Frédéric Cassel: Saint Honoré Noix de Pécan Citron Vert

Last Sunday, after a visit to an exceptional shop, I walked (due to knee problems, but also because I was carrying one cake) to Ginza Mitsukoshi to get a new cake from Frédéric Cassel, trying to balance catching up the shops at the bottom with the top shops. I tried the Saint Honoré Noix de Pécan Citron Vert, which is self explanatory. It was good, but not their best saint honoré. Pecan is pretty rare in cake but I haven't had much luck with it so far.

Frédéric Cassel, Saint Honoré Vanille et Goyave

Sunday evening I finally did my running for the weekend, but only to Ginza Mitsukoshi (I walked back). I was willing to be disappointed late on a Sunday but they had what I was looking for, the new cake from Frédéric Cassel, Saint Honoré Vanille et Goyave. Saint honoré were a standard for a while, but it's been 3 years since I've had one from there. Fortunately, they still know how to make excellent ones. 

This brings the net cakes up to 64, which is a nice round number, so it might be a while before I get back to them as I proceed through the list of exceptional, quite fine, and fine shops to bring them up to 8, 4, and 2 net cakes, respectively. Should take a couple years, but I'll probably not wait that long, even without cake-off wins.

Ladurée, Saint-Honoré Rose Framboise

My last cake, bought and eaten, of the weekend was a new cake from a reopened shop on the exceptional list, Ladurée. Usually I would buy from Ginza Mitsukoshi, which was still closed, so this is from the Aoyama shop, which also has indoor and outdoor eat-in space, which was in use, though I got take-out. This was the only new cake, as they were keeping their line-up lean for the first weekend reopening in a neighborhood that's still mostly closed. It is the Saint-Honoré Rose Framboise. I like saint-honoré, but I've had one from them before, and the pastry is different from what I'm used to. For example, the large bottom is flaky, which seems impossible, though I haven't experimented with choux pastry that much. Anyway, the rose and raspberry flavors were sufficient rich, that I forgave them this time and allowed that maybe this pastry could be allowed, at least enough to call this an excellent cake.

I had after an evening running where I got maybe 60% through my 13 km neighborhood running course around Daikanyama. I was coming up to a turn and noticing a red brick tower in the distance ahead and had trouble thinking what building by the station it might beyond to. Then I noticed a cross on top and realized that I had missed a church on a side street. It's a nice building, too, though there a couple bigger ones in this neighbor (which has more churches than any other I know in Japan), so I was happy to find it, and quite my run, went back to my bicycle, and got some photos I was missing for Shibuya sites.

En Vedette, Saint-Honoré Rouge Pistache

As the noon run on Saturday, I went out to En Vedette in Koutou-ku (which Shibuya Scramble Square is shut down), looking around and taking photos of sites on future neighborhood running course loops in the areas northeast from Yotsuya Station. I took the longer route rather than go past the main Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi, though that is shut down as well. I came back by train, which had about three people per car, so I felt relatively safe. Also, I'm now running wearing a mask, since someone ahead of me might have coughed, though I also avoid trailing in people's wake.

As a new cake, I got the Saint-Honoré Rouge Pistache, which combines a lot of things I like. Red fruit, not so much, but a little fruit goes with choux pastry better than heavy things like chocolate, as well as being a much better accent for pistachio. In this case, the cream puffs are filled with fruit sauce rather than pistachio, which I might not have chosen, but the balance was fine. The pistachio cream was more whipped cream than the thicker paste I was expecting, but again, that might be for the best, this was excellent. This shop continues to impress me and should easily reach the quite exceptional shop group, even if I'm going to have to have to get further from my preference in their line-up. Unlike Pierre Gagnaire, their residential base area lets them have a full line-up. They recognized me, of course, from my trips to Shibuya and thanked me for the visit.

Rue de Passy, Saint Honoré à la Pistache

Went out to do a long run and was more successful at getting cake than running, which I'll take. Today was my first attempt to do the Daita-... loop counterclockwise, and I failed within the first kilometer, but now I shouldn't fail there (might try again tomorrow). So, I switched to cakerunning mode and decided that among my weekend priorities, Rue de Passy was closer, though if I had chosen the farther, I probably would have come back by train, so actually I probably would have run less, but returned later.

The Saint Honoré à la Pistache seemed like the best bet. Since no drink order was required and it was late enough for the eat-in space to be open (but almost empty), I ate in.  I've had pistachio saint honoré before, but this one was unique: the top is a pealed grape, the choux balls are full of grape cream, and there's another whole pealed grape buried in the middle. The grape mellows the pistachio cream, I think, or at least allows less sugar to be used. I rarely encounter grape in cake, but this worked well, so I can say that it is excellent. As a result, Rue de Passy definitely qualifies to replace Le Chocolat de H (which I've had six excellent cakes from, but no great ones) in the exceptional list. It might still get bumped by one of the other contenders, since the boundary is rather fragile, but I'm going to try to avoid test that until December 1, when Coffee Parlor Hill Top should reopen, since it's currently at the top of the quite fine group and is challenging Les Cacaos.

