Au Bon Vieux Temps, Ali-Baba and Belle Hélène

Ran down to Au Bon Vieux Temps on Sunday, and not by the shortest way, just because I wanted to keep running rather than wait for lights to change. Got there a little bit after 10 am, which is a little late, since they open at 9 am. Their Marjolaine was down to the last piece, and that's their best cake, though I was there for new cake, not that. I'm actually two behind on them because of cake-off wins, so I decided that if they had two new cakes (and that don't seem to vary the line-up much), then I would get them, which I was able to do.

I went with two other semi-traditional cakes. One was Ali-Baba, which was closer to the original version that became the Baba in that it had custard inside rather than whipped cream, though it was still rum, which was a later change. It was good, but traditional isn't always best. Note sure whether whipped cream would have been better than custard, but that would be my choice for this type of cake, now that I've tried a custard version.

Sorry for being negative, but the other traditional cake was Belle Hélène. Of course, making this level of fruit replicas is really a new thing, a result of the ease of making silicon molds and access to refrigeration, but the desert of pear with chocolate sauce is old, or at exists independently. It was good, but the semi-solid outer covering round the pear pieces and chocolate (which is most of the cake), is pretty tasteless and doesn't have a texture I find very appealing, though it's interesting to know that pear and chocolate is nice. If I'm look for dessert and there isn't cake I want, it seems like a good option. 

Tarte (Framboise Pistache)

This is the sad story of a cake that traveled by bicycle, though in my defense, it was a blog to begin with, just a round one instead of a square one, and maybe taller. This is a tart, in that there is a hard slab underneath. The flavors aren't terrible, and I don't to punish it for my hard handling, so I'll say it's good but still not post this to Twitter. With this case Au Bon Viex Temps looses it's chance to take over the superb cake shop spot temporarily held my Viron. Instead, it goes to Bien-Étre, which I've tried more cakes from than either of those.

Au bon Vieux Temps, La Môme

Finally, to the other cake of Monday (since not much cake during the week, before or after), La Môme from Au Bon Vieux Temps. This is meringue (raw) on top, rosemary-flavored apricot jelly and confiture, and apricot cream. The biscuits apparently use olive oil. It's all very mild though and not my thing, so this just rates good, which in no way reflect how poor a job I did keeping it intact.

Now, actually, I had a lot more running after that, just around the near neighborhood, doing or practicing updated loops, taking pictures, which I'm not caught up on uploading, 4 days later. So another snack, to give Caffe Veloce another chance their little baumkuchen, which seems to be generic, but it gets a pass, as a substitute for a packet of calorie mate.

Finally, another Yotsu shop I hadn't visited before was Amaguri Tarou (basically, Sweet Chestnuts Guy). They had other little snacks, but I figured I should try the chestnuts at least once. They are okay, but not my thing and really too much trouble to shell for me.

Au Bon Vieux Temps: Sainte-Maure

This should be short: I did a run down to Au Bon Vieux Temps. Didn't set an alarm and managed to sleep until 8 am, so it seemed a little late, since I wasn't able to get out of the house until a little before 9 am, but I could arrive at 10:30 am, which is actually a pretty good time (before 10 am, some cakes aren't out yet, even though they are open). I choose the Sainte-Maure, because I recognized it as something that had been around for a while, yet I had never tried it. I only got as far as reading that it had cheese before I was busy ordering, paying, and getting my cake arranged. Still not sure that was in it: probably some sort of red fruit, not too strong. The name is the name of the cheese, which probably means its the name of a region. It's goat cheese, which is a first for me with cake, as far as I can remember, and the cake seemed to be a rare cheesecake. Eating it was like eating not wet ice cream (which is a good thing), partially because I chilled it down to zero before eating it, but the same can be said for other of their cakes that are not cheese. Definitely excellent and unique. Not like what usually comes to mind when I think "cake", but I'll definitely be more interested in any other cheese cakes they have, though I've already had their Fromage Cru and it was just good.

