En Vedette's Rocher over Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait

Did a cake-off today, even starting after noon, due to an appointment and a couple errands, though tomorrow I also have a morning appointment, so I'm not going to start that much earlier. I started, though, in terms of the neighborhood map, by getting something from Sakamotoya, which is a kasutera (an early Japanese cake) shop but I got something called Sugegasa, which is a wheat-based bean filled cake shaped like the traditional hat of that name. It was good, but I'm not that into an. If they had what I would consider a one-person size of kasutera, I would have gotten that, but the smallest was 650 yen size, which I'd give to 4 (not particularly greedy) people. I also found a patisserie called Emporter in Yotsuya 2 (not sure whether it's related to the Setagaya shop of that name), so I'm redoing one of the first loops on the neighborhood course to accommodate it. I had just told myself that next time I revised that loop, I was going to remove the overlap by using a 180 turn to the other side of the street, and at the same time I'm going to merge even one-point overlapping loops, though I'll wait until I get around to the clumps to worry about the other loops. For now, I have to redo the first clump, since merging loops effectively merged to clumps. 

A major errand later, I confirmed that Isetan had Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait and then went for a quick errand to Tokyu Hands, but stopped for a pastry at Fauchon in Takashimaya. It was excellent as Pain au Chocolat go, certainly high quality, but perhaps I should have taken something more original.

They still remembered me from last Tuesday and recognized that I had brought my own bag for cake, bigger this time, and then had the Rocher that I wanted, as well as their name-sake cake, which they had been sold out of Tuesday and I had wondered about. I took the train back, for speed and cake protection, and got the Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait. With the errands, it was a late lunch, and then the cakes. It had been a couple years for the tart, so I had no idea what to expect. Actually, it's caramel chocolate and is little crunchy chocolate balls for texture. It's unique and well made of lots of good stuck that goes well together, so I'm keeping it as great, but the Rocher had flavor and a great balance, so it gets the win. However, I don't have anything to match the Rocher up with, so probably the next cake-off will be a second round for the Tarte Infiniment Chocolat au Lait, though I think that will have to be the 11th.

In the late afternoon, I had 2.5 hours to run (I would have had 3 hours, but I had to play "where is my F-ing key" for almost 30 minutes), so I first tried to do neighbor running course clumps and failed both. The first, I turned where I shouldn't have (following an old version briefly), but it the closure of a shop on one loop and the appearance of a chocolate shop on another, but opening onto the side street, meant I was going to have to revise loops away. Like in the Yotsuya case, I ended up merging three loops, which is going to seriously mess that up. With the severing of the link reversed the direction through Azabu, Hiroo and Roppongi Hills and the link between Ebisu-Nishi and Ebisu-Minami, as well as the detour to get to Jinnan, my map is a mess as far as the wider connections. At least failing there gave me enough time to get over the do the Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop counterclockwise, and count that and its clump as verified. Next new loop to try to confirm will be back to Aobadai, but I've got to deal with today's destroyed loops first.