Cake-off: Éclat des Jours's Baked Cheesecake over Toshi Yoroizuka's Saint Marc

Tried to do a proper long run before Saturday's cake-off, which I did. This was a fourth-round cake-off between the last two available three-time winners. First I ran to Éclat des Jours to get their Baked Cheesecake. Then I mostly ran back to get Toshi Yoroizuka's returned Saint Marc from the Kyoubashi shop. Despite the three wins, I wasn't able to get into the Saint Marc for some reason. I'd think I was off chocolate, but that doesn't seem to be the case generally. It's possible that the recipe changed, but I won't think so. This is only it's first loss, so should get to again next year. If I can, I'll do that early, before it disappears again. No problem with the cheesecake which while not dramatically superior remains by best guess for best cheesecake in Tokyo; every time it wins, I'm kind of surprised, and yet it keeps winning. If it's not broke... 

As implied, recently I speculated that not doing enough exercise before eating lunch and then doing a cake-off might have interfered with my enjoyment, which still seems reasonable. In this case, I ran three times the distance, but I did get a snack from Éclat des Jours that might have nullified this, Chapeau. I got this as a pastry, although the shop person referred to is as "pan", so I was a little afraid about the inside, but this is plenty decadent and definitely more than one person should eat by themselves (not that the price hides this). Can't wait until I can get it again, but not on a cake-off day and maybe I'll try to get it home first.

Toshi Yoroizuka, Figue Noire

 Another quite exceptional shop visited Sunday for a new cake was Toshi Yoroizuka in Kyoubashi, Chuuou-ku, where I got the Figue Noire, I think (based on the phonetic Japanese). Not sure whether it has cassis (black currant), but it was certainly fruitier than I would expect from just fig, and quite sweet, more than I wanted, really, but I wasn't really feeling in the mood for sweets, which is more timing when I have cake. Nevertheless, it's fair to say it was good.  

Still one more exceptional shop to hit, but I have to wait until next month for Pierre Gagnaire to finish the current line-up. Being in an international hotel, they are hit hard by travel restrictions, so they don't even have all the cakes displayed on their poster. 

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Marron Fruits Rouges over Toshi Yoroizuka's Cassis

The first cake-off of September was a newly returned cake to the Sadaharu Aoki's lineup, Marron Fruits Rouges, and the only great cake at Toshi Yoroizuka's right now, Cassis. I think both feature black currant, or at least I assume that's one of the read fruits in SA's cake, but it's not hard to tell them apparent. The Cassis of TY is pairing cassis with fig, which might be a good pairing for fig, but fig isn't the easiest fruit for sweets and wasn't working particularly well for me, whereas Chestnut is often paired with cassis for good reason, and the Marron Fruits Rouges wins easily.

Toshi Yoroizuka, Tarte Myrtille

Back on August 25th, so still no memory of the running, but I was certainly on foot, and it was Toshi Yoruizuka's turn for a new cake. It's blueberry season and I went with Tarte Myrtille. It was definitely good, but not act the same level as FC's, though that was special domestic berries, versus berries from where I'm not sure.

Cake-off: Rue de Passy's Opera Pistache over Toshi Yoroizuka's Annya

Going back two weeks (Aug. 2), I did a Sunday cake with Annya from Toshi Yoroizuka, in for the summer (they told me the day before that Saint-Marc was also in the line-up, though I didn't see it. I should check back. To match it, the recent winner Rue de Passy's Pistache Opera matched it, as another two wins to one loss cake. They are both old favorites: simple but great. In the end, I have to give it to nuts (Pistachio Opera) over fruit (Annya), which is also sort of vote for cake over pie, which is what the latter is like. That's two loss for Annya, but I might not get it's fifth round in for two years.

Let me also show some appreciation for Rue de Passy's Croissant, which was excellent: nice crust on the outside around a relatively soft inside.

Toshi Yoroizuka: Mémorial

Sunday night, I ran first to Ginza, where FC was sold out of what I wanted, not sure whether I checked in at Pierre G, but they would have been closed by the time I could have gotten there under current hours, but went to Tokyo Midtown, which also was closing early, but has later base hours, so I could get a 21st cake from this quite exceptional shop. I went with Mémorial, which was memorializing probably 10 years at Tokyo Midtown. It's chocolate, yuzu, and nuts, or at least that's what I can remember, and what was obvious. It was good, but the flavor combination wasn't really working for me as anything special.

