Higuma Doughnuts x Coffee Wrights: Cinnamon & Sugar Doughnut

Sunday morning, I went around Jinguumae on the way to some neighborhood running course loop (I think the Jinguumae 5&6), to try to complete my visits to all the food sites I put on the Jinguumae Kita-Aoyama north loop. The first thing I ate was a cake-shi (but soft/fresh/fluffy) one from Burnside Street Cafe/B Portland Cafe. It was excellent, as a fresh doughnut, but only because they heat up a plain one or fry on the spot and add the topping, so it's a restaurant, and not really a running stop (took a few minutes). I get to check them off as visited, but now I know that I didn't need to.

Actually, on the way, I stopped at what I thought would be (and might still be named) Tournage in Jinguumae 2 (versus their east shop), but I was informed that actually the shop was now an organic cafe and this was their first day with new staff. This seems to be Sunday Co-bo Kafe, so I guess just a Sunday thing and maybe I didn't get or understand the full explanation. They had soup, so it's not just baked goods. I went, not because I've never had anything from them, but because I'd never had a fresh pastry from them, but the new version didn't have pastries. They were nice though, so I bought a strawberry jam based yeast cake (basically, a coffee-cake), which was definitely good. (It didn't have a card, so I don't have a name, as they just described it rather than claiming a name.) Hope it works out for them, despite their terrible timing to open a cafe (but they can sell takeout).

The other new shop I visited was Higuma Doughnuts x Coffee Wrights. This place does count as a running site, because the donuts are already made and kept warm. I got the Sugar & Cinnamon Doughnut. It was good as a doughnut, but this was a yeast doughnut that squished to nothing when you bit into it, though I guess that's really the best a yeast doughnut is going to do.

Emporter (Yotsuya), Harmonie and Gateau Fraise

Was mostly busy over the weekend. Saturday, though, I went a couple new places. One was only semi-new, and without cake: the Pierre Hermé in Marunouchi, which sells drinks, some suitable gift items, soft ice cream, and a few baked goods. We got Marron Pie and some ice cream (orange and passion fruit, maybe). The Marron Pie counts as a pastry, though it was after 4 pm, so I'm not called it fresh. Still, it was well made, so counts as excellent within that scope: no complaints.

The soft ice cream was fine, though not within my scope of interest, even with the macarons (which were particularly hard and not like macarons I've made, so I'm suspecting the modified recipe to produce something more robust and cookie-like to stand up being stuck into ice cream, though the shape was correct).

The actual cake came from a new shop in the root clump of loops in my neighbor running course, Emporter (a name shared with a Setagaya shop). I asked for a recommendation, and had suggested Harmonie, which is white chocolate with a (suitably) limited amount of raspberry. The other cake chosen was the Gateau Fraise, though I would have gone with something dark chocolate.

I thought both cakes were good, though that standout good. However, my co-eater was quite impressed by the Gateau Fraise and its generous amount of whipped cream.

Since Japanese strawberry short  (which even the name card gave as a description) is not my thing and my partner definitely does like them, I'm to assume superior power of discernment and record the strawberry cake as excellent, which at least puts this shop in the solid part of the fine shops (important, since this this and the category above it are grossly bloated, so it would only take about ten more new shops to force me to create a new lower category for most of these shops).

Monmouth Tea: Apple Tart

I've got some catching up to do. Friday, I ended up working late, did some shopping, and then was really exhausted, so exercise at all. I also didn't get fresh cake, which was as planned, but I did get something from Sadaharu Aoki, since it doesn't look like I'll ever have as many new cakes as befits their ranking. I tried the seasonal Fondant au Marron. Definitely had the chestnut flavor and was definitely soft. I would say that this was excellent.

Saturday, my main plan was to try the longest (now revised) loop, Daita-..., but I had an appointment in the morning, so I went out for a couple hours before that and scouted Around Ebisu, taking photos and figured out that my proposed route enclosing Ebisu Garden Place was not going to work, due to where I could cross to the south side of Ebisu Terrace. The Kamioosaki part is going to have to be separate loop. I also ran the Ebisu-Nishi west loop counterclockwise while was down there, so I was up to date on revised loops at that point except for the Daita-... one.