On the way back, I noticed a new shop on Aoyama-Douri ave., Le Pécin. Didn't notice anything suitable for a runner (all gift sizes), but got a free sample that was good.

Not sure whether this is related to the café of the same name up in Shinjuku Ward. I was on my way running back to finish off the revised Jinguumae east loop, which I easily did.

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Marron Fruits Rouges over Jean-Paul Hévin's Saint Honoré

Friday, which as planned as a no-cake day, despite some business after work, I managed to get down and tackle the 4 little loops I wanted ending in Ebisu-Nishi. First though, I use a coupon I had for a 5% discount on a pastry from Patisserie Les Annees Folles nearby (on the other side of Ebisu Park). I hadn't had a pastry from there before because I had thought they don't have them (you have to look opposite the cake display, or just from the outside, through the window next to the door). I got a Pain au Chocolat, which I rated excellent based on proper construction and reasonable tasting chocolate, but see the later comment about pastries. I was successful at finishing of three more loops, but missed the lowest priority one. Unfortunately, by taking a different route, I went by the Salvation Army Hall, and realized that it deserved to be an official site (after see online pictures verifying it's basically a church), which means I have to shift the route to go by the front route.  This put the Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop back at the top of the list of priorities, thought that turned out to be the least of reasons that it should have been.

Saturday, I was the last cake-off of the season for Jean-Paul Hévin's Saint Honoré, which gets replaced in October. Being one and one, it was set to match up against another seasonal cake that I've been looking forward to revisiting, Sadaharu Aoki's Marron Fruits Rouges. After a morning appointment, I headed to Isetan and got both. Before eating, though, I went out by bicycle to review again the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop, which I need to get to eventually, This was my first time that I actually finished within the three hours allotted. I did split off southwest tip due to finding a fairly large overlooked road/track-side shrine. I also found a shop that changed it's name, a chocolate shop that opened a cake branch and another little shrine, plus verified a cake shop and coffee shop with baked goods that I had spotted online. I also ruled out a few things. I'm left with a 22 km loop that I know maybe half pretty good.

Back to the cake-off, JPH's cake was good, but I wasn't really feeling the greatness, so it goes on notice. The win goes to Sadaharu Aoki's, whose chestnut past cake is a much better construction to deliver the flavors than a typical mont-blanc (radial symmetry is not that efficient for balanced eating in complicated cakes), though wouldn't work with a lot of meringue and whipped cream, if that's what you're after.

Saturday night, I tried to do the above mentioned Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop, as well as a little exploring of the Ebisu Stn. area, since I'm extending the course through the subway access tunnels in that direction. Unfortunately, I noticed two points where my course violated the rules: was on the wrong side of the road in front of a weird shrine didn't go past the front of a church. I used possible solutions made up on the fly without consulting the map, but neither turned out to be optimal, so this run doesn't count, though it wouldn't have mattered, because reviewing the Ebisu area, I font a chocolatier who had moved north to this loop just over the weekend, which I couldn't ignore. On the way, I stopped and got another pastry from Les Années Folles (for double the discount for being the second one before Sept. 30), this time Croissant aux Amandes. It was good, but nothing exciting and dry. Which brings me to my remark about pastries: I should give up sampling them at night and throw out all my old evaluations, because they just can't want that long. I want something to get on non-cake days at night, it's going to need to be something hardier than pastries (and cake), like macaron, which aren't necessarily best freshly made.

Cake-off: Michalak' Mont-blanc versus Jean-Paul Hévin's Saint-Honoré

Had the morning off on Friday, so I got cakes for a cake-off. Timing was not so great, as I was somewhat rushed and full already, but there's always something. I wanted a cake-off for Jean-Paul Hévin's Saint-Honoré, which is available only the second half of September. As the other cake for a second-round cake-off between winners, I choose the recent Michalak' Mont-Blanc. Both of these are available at Isetan and both a pretty decadent. I'm probably biased by too much chocolate and caramel lately, but I choose Michalak' Mont-Blanc as the winner, but I could go the other way on another day. Fortunately, not rocket science, so future rounds level things out (though only one cake can the the last to remain undefeated). I should confess that I very carefully removed the saint-honoré from its box and then dropped it on its side (facing away).

