Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over Éclat des Jours' Rhum Raisin

Last Saturday, I got cakes for a cake-off. Due to leg problems, I went by bicycle, which doesn't seem to mind. I was looking at a fifth-round for two shops with 3 wins to only 1 loss. The first was Rhum Raisin from Éclat des Jours and the second was the Pistache Apricot from Très Calme (which also has a great Kouign Amann, if you like fairly solid ones versus more puffed up ones, which I do). It's kind of obvious what the winner is, based on my over preferences, and yet somehow the uniqueness of Rhum Raisin among my great cakes has enabled it to be in a high bracket. The need for it is less now that I have a Baba on my list, but it still has merit, I think, though I'm giving the win toe Pistache Apricot because I like pistachio cream a lot, which is well balanced, and this is a nicely solid cake as well.

Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over L'Abricotier's Montelimar

Working through fourth-round cake-offs for May cakes (based on when I first ate), I ran to L'Abricotier to get their Montelimar (for which I was successful). I went via Aigre-Douce, but the sign on the door indicated that, while they are still in business, they've shorted their hours and switched their holidays so that my working hours overlap theirs. It's a good measure to keep the riffraff out of the neighborhood, though it works better if they don't have to visit to find out. My backup was Très Calme's Pistache Apricot, which is somewhat out of order, but this cake is seasonal, whereas they always have their Mont-Blanc, and also this meant a match-up of two fruity nutty cakes, which seemed reasonable.

After getting the cakes safely home, I had lunch with a pastry rather than the cakes: a Canelé de Bordeaux from L'Abricotier, which usually doesn't have pastries (they also had a card for a chocolate tart next to it, but it was sold out, so I'm not sure what kind of product it was). It was definitely good, which a pretty thick firm crust.

It's a tough choice. The Montelimar is more distinctive among my great cakes, but I really like the pistachio better (versus almond), so I have to go with the Pistache Apricot.

Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Théâtre Over Très Calme's Pistache Apricot

Took the afternoon off and ran down to Jiyuugaoka. No rain, so I took a couple pictures to fill in the neighborhood running map and give me some intermediate goals. Also, since I hadn't had lunch yet, I got a Pain au Noisette et Chocolat from the underground Jean François at Omotesandou Station. It was good, but I was wishing for a tighter layering and the hazelnuts weren't have much of an effect, though the filling wasn't bad, and I've had some bad Pain au Chocolat for that reason, so the hazelnuts might be an improvement.

My goal was to get the Saint Honoré Caramel from Paris S'éveille, which seems to be hardest amount accessible ones, so I wasn't surprised that I failed. I had to go with my third choice (just based on it's calendar order in the list), which was Théâtre, their chocolate mousse in shell cake. I took the train back to Isetan and got the Pistache Apricot, taking advantage of Très Calme still being there, at least until Thursday (Friday is a new shop visiting only 5 days, so I'll want to go on Friday). I suppose I could have planned for the Mont-Blanc, but that's always going to be in the line-up.

These are both great cakes, but I'm giving the win to the chocolate cake. What can I say: I'm predictable. It's still early in the third round, so this is only the fourth cake-off of that round between two undefeated cakes, but Théâtre is currently my top chocolate cake at this level. There's a lot of chance in that, so hopefully I can pit it against another chocolate cake next time. 

Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille

Took the afternoon off and started by getting Très Calme's Pistache Apricot from Isetan, where they did have their specialty, a Mont-Blanc, this time. The latter should have warned me, even though my longer memory had failed, that I was going to run into trouble running to En Vedette in the afternoon, because the cake of the same name, their specialty, was sold out. I do need to get new cake from them, and they had lots of cake, but I was already committed to a cake-off. Already wet and cold, from there I ran to Ginza Mitsukoshi, which has the other available great cakes needing a second round. I tried the Choux Vanille from F. Cassel first, since that definitely sells out as well and it was already past 4 pm, and was finally successful.

Though it looks like a mismatch, this Choux wouldn't be in the great list, with one win, if it couldn't hold its own. However, Pistache Apricot is also definitely great, so I had to choose. I decided to go for the heavy fruity tart over light vanille simplicity, but I could eat another Choux Vanille, no problem. These are great cakes.

Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over Bien-être's Pistachio and Grapefruit Chiboust

Saturday isn't as hot as I feared, but still plenty hot. Haven't done any running yet, but am considering going out in the evening to revisit parts of my neighborhood map before getting back to adding new parts (besides the new parts I've had to add in the middle of old maps, because I found overlooked locations). Instead, I went out at about 9:30 to update pictures for the neighborhood map. Did a temple practically next to Shinanomachi Station that's been rebuilt, then down to Jinguu Gaien Ichou Namiki Avenue, where I've added a new neighborhood loop, now that the connecting pedestrian bridges are available, along with the Royal Garden Cafe Aoyama at the south end, which has good pastries. Then I went down to the loop around Hiroo, where I only managed two planned locations and picked up two previously unknown locations near them, which is not a very good ratio of success, so I've had to completely redo that loop, splitting off the northeast part as three loops (which include a lot of bread places that I overlooked previously) and merging what was left (which is most of that loop) with the loop northeast of Shibuya Bridge, near Ebisu Station. I still haven't tested any of that, so I won't be surprised if there are future changes.

Then from about 10:08, I went my bicycle and got my cake. One was Pistache Apricot from Très Calme (naturally, I visited the farthest one first, though that was because they open first) which only got slightly dented, and the other was the variously named Pistachio and Grapefruit Chiboust from Bien-être, which I had (unnecessarily) preordered the night before (they just took my name and number; they didn't make me pay ahead, unlike Sadaharu Aoki), which definitely did not like road vibration, which is not surprising for any chiboust. The later cake I've been waiting to do a first-round cake-off since last September. I also noted that Bien-être had at least two other cakes that I haven't had, a seasonal tart and a new mille-feuille and that they do not in fact seem to have verrine, just puddings.

The cake-off wasn't a blowout this time, so they were well matched in that sense, as well as being well matched in flavors (no clashing) and yet having significant design differences to make comparing them interesting. I'm deciding in favor of the denser more sophisticated Pistache Apricot from the less distinguished (by me, at least) shop over the light, homemade-like Pistachio & Grapefruit Chiboust, which I thought would be better for with less grapefruit. Both cakes are seasonal, so I'll be doing second-round cake-offs with them next, starting with the loser against Le Saint-Marc, which at least shares its lightness. Next time, perhaps I'll walk the chiboust, or at least run it, home and see if it arrives more intact.

Très Calme: Pistache Apricot

To get myself caught up on cake-off win follow-ups, I ran to Très Calme after work. Most of the their selection was verrines, but they had a few cakes more acceptable to me. I choose the Pistache Apricot (yes, a mixed-language name) and ate in the shop (there were 5 tables for two but no customers, whereas the café across the street seemed to be doing better business).

This was good choice, though I have a number of pistachio cakes, but none I thick with apricot. Similar to the more recent previous great pistachio cake, the base is a tart, or rather a tartlettte rather than a slice from a large tart. The top is a very solid pistachio cream/butter or whatever they use, which is the opposite of the recent chiboust. It's not a subtle cake, but it suits my needs and I'm calling it great. That isn't enough to promote this shop yet, but it might eventually, if I get the rest of the quite good shops better sorted out to see which are on top and needing promotion.

The run was 12+ kilometers, which is the longest for quite a while. I had timing problems, but I ran about 80 minutes. I'm sure I'll need to stretch a lot tomorrow, but my next plan is 10 km, which is a little closer to what I planned for this stage. Friday maybe will be a run to Ginza, which is also about 10 km.