Starting out of the big look, I took the route through Sendagaya so I could stop at Monmouth Tea, which I had an excellent tart from. I want to call it a pastry because it's relatively cheap, you can eat in by hand, and I want to have my tart and cake too, but they list it under cake (but not gateaux) on their website, so now I'm conflicted. Supposedly they can also have other cakes, including whole cakes (which I assume you have to order), but I've only seen the tarts and muffins to date. This time, I got the Apple Tart, and it was definitely good, but they it didn't get ice or seem to need it (though I didn't eat it quickly enough to tell whether the display case was a cooler), so I'm going to keep called this as a pastry or baked good, though there is some custard under the fruit (not a lot and it could be baked, like the apples). I'll keep looking there. Anyway, I recommend it for baked goods so far, as cheap and definitely good to excellent, though I'm not interested in milk tea, much less ice milk tea, so I turned town the free sample at this second visit.

Before I reached the milk tea shop, I went by a Japanese tea shop that had sweets that I decided justified adding it as a site, so I've had to revise the Sendagaya central loop. I continued on to the Sendagaya south loop and found a place called Moon Dog that had baked goods, so that blows that loop. Later, looking a Google maps (which doesn't show Moon Dog) I found at least the workshop of a cake maker (maybe it's the same guy: couldn't remember when I saw the cake maker the next day when I confirmed the location). At the end of this run, I stopped by and had a (not cheap) Milk Chocolate Chip Cookie (might not be the correct name). This is a soft cookie, but not a doughy/oily cookie, which was maybe excellent as a cookie, though I little sweet (I probably should have gone for the Dark Chocolate).

Continuing on, I decided that Rapha Tokyo, which is a cafe/bicycling meet-up location, deserved to be on the Sendagaya west loop, so that revises that one. Finally, I got to the target loop and good a good ways around it, at least enough to correct my last mistake and get the revised part including Jam House and an inari shrine and do the continuous park strip from Honmachi 1 to past Gojou Bridge, but coming back, there was construction (an excuse) that distracted me so that I forget to turn after Equal (pastry shop) to go by the late addition Padders Coffee (which I have gotten correct in the past). Given that I had two hours of exercise in the morning (though mostly by bicycle), I wasn't devastated. At first a turned to home, but that I reconsidered what I should do and decided that I should try another incomplete look nearby, so I did the revised Kamiyama-chou--Tomigaya--Udagawa-chou loop counterclockwise (because I wasn't convinced I could do clockwise, and still it's going to be tricky to remember where the new turn is). Nearby, I also tried a look loop, as well as taking the photographs for it, which I hadn't even named yet, but is the Udakawa-chou loop. I failed this simple loop because I couldn't remember where to turn (which either means, don't until you have to or immediately and I choose wrong). On that loop, I found another site, but also noticed a new shop (though a known chain), flippers on the Jinnan loop side. It's a pancake place, which I don't do, but there but the sign out front was readable across the street declaring a kind of sandwich treat which maybe should qualify, so that blows that loop, too. I also found another site already on the Udagawa-chou loop (I had seen it before, but not looked at what they offered, which includes a pastry and bread display) and on the course link there (as a place selling ribbons that also has drinks and a fresh brownie with whipped cream). Also next to that loop is the reopened Parco department store, so I had to checkout whether there were any shops I need to add.

Café Marly

Café Marly looked interesting, but not for running, so it goes as special information. However, there is a Starbucks on the fifth floor, so I suppose that counts.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Mille-feuille Chocolat over Frédéric Cassel's Mont Blanc Jewel

Sunday was a big day for running and cake. First, after doing my indoor workout, I ran to Ginza Mitsukoshi and got both cakes for the cake-off; Mille Feuille Chocolat from Jean-Paul Hévin and Mont Blanc Jewel from Frédéric Cassel. This was a third-round cake-off between two one-and-one seasonal cakes (the JPH for just 2 weeks this time but probably FC's will stick around through Christmas, I would imagine, but I'm not sure).

