Cafe Landtmann: Landtmanntorte

Friday night, I got of work reasonably on time and did a run down to finish confirming the Minami-Aoyama east loop. The first fact meant that this took me by Viking Bakery F while they were still open, so I got half a loaf of Sourdough Bread, which is not something you can get a lot of places. It was definitely good. I toasted it and had it with olive oil, or at least most of it. The picture is at only half way through, after which I shared.

Saturday morning, I went out and just did photo of sites on the map I wanted to confirm. As usually, I found a couple I didn't know about, so the just expanded Roppongi 6 north loop got shrunk a little to take in a temple. I also found a Shuu coffee shop, and some day I'll actually go inside one and find out whether I'm including them for good reason.

I was busy otherwise much of the weekend, but I did go to a the Marunouchi Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolat Bar, which was crowded for the first time ever (perhaps related to them completing the neighboring building, so now there is more people to be walking around that area look for food). They just changed their special, so I went there and had Madeleine Fondue, which is chocolate fondue for

madeleines with whipped cream was excellent. Also had the O de Chocolat Brésil, which was excellent. I also had halves of two chocolate macarons, which is maybe not enough to judge (I'm not sure even a whole macaron is enough to judge) but seemed excellent, the Constanz, which is a Dominican Cacao ganache, and Crioca, which is Brazilian ganache.

Finally, Sunday for lunch, we went to Cafe Landtmann, which is a restaurant in the AO building. Being a restaurant, I wouldn't usually bother with trying to get and review their cake, but they are on the neighborhood course map and they have "Cafe" in their name, so I decided to allow them. It's a fancy place with good atmosphere, both physical and service, but not exceptionally expensive, considering. I got the Landtmanntorte,

figuring that it would be their best, since they've put their name on it, though maybe I should just have considered that other things already had names, so they didn't have the opportunity. Anyway, this has a little chocolate frosting on the outside edge, a top layer of raspberry sauce, more extensive layers of caramel, and a layer of orange cream. The cake part is cinnamon flavor and has an usual consistency, not sponge certainly, but sort of a wet and nutty, maybe, sort of solid without being hard. It was definitely good, but I should have gone with something with more chocolate. The other dessert was not cake, it was Marillen Palatschinken, which the English explains as Viennese apricot pancakes, though they are crêpes, as the Japanese clearly states.

L'Essentielle, Cassisier

Thinking back to Wednesday, I went first Isetan from their visiting shop. I had one cake from L'Essentielle, so I figured I'd try another. I got the Cassisier. For running, I visited various parts of my neighborhood running course that I wanted to change and verified that they would work. I wanted to shorted some parts that I have to use to go most places and decided that I didn't want to cut through Keio Univ. Hospital, though people always have at that point. The original plan had been for a short run, but it ended up about an hour, once I connected up the parts.

The Cassisier, which is obviously cassis (black currant), is white chocolate based and has star anise as the spice accent (accents). This is just too soft a cake for me. I need a biscuit, cookie, or crunchy layer, I guess. There was enough going on with the top that I have some respect for it, so I'm calling it good, but I'm not in a hurry to sample from them again.

I planned no running for Friday, so Thursday I went for a long run to try to do a successful one-way neighborhood run to what I thought were the nearest new parts, as well as a little part that want to reacquaint myself with that was convenient to add.  These included absolutely confirming the Nishiebisu east and west loops, followed by the new Ebisu--Hiroo east and west loops. I'll have to change the last one, maybe, because I've since found a new religion church that I missed, but that's no big deal. I also did the Higashi north loop on the way home, just so I can skip it when I redo the central and south loops. I ran into one pedestrian bridge blocked off, so I cheated and used the intersection to cross, but I'm not going to scrap the run for that. If I had known, I would have crossed at a different bridge, though it's longer, but I wan't willing to double-back to get to it. It was a +2 h run, so I made use of a new snack source only the route, the Baking Shu in the Shibuya Stream complex and got Raisin Coupé, which is a bun. After an hour of running, I needed it. Actually, I sent my lunch hour trying to get a question answered by the cell phone company person, so I was pretty underfed that day (though more chocolate than usual). It might have been too much bread for another day, but it was 200 (approximately) well spent, and good.