Au Bon Vieux Temps, Pourriture and Michalak, Tarte Chocolat Pecan

Saturday, I woke early and was out running by about 6 am. I was planning to take rest from cake, so I started by working on the neighborhood course and was able to do the revised Moto-Azabu--Azabu-Juuban loop clockwise, getting a lot of missing photos of sites on that loop along the way, though I missed one. Of course, most of the shops were closed, which is not ideal, but since otherwise it's dark, I'm okay with that. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I noticed a shrine along the way that should have been on the Roppongi 6 loop, so I modified it (making it the Roppongi 5&6 loop), so it was one step forward and two steps back. After that, I reviewed the course on the west side of Hiroo, ruling out some coffee shops as unworthy and figuring out where I need to double-back to get near something sites. I added a bunch of photos there two. I was waiting for Hikarie to open at 10 am, so I also went over and tried to run the Ebisu-Nishi east and west loops, but only managed the easy east one (so at least I'm even for the day: two directs completed but two directions on one loop that need redoing). I had wanted to get a pastry I saw at Hikarie a couple weeks back, but it was already gone, so I went completely without fancy sweets. I more than made up for it the next day.

Sunday, I was busy in the middle of the day, so I decided to get cake for two in the morning. I went to Au Bon Vieux Temps because I owe them for a cake-off win and got a new cake, Pourriture. Then I took the train back and got the new tart from Michalak, who I want more new cakes than the line-up has quickly supplied. This time Tarte Chocolat Pican, perhaps (they don't keep an updated Internet presence for me to check about new cakes). I also got a Picnic Maron from Sadaharu Aoki, which I consider a pastry and I half-intended to get Saturday but decided that there was not hurry.

Au Bon Vieux Temps is maybe not the best choice for a cake to share, but their cakes are so small: half of one is two small bites. I'm going to say that Pourriture was great and see if a cake-off proves me wrong. It's a blue cheese and honey mousse over roasted fig on a semi-dry fig tart, or that's how I'm parsing the Japanese card.

The chocolate pecan tart was the best Michalak tart I've had. We both agreed that it was excellent. I've turned the stop on top where I damaged it after getting it safely in the refrigerator to the back, and that might be a fingerprint on the front.

The pastry, which has custard inside, as well as the chestnut cream, was also excellent. It's only around for a short time, exclusively at Shinjuku Isetan.

In the evening, I finished off the Moto-Azabu--Azabu-Juuban loop, again, and got the Roppongi 5&6 loop. I wet as far as Tokyo Midtown by bicycle, so it was only about 45 minutes of running.

Au Bon Vieux Temps, Nonetto and Ryoura, Passionemon

Had a long run out to, first, Au Bon Vieux Temps. Thinking that I had lost an umbrella (since found) I stopped by the doughnut shop and swung through Kita-aoyama and found that Q-Pot Café had moved northeast (I had seen the new shop, but wasn't sure whether it was a branch or also whether it included the café), so I can take the kink out of that neighborhood running course loop (the new shop is already on the adjacent northeast loop).

It took the usual 100 minutes to get to Au Bon Vieux Temps (since I always seem to take a detour), where I went with the Nonetto, which is chocolate, passion fruit, and hazelnuts. This was in reward for winning a cake-off, since otherwise I've already over-sampled this shop, which is quite excellent.

Since I wanted to go back by train, and it takes two lines, and also my priority is more to get two weekend cakes and run without cake another day during the week, I ran to Ryoura, which only too about another 20 minutes.

Google said I could get a bus and arrive in the same time, but waiting for a bus on Sunday wasn't attractive, even if the Nonetto got a little skewed. At Ryoura, which I've undersampled, I went with the first cake in the line-up that I hadn't had before, which was the Passionemon (Or I suppose Passion Lemon if you don't pronounce the L, but "lemon" is no French for lemon, so forget that), which is, of course, passion fruit and lemon, with whipped cream and I think light meringue on top.