For running, I made my fourth attempt at running the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop from memory, which is about 22 km long, plus a few kilometers to get there and the few kilometers that I had already run to Ginza. On the way, I noticed that I was in the right time window and there wasn't a huge line at Haritts Donuts & Coffee in Uehara, so I stopped (and waited for a couple people ahead of me) and got, I think, the Choco Plain (Donut), which despite being plain, has sugar (but not icing) on it. This is a very lightly fried, very spongy donut, though not as course a sponge as a typical yeast donut and definitely an improvement on various other donut shops, but not so exciting that I need a return trip.

Despite haven't gotten more than half way the first three attempts and making another course change that I never done even in early bicycle attempts, I was able to do it clockwise. Real time was just over 3 hours, which isn't bad considering stops (the longest to wade through the crowd to get to a shop near Shimo-Kitazawa station and back to take a picture for a site on a future side loop). I'll probably try counterclockwise next weekend, since I have three days.

The cake-off was somewhat anticlimactic. Like the previous round with the Mont Blanc Jewel, I couldn't sense why I had originally put it on the list (probably because at the time it was a mont-blanc with most of the chestnut task masked by fruit), so the Mille Feuille Chocolat, which was definitely better, wins and the Mont Blanc Jewel gets demoted to semi-great, which is still a high rating. Not sure what new cakes next month will bring out, but if nothing else, I can do what might be the last third-round of two-time winners.

Monmouth Tea, Black Cherry Tart

For today's cake, I planned to visit a neighborhood shop for a first cake, as well as run five recently updated neighborhood loops, all successfully, though two I still have to do counterclockwise to complete. One new site was the Monmouth Tea shop, which also has a tart, quiche, and muffins. I wasn't sure how cake-like or pastry-like the tart would be, but took it anyway. I was priced on the low side, so I wasn't surprised that it was a butter tart rather than something richer, but was plenty substantial. I'm calling it a pastry, but it was excellent, so even if I'm look for cake, I might stop there again and see whether the tart flavor has changed.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Tan Gram over En Vedette's En Vedette

Monday, which was a holiday, after a morning appointment which ran late, I went out around noon to try to gather cakes for a cake-off. The main target was Frédéric Cassel's Tan Gram which is a standard that I wasn't too worried about having to be early for, but I've had experience coming too late for En Vedette's signature cake, so I had a back-up in mind in the same direction. Also, it seems seems to be on rainy days that I've going to En Vedette, although Monday was relative light.

I stopped early or snack at a future neighborhood course site, Chez Kazama, out in Ichiban-chou neighborhood in Chiyoda-ku and got a Croissant d'Almonde. It was good, and had some almond paste inside, plus the powered sugar on the outside to give it sweet kick, but dry for my taste, though perhaps not really for the type. Part of my review of pastries is turning out to be a review of what type I should be targeting. Later, I got a regular Croissant (not shown) from Dalloyau (at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi), who I once thought great croissants. Note sure whether they changed (they have a lot since then) or just my perception but, while definitely good, it was not extraordinary as a baked item, being more bready than I expected.

I was successful at getting En Vedette from said store, and took the train to Ginza to get the Tan Gram and took them home to chill. Meanwhile, after a half-lunch, I went out to do neighborhood course loops in Sengadaya that I had updated. I was successful, but since revised one loop. That took about an hour (including taking photos of three sites).

The result of the cake off was a win for Tan Gram. Unfortunately, En Vedette, with it's rum, doesn't pair with everything, so the choice of green tea (which goes with chocolate fine) maybe didn't match well. Still, two great cakes.