Toshi Yoroizuka, Hitachihime

Today I wasn't working so late, so, to get a new Toshi Yoroizuka cake, I ran to the Kyoubashi shop, which is a little farther than the Midtown one, but convenient to Viron as a backup. Not much selection that close to closing (there's a cafe, as well as a salon, so seems like pretty steady business). I went with the shortcake Hitachihime (which is a registered brand of strawberries). I asked for no ice packs , since its cold (though with a strong wind, not as cold as it feels), and I got 8 little ones: I brought a bag with a giant ice pack already in it, but the young person packing the cake put two little ones in the box and then dumped 6 inside, maybe to fill up the space? This made it rather heavy, besides being rather wasteful (as far as I know, no one wants to recycling my ice packs). However, a heavy bag was useful in the strong wind.

Well, the strawberry was definitely good and the cake was fine as standard Japanese strawberry cake, but didn't stand out, so Bien-Étre remains at the top of the quite exceptional group, challenging Pierre Hermé, except the latter as more cakes under it's belt and Bien-Étre already has almost enough even for a superb shop, so I'm not sure what I'll do. I should get another cake from Bien-Étre soon, but it's not a huge priority (and I haven't actually seen new cakes there for a long time). Besides En Vedette, though, I'm not sure I have any place that's a priority that also has new cakes, so maybe next week, as well as finally starting to hit some new shops.

Ginza Sembikiya, Banana Shortcake

Finally made a visit to Ginza Sembikiya, in the form of a visit to their the basement of their main shop, which has pasta lunches, as well as the menu of the Fruit Salon on the 2nd floor. As far as cake, it's limited to the current shortcake, which was banana, perhaps the last fruit I would choose (the 1st floor shop has a mont-blanc and a pear tart as well), but that's what there was, so that's what I ordered. It was lunch and dessert for two, so I'll say that the other dessert was a very limited-time (3 days) Le Lectier Parfait. Le Lectier is a French variety of pears that only the Japanese seem interested in. The parfait was good, though I'm not a good judge, since it's an ice cream dessert.

What was surprising, was that the banana shortcake was excellent. I generally have a banana everyday, but I haven't had a good banana like this for a long time, I think. I suppose you have to go to a specialist fruit shop. Also, I wouldn't mind shortcakes of other fruits from them, judging from this one. This excellent cake puts this "sembikiya" at the top of the pack of three, though one excellent cake only qualifies it for the fine cake shop group under the current system, which only rates one cake, though it is secure in its position and a second cake is allowed, just not called for. We wouldn't mind going back and visiting the second-floor salon for just desert, though that's not convenient on a weekend, since a line develops by noon (for the basement, as well).

In the afternoon, I needed to kill time in the Tokyo Station area, so I did pretty fast walking from shop to shop without discovering anything much. I got a Croissant for Toshi Yoroizuka. As bread it was maybe excellent, but as a pastry, I'm going to have to say that it was just okay.

I also got the Croissant Chocolat from Sadaharu Aoki, though it was getting late by that point, about 4.5 hours after opening, so not ideal. It was still excellent, but if I can get one within 2 hours of opening, I'd like to reevaluate. Right now, Sadaharu Aoki is the best place I know for pastry croissants, so a repeat is reasonable.

There was a couple hours and hard walking and another hour or so of slower running, but I was tired enough that I decided to use a bicycle to get to Tokyo Midtown as a starting point for doing a counterclockwise run of the Akasaka--Roppongi route, which I was successful at, so that revised loop is confirmed. I might try the same strategy for Nishi-Ebisu, which is next in priority. It's a pretty small loop, so I might try a few other loops nearby as well, if I can use a bicycle for the first/last 4 km.

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.

Toshi Yoroizuka, Récolte

Wednesday, I went by bicycle again to Tokyo Midtown to run the Akasaka loop (even yesterday's two days in a row was more than recent running, so it seemed reasonable to speed up the first part), but also to get a cake from Toshi Yoroizuka because of the previous cake-off win. I choose the Récolte (I'm guessing), which is earl grey tea and orange. It's good quality, but too subtle for me, perhaps, so just good. I ate at one of the tables outside, so that lighting wasn't great.

I had a good run, but I noticed at the appropriate point that my map had a major flaw in that I no longer went by one of the parks, though I was very conscious of where it was (the street in front of it is blocked off at the cross-street that the new course follows). I did a on-the-fly swing past the park, which had me coming down the stairs of another park, so I was able to successfully complete the counterclockwise route, but it meant that I still need to do the clockwise route.