The results are perhaps predictable. The Nonetto is lots of things that I like and Au Bon Vieux Temps doesn't lack skill, so it was excellent. The Pssionemon is fruit and more fruit with nothing substantial to cut it (I had tea, but not that much), so as much as a tried, though it was good and I enjoyed it, it wasn't special to me. Au Bon View Temps remains near the bottom and Ryoura remains near the top (and I've had about double the cakes from the former), so not much changed, just these are likely to stay settled as quite excellent shops, though my priority is still to get too more cakes from Ryoura, and that's even before I get them into another cake-off (they currently have one great cake available, but I've already done the first round).

[Sat] Au Bon Vieux Temps: Mille-feuille aux Fraises

For winning one cake-off back, I cycled down to Au Bon Vieux Temps. It was around noon, so some things might have sold out. I decided on Mille-feuille aux Fraises (410 yen?), which is a little standard (custard) mille-feuille with strawberry slices and strawberry jam icing on top, I think. I much prefer strawberry slices for this than large pieces like some similar mille-feuille use (if it were bigger, I'd rather it be bigger horizontally than vertically). It seemed excellent, but I took a little longer getting this to the park, so it was not as chilled as I would want. This would better straight at 4 degC on chilled plate,

The cycling was about 40 km, stopping at four different shops. None had added great cakes that I was looking for, though I could confirm one was continued from previous months. This is my first year of trying to track great cake availability for cake-offs, but it's looking like for the outlying shops (versus the big-brand central shops), once every two months would be plenty.

Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Giverny over Au Bon Vieux Temps' Chocolat Framboise

As planned, I left early and went to Au Bon Vieux Temps to get their Chocolat Framboise to compare with Giverny from Paris S'éveille, which is just two stations away. Unfortunately, Chocolat Framboise was not ready as early as I arrived, so I recommend waiting until 10 am, which was about when at least some missing cakes appeared, for fresh cake from Au Bon Vieux Temps. I passed the time looking at everything else.

The run was by the recent usual path with no surprises except it was cloudy and a little misty rain, so I was not always on the usual side of the road (since I didn't need shade). Around 13 km at 9 km/h. This was to Au Bon Vieux Temps. I carefully walked my cake to Paris S'éveille to get it's competition, the Giverny.

Actually, I could have done a better job of matching up cakes, but too late now. The Chocolat Framboise is very rich chocolate with nuts a little raspberry, whereas Giverny is pistachio cream with only a little chocolat. Both are great, which is really the important information, but it was not obvious which was better. I'm going with Giverny because I like chocolate, so I've designated a lot of chocolate cakes great and I doubt that this one, which is simple in some ways, being sort of a nutty maybe semi-dry (demi-sec) biscuit with rich chocolate-raspberry (I think, but maybe just chocolate with separate fruit) cream, is the best, whereas I sort of respected the creamy layers of Giverny more. I'm looking forward to having both again, however, for example, when it comes time to do round two (including run-offs of round-one losers) with cakes that were confirmed great.

Cake-off: ABVT's Marjolaine over L'Abricotier's Le Piemont

Did a cake-off despite the heat warnings, but left very early. The cake was from Au Bon Vieux Temps, which opens at 9 am, thankfully. They do not have everything ready that early, but their Marjolaine was, so that worked out well (another I'll want to get to some time soon was not ready, so maybe I'll go a little later that day). Strangely, I was hottest around 8:30, but more on that later. Running was about 12 km at 9 km/h.

The primary great cake whose turn had come for a cake-off review was Le Piemont from L'Abricotier. I arrived close enough to opening time that nothing seemed to be sold out and I got home before noon despite not using the nearest station (which is a less convenient line for me). This run too felt less hot than late in my early morning, but when I checked the weather station at home, it was a few degrees hotter than when I had started; it might have increased while I was on the train, but probably not that much. Some of it was humidity that burned off, maybe (at least, I often have the same sensation running early in the morning), but I suspect it's more that my body adjusts (if it had been sunny, that would have been more difficult). The mystery is whether my body really cools itself down or just I become insensitive to the heat, but if anything, I increase my water intake over time. I should keep in mind, though, that I might not be able to trust my sense of the heat and still make sure that I drink enough any limit my running during high heat. But no symptoms at all suggesting anything like overexposure to heat, so I think my running plan was sound. The late morning runs was another 10 km (by the time I got to my preferred station for the return) but still closest to 9 km/h, despite walking in the underground from Isetan at the intersection of Meiji-dori and Shinjuku-dori to Yasukuni-dori and the Yamanote Line underpass (it's not that less hot underground, but no stop lights and a lot fewer people, so it might not actually be any slower).