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: Frédéric Cassel's Inspiration Passion Framboise over Toshi Yoroizuka's Cassis

Friday, I had a long run, starting by running down to east Nishi-Azabu again to do loops of my neighborhood course and swinging up through Moto-Akasaka, which is at least somewhat on the way back. I could do three small loops, finishing them, but failed on the two largest due to not recognizing a narrow road or path that I needed to turn on. Skipping ahead in the story, I went back by bicycle and ran those Saturday afternoon (it was hotter than I had hoped but apparently manageable). I also finally managed clockwise on the Dougenzaka north loop, after cycling over to Shibuya Hikari but failed on completing the adjacent loop and two other simple loops I tried for the first time. I'll see what I can do Sunday night.

Friday, as my first snack, I tried a Pain au Chocolat from Fiorentina Pastry Boutique, which is my first pastry. It suffered a little from the late time/humidity/my sweaty condition, but it was made the way I like it and I liked the chocolate (which I often don't in these), so I'm going to call it excellent and maybe get another one.


Saturday, I did a third-round cake-off with Frédéric Cassel's Inspiration Passion Framboise, even though it was its last day and it will probably never appear again. I started by running to the Kyobashi Toshi Yoroizuka to the Cassis, which was the nearest cake that was a suitable match. The Cassis, besides as the name indicates, is maybe the best fig cake I know, but that was not enough (though it complimented) against the stronger flavor of Inspiration Passion Framboise. The next "Inspiration" cake with be pecans, which sounds good, though I have other places to visit, so I'm probably not going to get to it right away.

Cake-off: Origines Cacao's Printemps over Coffee Parlor Hilltop's Pistache Chocolat

Thursday, I took the afternoon off and first went to Isetan early enough that their Croissant Chocolat was not sold out. It was excellent. It is not sweet, but more a burnt (maybe literally) chocolate taste, which I approve of. Definitely better than average as a croissant. In news, there is a cake and a "parfait" that has cake elements enough that I'm interested, more than the average verrine, which I've grouped with fresh cakes. They limited to through Golden Week (and the parfait is only after 2 pm), so I'll have to act fast. No cake planned for tomorrow, saving it for Saturday. Since I've busy over golden week, I might try to fit in two cake-offs over the weekend to deal with seasonal cakes/shops. It depends on how the first cake-off goes. My bicycling for the day confirmed availability from the cake I wanted for take-out from the Coffee Parlor Hilltop and then I briefly tried to do the Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop but failed almost immediately. I didn't realize immediately, but I failed again later on more obviously, so I went hope to review.

Friday, I got another pastry, this time Croissant d'Almonde from Christa. It was definitely good but not really so different from most. I tried the Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop again but got confused once I had to cross the Roppongi-doori, since I guessed incorrectly whether I would stay on the bridge (if I had been on foot instead on a bicycle) and continue on to cross Azabu-doori, which I should have. It's coming back around that I need to cross in stages.

Saturday, I finally got cake again, making up for the two previous days by getting two for a cake-off. For the first one, I tried walking to Coffee Parlor Hilltop, and my feet seem okay, so that's huge progress. I'll maybe try running longer than enough to make the light next week. I was there at opening time (no line, but someone came in immediately after me). I got the Pistache Chocolat to go. Then I used Marunouchi Line to go to Ginza 6 to get Printemps from Origines Cacao and then I went home by train. I still found that the raspberry rolled off the Printemps, but it was in better shape generally than last time by bicycle.

These are both recent cakes that I worried I might have labeled as great without sufficient cause, but the first result of this first-round cake-off is that I still feel that both bring something special, so they pass that hurtle. I felt like Printemps brought slightly more complexity, or maybe I was just enjoying the white chocolate more, so it gets the win. Printemps is obviously a seasonal cake, but it's relatively recent, so I hope it can stick around a couple weeks to get in a second-round at least. I know Pistache Chocolat, and anyway F Cassel has a cake that has been waiting for an opponent and it lost its first-round, so I'm planning to do another cake-off tomorrow (so no cake-off next Saturday) for those two. I'm sure Hilltop will think it same to see me again for the same cake, but so it goes. I might manage fourth new cake them before they close, but really, except for that, three other shops would be my priority, and I wouldn't get back there next week in time.