Friday, I refrained from running, but there was shopping and exercising indoors, so I got a Chausson aux Pommes from Hediard. It's very precisely made, but ultimately boring, though still good.

Ogawaken: Marron Soufflé

Masuda-sei Pan

Friday, I went for a one-way neighborhood course run for some new loops, including ones that I needed to take more photos for. On the way, I finally found Masuda-sei Pan ("Masuda-made Bread") open, so I went in a bought a little French Toast. It is on the eggy side rather than the sweet side, which I'm fine with, and the bread was French breach like, though not hard (though if it is really old bread, then it should not be). It was good. Glad I could have a visit. In Harujuku, I visited Anywhere Door, which has "shots" in wafer-style flat-bottomed ice cream cones. They describe it was tiramisu, though they are different flavors. I decided that I wasn't interested, so I don't need to adjust my map to swing by their alley. I'm looking for solid food.

I had a little trouble with doing the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya loop clockwise. Even though I new I had to turn at the Ao Building, but I couldn't remember whether it was before or after before I had already overshot. I went back and ran it correctly, but I need to practice. I expect I'll need to come the same way again soon, so I don't have to make a special trip.

The main target was side loops from the Daikanyama-chou--Dougenzaka--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop. First is what I'm calling the Shibuya south loop, which is just temporary until they finish new pedestrian bridge south of Shibuya Station. The loop goes by the shrines and temples around the site of the former Shibuya Castle.

In another first of finding a shop open when I wanted something (though it was a little early after the French Toast, and I did have a proper lunch first), I stopped by Ogawaken "Western Confectioner" Daikanyama, which is next to their restaurant (versus their salon in Meguro), which seems to be most famous for raison sandwich cookies. Anyway, I tried their oddly named Marron Soufflé, which is a roll cake with chestnut bits inside. It was good and convenient finger food, so my respect for roll cake has increased somewhat as a result. I ate it in a park on the new Ebisuminami--Nakameguro north loop. I tried to do the Ebisunishi loop along the way, but I've had to revise it since then, so I'll need to redo it.

After that, I did the Aobadai--Kamimeguro loop, taking pictures in the fading light (at ~4 pm). Still not certain about the Happy Pudding Factory, but I suppose if I return the jar there, it could be okay.

On the way back, I discovered a basement cafe/bakery/patisserie near Café Le Cordon Bleu, which I was going to for a pastry. The new shop is Maison Ichi Daikanyama and I should have about there. I had previously had two excellent pastries from Café Le Cordon Bleu, so wanted to take advantage of being there when they were open. I got a Croissant Chocolat Amonde. It was good and I'm used to these being sugar and butter bombs and soft, but it was too much for be at the time, more on the sweet side than oily. Still, it's fair to say that it was good, just not the best I've had.

(Friday) Jean-Paul Hévin: Éclair Constanza

I went to Tokyo Midtown for lunch and got cakes which were shared for dessert, along with Madagascar and Ghana hot chocolate (I'll stick to just showing the cakes). The Duja I've had many times before. It's a hazelnut biscuit chocolate cake that is excellent; pretty standard though fancy chocolate layer cake. The other is a new éclair for this month only, Éclair Constanza, and is also excellent, though I definitely prefer the tart to the éclair. 

This was a café visit rather than solo-cake, so running is not necessary, but in the evening I did have time and did another Marunouchi to Ginza loop, this time skipping JPH but checking Frédéric Cassel. Still no new information. In general, August does not seem to be a time to introduce new cakes. To motivate myself, I did get another snack, from Le Boulanger de Monge at Ginza Six: a Croissant d'Almonde. They threw in three kinds of bread samples as well, cranberry, walnut, and mixed fruit and nuts. The croissant was kind of dry and not better than good, but at least with butter, the bread was all excellent.