Both of these cakes were great and very similar in ingredients, being nutty and a little (relatively) chocolaty. The Marjolaine has the coarser crunchier texture and caramel, whereas Le Piemont is mostly smooth with some biscuits for texture. It was very difficult to decide, but I need to, so I'm siding with the stronger caramel flavor of the Marjolaine. I seems to have some bias for certain iconic French cakes.

Cake-off: Théatre over Quartette

 Today was a winding, not particularly in control run (in terms of route) from shop to shop, though relatively short for a weekend run.

First I went to Fraoula, where they still did not have the cake I wanted.

Then I stopped by La Base Secrète du GAMIN, to see whether they had actual had cake, which they did have, a little of, so I guess I'll try them as a weekday run some time, if I can find a route I can keep track of (which today's wasn't). I was about 1 hour in, so I tried their Pain au Chocolat (350 yen), which was mille-feuille-type, though still fairly soft in the middle, which I think means less butter and more flour, though I've yet to make this kind of pastry. It was excellent.

Then I managed to get to Rue de Passy without overshooting too much and verified that they had the cake that I would have paired against Fraoula's, so now I know.

Then I went to Origines Cacao, where they still didn't have the first great cake I was looking for of theirs, but I forgot about the second one I was looking for. Still no customers there, but they were announcing reopening in Ginza, in Ginza Six, so I hope that works out.

I then verified that Paris S'éveille had the cake I needed before proceeding to Au Bon Vieux Temps to get Quartette, which required standing in an actual line for the first time there (more than a dozen deep, when I left, but about half that when I arrived, but slow). Mostly, people were buying little baked cakes and cookies of the gift type, which involves conversations about how many of different things they need, in how many boxes or bags, and how long they are fresh for. So it took a while.

Back at Paris S'éveille, the line for cake was not so long, but there was a long line at the register and they to had relatively more people buying gift-type package items (in the area were they usually have little baked cakes, they had packaged macaron sets). There are three possibilities: noon to 1 pm is a terrible time to go, so everywhere that isn't a creepy second-floor shop on the farthest edge of the shopping street is super busy (probably always true); White Day is coming up on Tuesday, so people are buying things, although it wasn't just men buying and they were not buying white chocolate; today is the 6-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor disaster, and people are sending gifts to friends and family in that region (I've never heard of such a custom, but that is the topic of the day, and if people were visiting people in a consolatory visit, these would be the kind of gifts that they would need).

Took the train back, because my experience with Quartette (as well as some other Au Bon Vieux Temps cakes) is that it's melty. So today it was about 17.5 km at an average speed of 9 km/h. I'll probably run a little farther Sunday, but not that much, so I'll have a good deal of running budget for Monday thru Friday.

The cake-off this time was easy to decide: Theatre is great but I couldn't see what was special about Quartette, though it was still good. They are both chocolate, although more so Theatre, which also has some crunch, whereas Quartette includes some white chocolate, but is just creamy (supposedly it's mousse, but it's not fluffy). In the past, the richness of Quartette impressed me, but I wasn't feeling it today.

Au Bon Vieux Temps: Chocolat Fondant

Had a long run today down to Au Bon Vieux Temps again, last time being Dec. 18. As predicted, I was faster, just at the bottom of 12 km/h going out (12+ km). I walked to the park this time, so that cut out 650 m of running, but then ran 11 km/h to the Jiyugaoka Station Couca and then home at 10 km/h, again maybe both just barely within +/-0.5 km/h. So I haven't increased my distance, but I definitely increased my speed, by too much. I need to work on my consistency, which is where long training runs would be helpful, if I had time. I would have overrun my running budget but this makes the weighted amount of 12+ km/h running more than half, so I normalized 12 km/h. Still, I don't have much left for tomorrow and the day after that, so I might have to wait until Wednesday for more running and cake. In the meantime, I decided that I wanted to go by bicycle to the Mitsukoshi Cuoca rather than try to jog with 2 km of sugar and chocolate (which might not be great for the chocolate, against my back).