Thursday, I was back doing the same thing, only clockwise with the corrected route, so four days in a row of running at least 7 km. I seem to be okay from it, but still need lots of stretching for my plantar fasciitis. I was successful, so I'll finally be able to move on to a different loop, but I got comfortable with rather than tired of the Akasaka loop. On the way, I tried something from Honolulu Coffee, thinking that I would add this to the course. Strictly speaking, I got a café item, since they had to make it for me, but since it's actually a type of age-pan, which I've already allowed elsewhere, I can't complain. This Hawaiian treat is a cinnamon Malasada, so similar to a yeast cinnamon donut, without the hole.

I had originally planned to a fourth cake for the week, but say that Pierre Hermé's now was featuring Fetish Infiniment Citron, which includes two cakes that I rated as great but never followed up with a cake-off, so potentially I could need to run extra cake-offs with a month's time to catch up, though there's a pretty good chance that at least one won't make the cut, since I became more selective over time. Since I don't do cake-offs with two cakes from the same shop, though, I've going to have to hunt to get another new cake, so this weekend I plan to review all the shops that also haven't had great cakes that I later couldn't find, probably a hopeless search. Otherwise, I'll just have to focus on my top shops as much as possible and hope that I get lucky.

Cake-off: Toshi Yoroizuka's Annya over Fiorentina Pastry Boutique's Estate

My plan for Saturday, was to run the newly revised (after failing the previous attempt) Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop by cycling to Tokyo Midtown, parking, doing the run, getting one cake at Tokyo Midtown and the other cake at Roppongi Hills, which are on either side of Roppongi Station, not so far from each other. This time I got about halfway before I failed, do to not remembering where to turn to cross from Roppongi 1 to Roppongi 2. I didn't help that where I needed to turn was at a T with a long blank wall on one side (the American Embassy dormitory compound) and new construction sites on both corners. I still went on to get a danish at Pierre Gagnaire, since it had been more than an hour of running (plus a little cycling), and I specifically forewent a pastry Friday, and forgot to pack my energy cookies. Specifically I got the Ananas Danish, which was the only pastry-class bread they had that I hadn't already tried (the other three were all excellent). As the name says, this was pineapple, which doesn't sound so good, but with hyacinth, I think. Anyway, it was an excellent fruity pastry, and I don't consider myself that into fruity pastries, so I'm impressed.

Coming back toward Tokyo Midtown, I saw that I had left another Natural Lawson from my map, and I have another excuse to revise this loop. After making sure I included all Natural Lawsons in Minato Ward (there was one more that I had missed on the sound end of the route), I decided to address other deficiencies (such as not going by the entrance to a certain temple, just because it is inconvenient) and after several attempts split the loop back into its main Akasaka part and smaller southern end. Next up, then will be trying the new revised Akasaka loop.

For the cake off, I got Toshi Yoroizuka's Annya for a third-round cake-off for one-and-one great cakes, because it came available, and Fiorentina Pastry Boutique's Estate because it was highest priority, being earliest in the year of potential opponents. These are both cakes that are fruity and delicate, so it was a good match in that way. Also, I've had my doubts about both of them. Not doubts this time, these were both great. With repetition (the four tastings have been all in the last couple months), I'm satisfied that Estate belongs in among the greats. Note sure what the fruit is, something citrus or apricot, both in goes well with the pistachio and still less the white color really express itself. I'm giving the win to Annya, though. I've compared it to pie before, and it is a little tart, which many cakes are, but I realize that more than any other cake it reminds me of while berries from my childhood, and the pies we made from them. This is, of course, a rhubarb cake, so it might be some sort of harmony.

Toshi Yoroizuka, Rouler

Resting up somewhat, I just ran to Tokyo Midtown and back Thursday. I noticed that D&D has cake from a shop I haven't sample yet (couldn't remember the shop name correctly later when I tried to look it up), but it has to get in line after other local shops that I haven't sample yet (Lotus, you are my #1 back-up, since you're open the latest as well as being on the closest loop that I haven't finished sampling from). Today's goal was to get a new cake from the shop providing the last cake-off winner, Toshi Yoroizuka. Not a great selection at night, of course. There were a couple cheesecakes that I haven't had, but I just had cheesecake on Monday and I think my previous new cake from Toshi Yoroizuka was a cheesecake (they still had it, as well as a variation with a little whipped cream and a strawberry). So, for the first time, I got roll cake from them. I'm going to call it Rouler, but between the ambiguity of Japanese pronunciation and French spelling, I'm not sure. Maybe Roule. Anyway, it's strawberry roll cake. This was much better than I expected from the type, though not from Toshi Yoroizuka. The cake was not too dry, having absorbed a good amount for strawberry juice, I think, but not mushy, the strawberries were good, and the amount of whipped cream was restrained even that it was not dominant and I could enjoy the other parts. It was sort of like eating café strawberry and whipped cream pan cakes. Still not my thing, but definitely good, to the point that I'm tempted to call it semi-excellent, but I'll still to the base rating system.