For further exercise, I made my third attempt at the Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop and finally got it (as well as reviewing after two previous attempt, the sun up was probably helpful, though it still took a long time to find a way of crossing by bicycle as easily as the main bridge. A couple coffee shops are gone, but I added a couple Japanese confectionery shops.

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.

Bien-être: Mille-Feuille au Fraises

Monday, in light rain, I went to Bien-être (double points) in response to a cake-off win for a new cake. There wasn't actually a new variety, but I had never had the Mille-Feuille au Fraises, which is much like theother five mille-feuille cakes I've had there, except with strawberries (not sure which one was the best, so I'll guess mango). All the ones previous had been excellent, though my appreciation was diminishing. This time, it dipped below excellent, though it's still pretty, and good, but not one I'm interested in having again. The run was my first attempt to verify the revised Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop. I could do the main parts but missed a sharp turn to take in AfterHours, an early turn to reach the main road to run past the pedestrian bridge next to the Cosmo Hatsudai Service Station, and a detour away from Sanguubashi Park to hook around Flotto, all fairly new additions. The second deviation was at least was an improvement and I've updated the map, but I need to fix the other too for next time.

Tuesday, with a break in the rain, I did a short run down to Tokyo Midtown and successfully got the Croissant Matcha from Sadaharu Aoki. The eating space was occupied by a promotional event for some communication company, so I ran it home. As part of the run, I reconfirmed clockwise the Minami-Aoyama east loop with a minor variation to take in NinoCaffe. They'll be a good backup in the future, since they have relatively late hours, such as for Viking Bakery F, which requires me to get off work on time and not spend too much time changing and stretching. The croissant was very nice, and matcha is an interesting change (the inside is quite green), so I can say that it was excellent.

Blondir, Bourgeonner

Monday, I worked late, so I did some neighborhood course confirmation near Tokyo Midtown and stopped for a croissant from Sadaharu Aoki, since they don't have any fresh cake that I haven't had. It was excellent. It says that it was imported from France, but I expect in the form of butter and flour, not already baked, though they could import frozen dough. I completed confirming the Minami-Aoyama east loop and the Roppongi 7 west loop and did the Roppongi 7 east clockwise (all in the National Art Center clump of three loops).

Tuesday, I ran down to the Sadaharu Aoki at Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs and got their exclusive Tokyo-yaki Macaron Chocolat, which is a traditional Japanese cake made from batter and a mold with a macaron inside instead of bean paste. Also, the cake part was mochi-like (chewy) and green tea flavor. I microwaved it for 20 seconds as recommended, and it pretty much recreated the traditional texture despite having a macaron for filling. I'll never do that again. I'll call it good because it was as designed, but if I try another flavor, I'll have it cold, though I don't expect it would be better. Hopefully I'll find better things elsewhere. For the running, I did a one-way neighborhood course run to formally add the newly designed Shibuya east loop and well as confirm my knowledge of it, which completes the Shibuya Station Southeast clump of two loops.

Wednesday, I got cake at Isetan from Blondir, as a third cake from a seemingly quite good shop. This is supposedly pistachio ganache with strawberry soaked in red wine, but then there is Kirsch in there somewhere, maybe in the raisins on top, as they were definitely soaked in something. The feeling was more like a rum raisin cake, but then pistachio is the fruity nut. It was interesting and I approval of the design. Definitely wouldn't mind having it again, so excellent: Blondir will make the cut. Now on to the "C" quite good shops. Running was to Ginza, touring from Mitsukoshi and then (walking underground) to Viron and to 14 Juillet, none of which had anything unexpected.

Maison D'ahni, Béret Pistache

Wednesday, I had pretty sore feet all morning and knew it was time to take a rest day, which I hadn't this week. And yet, I'm an addict, so by evening I wanted to run and didn't stop myself. I ran to Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs again, hoping from something from Sadaharu Aoki, but instead of 4 people in line, there were more than 14, so I gave up. Instead, I went for a third pastry from Le Pain de Joel Robuchon, this time choosing the Kouign Amann. It was the usual but excellent, so no complaints (I didn't eat it then, obviously, but after dinner, after which I was really full).