On the way, I stopped for energy at the Minamiaoyama Anderson and got Pain au Chocolat (パンオショコラ, 280 yen) again. It was softer inside than Maison Kayser's, which I don't think I prefer, but it was fresh baked and definitely good (as well as a little cheaper).

At Au Bon Vieux Temps, I reviewed the cakes and found that the one I thought I was going to get included coffee, so I went for Chocolat Fondant (チョコラフォンダン), though why it's called that, I'm not sure, since it was basically a block of raw chocolate. It is soft, so I suppose you could make it melt easily; maybe I should have taken it home and microwaved it a little. I know you can buy pieces of chocolate like this, but I'm not sure what that's usually called besides just chocolate. Anyway, this in no way resembles Fondant au Chocolate (which was obvious when I got it). It was still definitely good, but I'm not that interested in this type of chocolate. This bumps off this shop out my 2nd-tier "Superb" category, which comes as no surprise. At some point when I find another excellent shop, I'll split the excellent ones into top and bottom groups so it can stand out again as at least being at least among the top 20 Tokyo patisseries.


On the way back, I stopped in the Dean & Deluca Bakery under the tracks next to Himonya Park (which finally reopened recently). I got the seasonal Croissant Chocolat (クロワッサンショコラ, 224 yen), which is not that much different from Pain au Chocolat. It was cheaper, but only because everything was discounted for some reason (not because it was late in the day), which maybe they always are at that place. It was too much food, though, and only 30 min running after the cake, so I felt more full than I liked. Maybe I should have waited for Perch (coffee stand just above Nakamekuro on old Yamanote Road), but I was okay and that was probably not why I was much slower than going out.

Au Bon Vieux Temps: L'Auvergne

Did a long not so slow run to Au Bon Vieux Temps (オー　ボン　ヴュー　タン) and back. There, I got the L'Auvergne (ローベルニュ; 648 yen). Mostly, it is strawberry mousse, with a more solid maybe cheese mousse (too mild to tell, but was white) as a center layer, and surrounded by a green shell with a gelatin layer that I'm not sure what it is (there was something written on the card, but it was Japanese phonetic French, probably, and it was very crowded in the shop, so I don't remember and didn't write it down. Thought "vert" something "ine", which doesn't match lime, or the french word for lemon balm, which was the guess of the only online mention I found. The taste was not strong, whatever it was, though it certainly added a kind of fresh taste (but not obviously mint) without obviously being mind (and it's not green tea). Anyway, it did not travel well with my running (no big shock, given the many small ones), which is not their fault (I turned wrong and ate at a farther away park than I had intended). It was good and certainly fancy (before I maimed it), but I can't say it was better than good (I have no interest in eating it again). Using my cut off, I've grouped this one with five other shops and the second-tier "superb" shops (which has not been transferred  to my map much yet), but it's really an outlier and eventually I'll set up a third-tier of the best of my currently "excellent" shops and it will probably go with them.

The run was on the faster-than-it-should-be side on the way out, averaging about 10 km/h. Coming back, was all around 9 km/h and slightly longer, because of search for a park and then swinging by Cuoca to see if they sold pistachio essence or oil, which they don't (their very pretty hulled pistachios are 400 yen for 20 g. I've paid half that rate for pistachio powder, so they might be relatively worth it, but I think I can get along without them. I might buy pistachio oil, which is cheaper and would go a long way, and try adding it to butter cream for macaron filling. First, I have lots of other ingredients to use up.

Update: I forgot to say I ran 26 km, compared to 16 km once last month at a slower speed. The test will be whether I'm okay on Tuesday.

