L'Abricotier: Cherie

It was time to get a 10th cake from Quite Excellent shops, so I cycled to L'Abricotier, which is at the top of the list, alphabetically. I had things to do in the afternoon, so I went early, which was a mistake. They open for business at 10 am, but only for take out and they did not have many cakes out for display yet. I went with a new one, Cherie, which is strawberry and cream on the outside and strawberry something on the inside. I took it to a nearby park. Unfortunately, the middle was slightly sherbet-like, so it may have still been to cold. But since the outside was just soft whipped cream, it would tricky to defrost it at room temperature, since the outside would get too warm first, I assume. On the other hand, if the middle was really just pudding that was semi-frozen unintentionally, I'm not sure what would hold it together anyway, so maybe it was just as designed. But that design does not work for me and I don't really like strawberry and cream aftertaste much (which affects a lot of cakes, though not every cake sticks with you; I didn't have tea, but I did have water). I'm going to have to rate this as just ok, which makes my rating for this shop down in just Excellent territory. However, it's hard to compare shops with different numbers of cakes sampled, so I won't actually move it down until an excellent shop with the same number of cakes bests it.

L'Abricotier: Mont-Blanc

Was off in the afternoon, so I did a run to L'Abricotier, had cake, and walked back. On the way back, I tried following the Chuuou Line, which I had not done for long enough that I had forgotten what it was like. The fastest route is along Waseda-doori, which I'm not fond of, but I'm not sure I like along the train line better, at least where cars are trying to use the same trick, since there is not that much space along the road (though it's common for people to walk there and there are fewer traffic signal stops). There is perhaps no perfect route.

For cake, I finally got the Mont-Blanc, as my 11th cake. I might not have thought of it if the person ahead of had not ordered one, since they are made to order, so there are no examples to attract my attention, just a little card with an explanation on the shelf with almost all the rest of the cakes. I ate in and this is almost a café desert rather than fresh cake, as they recommend eating within an hour of purchase rather than the usual same day.

In a way, this mont-blanc was perfect in its simplicity: just a biscuit, probably the traditional almond, but it seemed a little coarse for meringue, so maybe there was some flour in there; a light whipped cream center, and probably the reason for the one-hour limit, as this is going to collapse over time; and a thick covering of chestnut paste, which was not too heavy a taste for me. This was clearly assembled on the plate in this case, but you can get it as take-out. It was definitely good, but I'm not enough of a fan of just chestnut paste to rate this higher than that. Mont-blanc that I've though were great always had something else going on to balance the chestnut, such as cassis.

I walked back partially to conserve my strength and partially because I'm a little worried about my right ankle and I wanted maintain control. It seems okay and I'm still thinking an endurance run is possible Sunday. I was worried about the cold after today's few ours outside, just because I lost finger strength and was really hungry in the afternoon, but I'll be maintaining a continuous supply of pastries and energy cookies and not they are saying that Sunday will be a more reasonable temperature for being outside. I should mention that today was a low temperature advisory for being the coldest weather in Tokyo for 48 years, but running generates enough of its own heat as long as it's not cold and raining and today even walking I was fine except for my hands.

L'Abricotier: Sisile

Since I was free Sunday, I wanted to go somewhere I could not get elsewhere, even if it is a little out of order, so I went to L'Abricotier in Nakano-ku and got the Sisile (Sicile?), which I saw last time I was there and wanted to try. This time, I was tempted to get their Mont-Blanc, just because they make it for you special (from 11:00) and you're suppose to eat it without an hour, which makes it sound more like a café desert than take-out cake. Anyway, I got the Sisile, and I'm glad that I did. The green is pistachio, obviously from the name, and inside are both raspberry mousse and lychee mousse. I like this structure of cake and the tastes all went together. Not sure how it would stand up against great like such as I had yesterday, but I think it deserves the chance to try, so I'll say that it's great.

The afternoon was more pictures for the seventh neighborhood course, which I've already changed significantly: I'm going to have to relearn the last four courses. Lots of walking yesterday and today (some running today, just where convenient; the cake was actually by bicycle and I ate in), so some muscles are unexpectedly sore.