Éclat des Jours: Cheminée

My big challenge for midweek was Thursday. After work, I ran to Éclat des Jours, which is 10+ km and requires going through the busy east Tokyo Station area, where there are also a lot of stoplights for major cross streets, so it was 9 km/h going and returning (probably, going was close to 10 km/h, but I missed hitting the "lap" button). It's not too crowded most of the way, though, and it's very easy to navigate, which is good because the Chiminée (540 yen? They gave me the wrong receipt), if "n" is the missing letter in what I actually wrote down when there, was great. It's main feature is raspberry ganache, I think surrounded by milk chocolate mousse, then raspberry sauce and a macaron on top. It's just sophisticated enough but covers the basics (getting the balance right between raspberry and chocolate is nontrivial). Also, it traveled 10+ km and still looks good, so it was well constructed and well packed.

Friday, I just did a little running for grocery shopping and got Flute Ancienne from Paul, which was way more calories than any cake (at least with butter), which I'll try to use up in a 30 km run tomorrow. It was excellent bread.

Henri Charpentier: Sachertorte

Well, I avoided them for two years, but illness and cake lust drove me to finally go to Henri Charpentier, which was most convenient at Isetan. My avoidance was because they generally have soft boring cakes, which I bypassed this time by taking the Sachertorte (540 yen), which is a relative heavy cake, even there. And the balance with the apricot and sweetness (the chocolate probably matters, but is relatively weak, which is what I would expect) means it was unexpectedly excellent, so I can't dismiss them as uninteresting, though I've never thought they were incompetent, so it's not a shock. On my personal list, they now come on the newly arranged "Quite good" list, which is the bottom few dozen of the top several dozen Tokyo cake shops, most of which I've only sampled from a two or three times. Only one cake means I should get back there and try something else sometime relatively soon.

I haven't had any other fresh cake lately, but I got some Mohave Raisin and Walnut Brod from Andersen, which was excellent toasted and buttered (so it's not really fair to compare it to untoasted and buttered bread), and Cinnamon from Hediard, which is very heavy on the walnuts and good, but not better than my modest expectations, both again via Isetan, which is about as far as I'm up for currently.

Noix de Beurre: Mille-feuille

Went to Isetan, thinking I was going to Morozoff, but remembered why this shouldn't be a priority: they don't have fresh cake (I like baked cheesecake, but, like pound cake, it not the same as "fresh/raw" cake, in the Japanese sense). Also, I need to buy a full 1000 yen pie-sized cake, so I'd rather wait until I'm buying for more than just myself, although it is something that having leftovers would be okay, so it's always available as a backup plan when I can't get anywhere else.

Instead, I followed up on getting a different cake from Noix de Beurre, so I made the safe choice and got their Mille-feuille (540 yen), which they don't assemble until you order it. This was excellent as expected as well as being reasonably priced and convenient to obtain, so more evidence that this shop/counter is quite good.

The run was going to the Akasaka Palace course to see whether I could manage 12 km/h. So I lasted all of 8 days before breaking my promise not to run hard when it's 5 deg out. What can I say, running is addictive and makes me do crazy things. But this time I took a day of rest since my long weekend runs, so I'm expecting to be okay. I only know the 1 km and 2 km marks for the course, so it's hard to pace myself. Plus, the slopes are not evenly distributed, so the goal isn't to keep a steady pace, but get head on the first half and not lose too much on the uphill parts in the second half (although there is also some downhill again). Since I wasn't really confident that I could make it, I just tried to run as fast as I thought I could keep up the full 3.3 km, based on how hard I was breathing compared to when I was doing 13 km/h last week. This meant about 4'30'' for the first kilometer, and maybe 4'45'' for the second. In the end, I finished before the target 16'30'', at 15'29'', which is actually above 12.5 km/h, so it's not impossible that I could do 13 km/h some day, but it's not seeming very likely and trying is not a priority.