Au Bon Vieux Temps: Chocolat Framboise

As planned, I ran round trip to Tokyo Midtown, about 7 km at 9 km/h round trip, on Friday night and did not get anything, just ate homemade canelé (which were not very successful: I need to follow the recipe and not overfill the forms, as it causes various problems).

Saturday I got my flu shot, as planned and mostly took it easy (did some necessary food shopping).

Today, I went by bicycle (about 26 km round trip) down to Au Bon Vieux Temps (オー　ボン　ヴュー　タン) in Todoroki, Setagaya-ku, and got the Chocolat Framboise (ショコラフランボワーズ; 561 yen）. Note, not so much raspberry in this, just enough to get a taste and seeds in your teeth. However, this is in the same style as their Zyphir and Tentation Chocolat, which I've liked, so I don't mind so much. The top is chocolate decoration and a raspberry, chocolate cream, on top of a chocolate disk with raspberry pieces in it. As far as I could tell, there is no raspberry in the bottom cake part. I was thinking that the bottom was going to be brownie like, but actually it's fairly crunchy. There are nut pieces in there, but some dark crunchy bits as well, maybe nubs, but didn't really have that look. Certainly, it was delicious and let me wanting more. I've had cakes that's I've really liked that would would prefer to split with someone, but this is one where I wouldn't have minded having two of the same. I'
m not complaining about the size, though.

P. Asako Iwayanagi: Crème Chocolat Caramel Cake

Still cycling today, for a rare visit to a new place out near Todoroki Station on the street running parallel to the tracks, Patisserie Asako Iwayanagi. It's a new shop with a new feel and the clientele seemed a little too upscale (groups of ladies) and the clerk, or maybe it was Ms. Iwayanagi, spoke too formally for how I was dressed, so I didn't try to eat in, which is why the cake is not presented as well as it could have been. I've always had trouble finding a park in this part of town, so instead I was on a little mound with some sort of archaeological significance, although I was not the only one crammed into the green space there, probably for the same reason: nowhere else to go walk the dog (one person) or escape the house (assuming the old guy who was washing his feet at the bathroom at the base when I arrived was not just a local homeless guy, as I first thought). But I digress.

The cake I choose was the oddly named Crème Chocolat Caramel Cake, or maybe I'm making it French for no reason and it's Cream Chocolate Caramel Cake. It was 626 yen for a caramel crème brûlée above chocolate cream above chocolate sponge cake. It was good, but probably not a good choice for me, since it's not sweet or nutty. However, I don't respect soft sponge cake, so I'm going to assume that this is not the place for me. But the shop is sophisticated, so I would probably try again if it were more convenient for me, so it may actually be excellent.

I kept my greed more in check than yesterday and rather than get something pricier at Au Bon Vieux Temps, along the street to Oyamadai Station I stopped in at Vent de Ludo, a new (although I suspect there was something similar there before) bakery café that looked pretty nice. The selection was not exceptional, but the chocolate doughnut was kept in a refrigerated case (with some other fancier things) and was good for 140 yen. Better the Seven Eleven, but not dramatically (nor dramatically different in price).

Cooking today was an attempt at chocolate madeleines, but they were not an improvement on brownies. I should get some lemon zest or a workable substitute next time for normal madeleines, although I've had the scary/wild idea to try ｓansho, which is potentially a literally electrifying idea. Need to get some granulated sugar before I try anything with that recipe again, though.

Sunday cycling with a flat

Today I went out to Au Bon Vieux Temps and got a Quartette for 486 yen, I think. I chose this particular great place because they open at 9 am and the extreme heat is continuing, but I left a little late and had navigational problems, so I didn't arrive as early and I could have, but at least before 10 am, I think. I've had this cake before and have been looking to have it again. The three layers of mousse (white, milk, and bitter chocolate) are extremely creamy. Maybe because of the heat, the outer chocolate was too sweet or something for me. Maybe if it had not been chocolate. I may have to alter my selections for the season. Still, great cake otherwise. Again, with this heat, it's a race to eat it, so the picture is messy.