I did do some running at night. I finally got Moto-Azabu--Azabu-Juuban loop counterclockwise correct, completing it. Characteristically, I immediately decided that I was not satisfied with the route and revised it so I would go by a temple on the same side of the road (rather than having it across a two-lane road), so that loop remained the top priority.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Saint Honoré over Sadaharu Aoki's Éclair Caramel Salé

Got an early start (from having slept most of Sunday) on the Monday holiday, leaving at about 6 in the morning to try loops in the Azabu area. I was successful in 3 out of 4 cases, leaving a split: I did the very recently revised Nishi-Azabu--Minami-Azabu loop clockwise, and then finished off the Minami-Azabu west loop. Of course, the Azabu-Juuban loops was trivial to complete, the the tricky Moto-Azabu--Azabu-Juuban loop defeated me two places, both which I can put down to fatigue, since it was in execution rather than knowledge that I failed, though the latter was not perfect overall either, just it was not necessarily what tripped me up.

I had time before shops opened, so I went back over to the big loop circling Shimo-Kitazawa that I haven't updated the name for. I spent not much more than an hour, so I only traced about half what I did last time with only slightly better knowledge. I did find one place where a seemingly unneeded detour could be removed. I feel that I've forgotten another place that needs correctly, but perhaps I was just thinking of a Starbucks that I need to add (I should also find out of the next nearest one closed) on a loop I passed coming back.

For cake, I was not planning to do a cake-off, but just get two cakes from top shops that will only be round for a couple weeks. First I went to Hikarie close to opening time and got the Éclair Caramel Salé. For the second, I went to the Jean-Paul Hévin Marunouchi shop, since they open later than Isetan, so I figured I would have a better chance of getting the new cake starting today, and I was right. The danger there was the small supply, but rain probably was keeping people away and I had Ginza Mitsukoshi as a back-up, which also probably has a smaller demand than Isetan.

I ate Sadaharu Aoki's Éclair Caramel Salé first and decided it was great, both in terms of the caramel filling and the pastry. Of course, Jean-Paul Hévin's Saint Honoré is very similar in both, but I decide that it had more complexity, which was working for it, so I selected it as the winner, since they both seemed to be great. These two are probably going to dominate cake-offs for a while, which I may have to do extra ones for. I'm consider my cake budget for this month.

L'Abricotier, Saint Honoré

Friday, I did an indoor workout. Before hand, I went to Isetan to get their Koonie Chocolat Pecan, since they won a cake-off but don't have any new cakes (in Japan). Koonie are their cookie-brownie hybrid, covered in chocolate, and there are several flavors. I approve of the combination, and can call this an excellent baked good. Hard to tell the size from the photo, but reported weight Koonies on the French website is 20 g each.

Saturday, as planned, I rode to L'Abricotier to get a new cake, also for a cake-off win. This makes the 19th cake type from them for me. This time I got Saint Honoré, which I was surprised to find as new to be from there. It's very traditional in construction. As Japanese choux pastry goes, this was fairly robust, which I appreciate. The caramel is bitter caramel, which I did not appreciate but can respect, so I don't have probably saying that this was excellent.

Other errands appeared that I was not expected, so I was actually pretty late getting back, but went out again at 4 pm to confirm neighborhood course loops in the south Jinguumae area. This time I could confirm my Jinguumae 5&6 and Jinguumae--Shibuya loops counterclockwise, and take care of clockwise for the Jinguumae 5 and Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama south loops. Along the way, on the first of these four, I finally sampled Coco-Agepan, which is not open in the afternoon, though you'll still see the truck it's run out of parked in the same spot. Agepan means fried bread, and is a staple sweet to an extent. They fry it after you order it, but it doesn't take long. It's basically like a long yeast donut. I choose the Cinnamon Agepan rather than the Coco one (which I assume is chocolate, not coconut), one of several flavors. It was good and reasonable snack for runners, though photographing it in the rain was awkward.

Liberté: Saint Honoré

Thursday, I wanted to do a short run and get a pastry or some other small non-cake item. I was going to check Jinguumae and go as far as Shibuya Station, if necessary, but did not expect to find a bakery café on the north end on Jinguumae. I only found it because I overshot where I intended to turn and was doubling back on a road that cuts perpendicular to any direction I'm usually trying to go. The shop is Tournage and the café aspect is apparently fairly recent, not not terribly obvious from even looking inside, since there is not a lot of space. There was lots of sold out display space relative to the tiny size and I guess they do baking classes there. A newer shop is out in Toranomon could also be connected to the neighborhood course map if I use subway access stairs and tunnels to get past the main roads. I got a nut tart of some sort, which was definitely good and better than I expected, so they probably have good stuff, if you go earlier than I did, though they are more bread oriented than pastries. Anyway, it seems a much more significant bakery than the other bakery on the Jinguumae north loop.

Friday, I went to Isetan and got a cake from Liberté, who are a relatively new place and was visiting Isetan for the first time. I got what was labeled as just Saint Honoré, though it was chocolate. Unfortunately, it was just good: worth eating but not really worth buying. It can boast good ingredients, which I believe. I've been giving good shops a second chance when they visit Isetan, but I might wait until their next visit, as I have a lot of other places I want to go. For running, I successfully practiced the newly revised Jinguuemae north loop. It's another half kilometer longer but simpler in some ways.