I worked on confirming my knowledge of the neighborhood course. I failed on the Minami-Aoyama--Shibuya loop but succeeded on the Minami-Aoyama south loop. However, it was a net loss in that, on the way back, I recognized a shop that should be added to the Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop, though what kind of chocolate shop is empty of customers February 13? I won't be surprised to find it closed next time I go by, as it seems a hopeless case. Nevertheless, for now, I need to relearn that loop and I'll probably keep the new loop even if it does close.

Thursday, February 14, I followed by plan to rest. I had pain in my left thigh, which was new. Now sure how that happened or how to avoid it.

Friday, a tentatively good shop that I've only had one cake from visited Isetan, so I decided to give them a second chance early. I got the Béret Pistache, which is a pistache mousse dome with a milk chocolate center. It was reasonably good, but definitely not anything that excited me, so that will probably be my list trip there.

In good news, Blondir in the next visiting shop. They are only potentially quite good, but I've reviewing the quite good shops and they are one of the less conveniently located (I took care of the worse last weekend and plan to handle the next most distant one this weekend). Now if Ces Jours would just visit.

Actually, before eating my cake Friday, I did another neighborhood course run. This time I did the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu and Nishi-Azabu northwest loops counterclockwise, but successfully, so that puts me over 40 km of loops confirmed both directions. I still want another 10 km before any major additions, though I might fill in the Shibuya east loop before that, and while I'm at it go for some more loops in the Shibuya area.

Maison Douce: Macaron Chocolat Mon Amour

Le Poulpelin

Maison Douce, which I've only had two cakes from, though one was initially rated as great and got a first-round cake-off (neither was declared a win and I demoted both, the only time I've done that), so by in terms of a place where I might find a great cake, it has more potential than some supposedly excellent shops, so it was a high priority to resolve where the shop belongs among my grouping of Tokyo shops. Unfortunately, they are a minimum 35 kilometers out, they don't have eat-in space, and it is not weather for eating outside (see snow above), so I run there and take the train back. I did a 45 km run recently, no problem, so I figured that I would be fine as long as I kept at the same pace, but my right little toe is giving me trouble, and my whole foot tenses up trying to protect it. The shop last told me I need narrower shoes, which might be true once the swelling goes down. I wore new socks with toes this time, but that doesn't really help. I'll use a lot of petroleum jelly and consider taping it, though I'm not sure that I have the right kind of tape now.

Maison Douce: Macaron Chocolat Mon Amour

On the way, I stopped at Le Poupelin whose chef was on the NHK sweets show I started watching. I got a Chasson au pommes, which I'll say was excellent, though it's 27 km, so maybe not in a good position to judge. If I run that far to try them for cake, I think I'm going to get two.

As it happens, I'm probably not going to have to worry about how far out Maison Douce is. I really didn't like the chocolate in this. I suppose it's the chocolate whipped cream that makes for a really weak watery taste. I've had this experience before with chocolate cakes from specialists, so maybe it's just my physical condition. Still, it was ok, but ok isn't doesn't justify going anywhere. The shop still has some potential above shops that have given me nothing better than one excellent cake, but I don't expect it to make the cut to stay in quite good shops.

That clears some excellent shops, though now I saw some other partially challenged by Les Cacao and En Vedette. I hope I can get a visit to Les Cacao next weekend, even if I don't get cake there. Now, I'm really looking forward to a cake-off tomorrow, though reviewing, I'm convinced that Fondant Chocolat au Rouge is just a slightly differently decorated Foondant Chcolat aux Framboises from Yu Sasage, so I've got two choices from them to go against JPH. I need to ask tomorrow how long the two Yu Sasage cakes will stay in the lineup. I need to also review Numero 7 to see what's in it: maybe it's been give a more appropriate name and also can be found in Yu Sasage's line-up without me realizing it.