Next, at Sucreries Nerd down the road a few kilometers was the Opera Praline. Usually, a cake called Opera has coffee in it, so I automatically stay away from them, but there was nothing about coffee on the description card so I asked and it was coffee-free. Instead, it is a harmony of ganache and praline buttercream, with milk chocolate icing on top. It was good, but I was distracted by a flat tire; not fun in the heat. Anyway, the cake was good and they had a few interesting things, but no priority to get back there. Glad Ota-ku has something good, though.

Cycling from Au Bon Vieux Temp (Tentation Chocolat) to Faraoula (Angers st Laud)

To rest my feet, I went out with my granny bike to what I think of as the Jiyugaoka (自由が丘) area, which includes within a couple stations. As usual, having okay cake yesterday made me crave really good cake, so I went where I knew I could find some.

I started with my far point, which was Au Bon Vieux Temps (オー ボン ヴュー タン), which recently moved around the block to the wide street from the narrow shopping street that runs to the station (Oyamadai Station; 尾山台駅), though it's actually on the Todoroki side, not Oyamadai. No picture because I demonstrated to myself again that you can't carry cake on a bicycle (but I can run several kilometers carrying it), at least not operating it (the bicycle) in a legal manner. My cake was decapitated, but still quite edible, so no problem. The cake was a Tentation Chocolat ("chocolate temptation"; タンタシオンショコラ) for 650 yen. It had a not quite solid block dense chocolate tart-like base of about 1 cm (3 to 4 cm diameter), a middle slightly thicker layer of still fairly dense chocolate mousse, and was topped by chocolate whipped cream. Great cake (which is why I go to this shop). I need to go to the cafe/restaurant and have one of their frozen desserts, which are slightly more expensive.

Next, I searched for one new place among the many cake places listed on the local area website but that I had never heard anything particular about. m.koide, who I've seen open and with customers, was unexpectedly closed with a "help wanted" sign on the door. I had already gone past where Patisserie R Okasawa used to be and seen that it had moved, but since I knew that I also had also passed the new shop somewhere though was not sure where, I figured that it was better to look online later (which I've done) rather than go back and search. Patisserie Rikyuu (where I might have gotten cheesecake as maybe the only thing of much interest listed on the menu out front) had a tiny note on the door saying "back at 1:40". Merger-sasa (?) was no where to be found, although I did find an empty storefront with an awning at about the right place that would fit for a patisserie. So I ended up visiting Patisserie de la Loire, which is a tiny Mom (and I think I heard Pop in the back) place that admitted that they didn't have any specialty, which pretty much sums them up. They looked completely basic, but a little sachertorte for 300 yen tasted about like what one would expect, in a good enough way. If you need to buy a bunch of little cakes for students/children/underlings, they have a few basic varieties, and the lady was very nice. No reason for me to go back again.

Okay, back to the greats that bring me to Jiyugaoka: Tarte Tentation (タルト タンタシオン) at Patisserie Paris S'éveille (パティスリー・パリセヴェイユ). This was also chocolate, but a little wider and only about 5 mm thick of chocolate flavored with citrus (with a few orange pieces on top). It was high quality, but the orange (or whatever specifically it was) overpowered the chocolate, so it did not work for me, although not bad tasting. Still, I'll be back until I've sampled everything and then go through the one's I think that I like again (the main purpose of this blog is as a record, since I can't remember all these cakes and shops in detail).

Finally, a shop that just recently moved and came to my attention, Fraoula, hidden between stations at the southwest corner of Yoyogi Park, sold me one of the below (518 yen): Angers st Laud (アンジェ サン ロー)、which is pistachio flavored with vanilla Bavarois (Bavarian cream), but notice that there are little biscuits (English spelling is such a pain, I write as I try to figure out French from phonetic Japanese every day for this blog, although in this case, I didn't need to) in there, as well as almonds: great cake (or whatever you want to call it). Not disappointed with this place yet, so I expect more last stops there (if I can get there by when they close, 5 pm!).