Just as full disclose, on the "rest day", actually I had to do a couple hours overtime and I got a half of a Baguette Meule (I think) from Le Petit Mec, which was definitely good break, but not my favorite of theirs.

Le Petite Mec: Baguette

No cake today, but I did stand in line at Le Petit Mec and managed to get half a baguette (140 yen) before they sold out this time. It was excellent, nice and chewy.

The run was a 12 km/h training run at Meiji Jingu Gaien, this time 6 laps, which is 50 m short of 8 km. The first lap was hard, as always, and yet checking every 100 m, I kept a constant pace then, and was still on track on the last one, when I was checking every 600 m. More than one lap, I speed up near the end, just in case, because my time was just a couple seconds from exactly 12.0 km/h, and I didn't want to loose the lap to a mishap. Was still okay on the last one, so I assume that I could keep this up for a 10K. Eventually, I'll test that at the 5 km moat course, though that's less flat. Pretty crowded now all the all the usual courses. Guess we're about a week out from the Tokyo Marathon.

Great cake shops/patisserie of Tokyo

No running today, which I may regret. Yesterday Saturday's weather sounded better than what they are saying now for Saturday, so I might have saved my legs for nothing.

Anyway, I ate too much bread from Le Petit Mec, what they call a cannelle, I think, which is a kind of cinnamon bun. It's good, but I'd like to find something better. Also, olive and cheese baguette, I think, which is especially great with cream cheese.

So I had time to finish going through my blog posts, adding up the ratings, and figuring out where everyone stands (although it's going to take a second pass to correct inconsistencies).

Definitely great shops:

(1) Dalloyau. Very French, dominates Ginza, but also appears at some department stores with cake and has shops/salons also in Jiyugaoka and next to Meguro Station.

(2) Henri le Roux (Isetan). This Isetan counter only gets in because they only have 4 cakes, but 3 of them are great and the other is excellent. Midtown store has great Kouign Amann, but not fresh cake.

(3) Jean-Paul Hévin. All chocolate. Dominates Isetan basement (in the sense of being great and having eat-in space) and also found in Ginza, Midtown, and Omotesando.

(4) Paris S'éveille. Able to stand next to Dalloyau in Jiyugaoka. Also great Kouign Amann.

(5) Pierre Hermé. Also has a special place in Isetan, although you need to go to Aoyama for a café.

(6) Sadaharu Aoki. Doesn't need a French name or great variation in shape of cakes to share Isetan and Midtown, which has café space, although Marunouchi has more space for eating in, I think.

(7) Viron. Marunouchi has a full restaurant, but Shibuya has some eat-in space and they both have excellent bread as well (actually, they are more bakeries anyway).

Potentially great shops:

(8) Frédéric Cassel at Ginza Mitsukoshi based on just four cakes (not that they have many more than four at any one time).

(9) Yu Sasage out in northwest Setagaya based on just three recent cakes.

Others that I listed as great in the beginning failed to live up to the designation, although some of these are among the definitely excellent. It's resolving all the potentially excellent ones that are going to take a lot of time, so I have to count up how many there are and decide how to split up my cake-buying. That will be a different post.

Running without cake

So running, but no cake (need to save some money for running gear and a good bike), although I picked up bread (6 cereal; two slices missing from that half loaf) at Paul, which is one of my favorite bakeries (and their tarts and such are okay, but not among the greats), in this case from the one at Yotsuya Station. I followed parts of the History and Culture Walking Course (文化とレ技師の散歩道). The Shinjuku one through Yotsuya, the Shibuya one east where it meets the Shinjuku one at Akasaka (both of which have some slopes, and the latter one is partially dark but a good neighborhood: lots of cops guarding the Diet Building), and then a bit of the (imperial) moat course. I'd guess that it was in the 12 to 14 km range, but I'm too lazy to measure it with Google Map (which is limited). Next time maybe I'll try to take it farther (or skip some of the beginning).