Feuilleté aux Marrons

Tuesday, I rand back down to Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs and this time managed to get the target object, Feuilleté aux Marrons from Sadaharu Aoki, or at least that's what I think they are calling it: they seem to be the only one using the particular Japanese phonetic spelling, at least online. Anyway, it's a flaky pastry like a galette des rois but filled with chestnut. I dared run with it, trying to do a few small nearby neighborhood course loops without looking them up, it it survived fine. I only managed the Minami-Aoyama 5 loop, which doesn't have any cross-streets.

The pastry was excellent. I decided from experience that I shouldn't try to eat it cold, so I let it heat up at 40 degC in the convection oven for five or ten minutes first. Also, I cut it with a knife, because the edge texture isn't as good from biting. I should have more pastries from them, like their croissants (regular and green tea, I think I've seen)), but I'll have to wait until Valentine's season is over, because they don't have the time or space for them now. Hope I can still find cake this weekend around all the chocolate selling.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Longchamp Chocolat

Sunday, I finally did it, I ran, as a one-way neighborhood course run, the giant Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Komaba--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Oohara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop, which was 35.2 km long, plus enough lead up to make it a marathon+ distance, so a massive addition to the route, though I'm not confident that I'll ever get it memorized. Along the way, I verified some new sites, so already I've split off part, but the loops are always evolving. No problem with my feet, by keeping it pretty slow, though it was so slow, and my knowledge of the route is so poor, that I almost wore out my battery (also I took about dozen pictures), so next time I do this kind of route, it better either be simpler or I should memorize more of it.

Besides some candies from Iwate and Calorie Balance cookies, I had one Pain au Chocolat from Asterisque. As usual quite a wait, though not enough to explain the 6 km/h average time. Better that that body damage, though. Still, I'll rest tomorrow from running, I hope, and get caught up on cleaning and email.

For cake, I finally got the Longchamp Chocolat from Jean-Paul Hévin at Isetan. Even around 2 pm when I got there (I started at 6:20 for the running), they had several. Hope the same is true tomorrow, because I want to do a quick turnaround on cake-offs, because this was great, as expected, totally decadent, with chocolate, meringue, both almond and just pure sugar and egg, I think. It's hard chocolate, but I don't know how it compares to the Longchamp Chocolat Noir.

Le Chocolat de H/Paul Bassett, Chocolata

Tuesday, I mostly took a rest. I did some running, trying to pick off the clockwise run of the Jinguumae Northwest route, but I knew when I started that I didn't really know it. I just changed the route and need a turn at a particular alley along Takeshita Street, which is crowded and filled with similar shops: lots of crepe and lots of youth fashions. Now I remember that the convenience store marks where to turn to link up to the next loop and the turn after that is to continue on the Jinguumae Northwest route. For a snack, I stopped for the first time at The Deck Coffee&Pie. By pie, they mean in the sense of a fruit pastry pocket, though I actually got a slight variation in the form of the Chocolate Nuts Stick Pie, which is a chocolate and peanut pastry, so it's a little oily with peanut oil (it's hot pot). I'm not making it sound good, but it was. I wouldn't mind trying one of the fruit ones, though it's not a priority.

Wednesday, JPH finally updated their webpage, so I see that they have a longchamp cake that I haven't blogged yet, so I'll try to get that tomorrow, and the Tonka is back, so I'll tentatively plan for that as the cake-off entrant to go against Saint-Mark Praliné from Sadaharu Aoki, who've announced pistachio ice cream for Tokyo Midtown and Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs, but not what the new exclusives will be at the other locations. Related to the latter, today's run was down to Hikarie ShinQs, but not for ice cream. I wanted to visit the Le Chocolat de H/Paul Bassett café. This time, I got the Chocolata, which features orange peal and walnut. Not sure where the walnut is, since it's not obviously nutty, but I would guess that the biscuit uses walnut flour. My first thought was that it was not that exciting, since I usually like a heavier cake or light in sense of mousse, whereas this cake is very much a café style cake, being a like a torte, with just ganache between layers of biscuit. The biscuit is very light and thick, but it's not short-cake like sponge, but neither is it one of the tougher cakes. As I ate it thought, "good" did not seem sufficient; even if I usually go for something more decadent, I can enjoy this and it's a nice change and among such cakes, this might be what I would choose, which is sort of my definition of excellent: if I could make it, it would be worth making. So that's too excellent chocolate cakes (my bias). They have third, a raspberry as the seasonal cake, I think, so should go for that before it disappears.

For running, I finished off verifying my memory of the trivial Shibuya central loop, and the similarly tiny Shibuya west loop, though I did expand it slight, so it now reaches the northeast corner of the famous Shibuya scramble intersection. I've also noticed that I've never gone and looped at what's in the Seibu basement food area, which is the northwest corner. They might not have any cake, but they have counters of a few brands I like, so I should check. They have a Factory Shin, which I know from Tokyo as good or quite good, but that doesn't mean they have cake there (it's not like they're going to import fresh cake from Kobe). On big loops, I failed on the Shibuya north loop counterclockwise, but I can get that when I do the west loop again. I did get the Jinguumae northwest loop, which was my priority, as far as being the closest in not confirmed. Tomorrow I should work on the east area around Gaien.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot over Sadaharu Aoki's Mont D'or

Friday, I went for a long neighborhood run that combined practicing loops to confirm that I have them memorized and doing a one-way neighborhood run to and around a new loop, which means that it was really long neighborhood run, because I was doing full loops and then having to run back from the start point of the loop to the official link to the next loop rather than just use the part of the loop (once) that I needed. I was successful at doing clockwise runs on the Jinguumae east, Kita-Aoyama central, Minami-Aoyama north, Minami-Aoyama east, and Roppongi 7 loops. On the Minami-Aoyama north loop, I stopped at P. Takagi and got a Chausson Napolitain as my first pastry from there. Related, I made a decision to stop using the sidewalk that cuts through it as part of the loop, because it's really not somewhere where one should run and it's easy enough to go around, which still takes one by the signs saying what's inside. The pastry was definitely good. I've never seen such a flat chauson, though my experience is limited and this seems to be normal for this kind of chausson. It contained sufficient fruit for me (and apparently alcohol), so no complaint about that.

The new loop was the Azabu-Juuban--Moto-Azabu loop, which I'm going to add a little loop for to reach a Tully's. On that loop and coming back, I took some photos of places that I had missed or had second thoughts about leaving out, since as the photo at the right, which is a temple, though their business is pet memorials.

The cake was another cake-off (trying to get through the potentially soon to got out of season cakes from the majors): Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot and Sadaharu Aoki's Mont d'Or. The latter is scheduled through February; it's not clear when Bergamot was leave the line-up, but it's listed as seasonal and some sort of shake up is scheduled for mid-January. These were both working for me. The Bergamot is just one variation of a type of JPH cake that I think is great, but I haven't gotten tired of it yet and it takes the win in this third-round cake-off, where previously it had one win and one loss.

Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Gateau Vanille over Sadaharu Aoki's Saint-marc Praliné

Sunday, I had some appointments. Got up early and did a one-way neighborhood course run to add the Nishi-azabu--Minamiazabu loop, down next to Roppongi Hills. I thought I would have time to do some of the nearby little loops and take some pictures, but I only had two hours. On the way, and on the target loop, I visited Café 3206 and got a Pain au Chocolat, which is pretty good before 8 a.m. on the Sunday.

After my 10 a.m. appointment, I went out again to visit Paris S'éveille, which has two great cakes I want to do second rounds on. I went with the last Gateau Vanille, though they had the other target cake. I took that home and did my 14:30 appointment. For the second cake, I tried going to L'Abricotier, but they were sold out this time (it was pretty late, so I don't blame them too much). I asked about reserving it for Saturday (though I should have asked about Friday as well, since I could get there). I figured that I got do better where things start and end latter, in the Marunouchi/Ginza area. That worked: I got Sadaharu Aoki's Saint-marc Praliné, which runs to March. I'm happy to report that both these are great. I have to give the win to the Gateau Vanille, which might be the best vanilla cake that I know. Saint-marc Praliné is maybe not my favorite Saint-marc, but I appreciate the variation.