I'm not disappointed, though I still keep hoping for another great cake. I might need to do a run to FC, even if it isn't a priority. Friday, I rest (or rather, buy a new pair of running socks, since they don't last very long).

Cake-off: Toshi Yoroizuka's Saint-marc over Paris S'éveille's Gateau Vanille

Was busy Saturday, but did a run from the morning, about 8:15, Sunday, taking pictures and adding sites along old neighborhood course loops that I haven't reviewed yet, picking off the near ones. I recently switched my target for the next cake-off, since I realized both were so easy to get that I could probably do on a half-day, so I would leave them for when I was busy on the weekend. Next in line, then, was Paris S'éveille's Gateau Vanille as a two time cake-off winner. If I failed to find it, there were three other cakes with the same status. Paris S'éveille has the best record in that respect, better even than JPH. But I had no problem there at around 11 am.

Next, I took the train back as far as Shibuya Stn. and then walked to B-E, along the way discovering a couple things sufficient to make a major course revision that expanded what was once just a run around a small block (for the Shibuya Viron) to a few kilometers (from about Shibuya station to near the southwest corner of Yoyogi Park). I could move a couple sites from the largest loop to the expanded one, which shrank the former down 0.8 km, which is very slightly helpful, as well as making the corresponding parts much simpler. Unfortunately, E-B never put their raspberry cake back in the line-up when they took it out for Christmas, which left me hanging with one cake. Being tired, I decided to look along the near train route and found it convenient to visit Toshi Yoroizuka and get their Saint-marc. Ended up being three train rides to get two cakes despite the initial running, but I avoided transfers, so all low fares.

As hoped doing a third round with two two-time winners, these were both really great cakes, so the decision between them came down to the last bite. Paris S'éveille's Gateau Vanille is probably the best vanilla cake I know, but somehow Toshi Yorizuka makes a cake that's half cream and yet the chocolate does not seem diluted at all, where I'd expect to get a milk chocolate effect (though milk has a different taste than cream). The orange liqueur, perhaps (along with a good chocolate base), brings out the flavor. (There isn't noticeable caramel in this saint-marc version.)

Only one great cake from January and no reappearances of any of the as-yet-untested one, so I'm still waiting for the next first-round cake-off of the year. I'll perhaps do a second-round one with one of the four available ones left at the end of the month regardless.

Toshi Yoroizuka: Tarte Tatan

Was somewhat busy (or my computer was) until now, so it might take some days to catch up, though I was busy for running and cake as well, so there is less to it than might otherwise be the case. I'll try to reconstruct my movements and cake from the photographic evidence, but there are gaps. Actually, I had a headache today and took a break from running, but there was still cake, which I'll eventually get to.

On last Friday (Dec. 27), I took a shortish run to Tokyo Midtown, where I could get Tarte Tatan from Toshi Yoroizuka, in response to their recent cake-off win. This has been in their line-up for a while, so I was happy to get a chance to sample it. It's very nice. I'm not big on fruit in my cake, and apple is not a common choice, but the mildness of the fruit did not overpower the tart aspect, and the texture is a nice variation. This was excellent.

Toshi Yoroizuka: Käse

Wednesday, I did a fairly short run down to Toshi Yoroizuka at Tokyo Midtown, since I owed them two new cakes for two cake-off wins. The Käse was recommended and the other two options did not stand out, so I got it. It was advertised as a cheese soufflé with a deep flavor, but it was about as boring as I would expect cheese soufflé to be. It might have been deep as soufflé go; it's really hard to for me to tell. But there was nothing wrong with it, so I'll rate it good. Certainly I can imagine times when this was just what was called for.

Cake-off: Toshi Yoroizuka's Cassis over Bien-être's Chocolat Cuit

Friday, I did a local run to add the Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop, which requires using subway access stairs to cross the road. Since the area is completely surrounded by other neighborhood loops, I'm allowing it, though I think I'll keep expanding elsewhere without using the subway accesses for now. I'll need some more practice or that loop, but it's pretty simple, so it shouldn't take much. I stopped at Breadworks again, this time for a pastry. There aren't a lot of choices in that category, but they had a Whole Wheat Croissant. It was good, but definitely whole wheat while being a real pastry (not just ordinary bread shaped like a croissant), with flaky layers. Other options on this course are a chocolate place that isn't cheap, a couple cake shops, and a bakery café next to one of the subway entrances. I'm counting this run as a one-way neighborhood run, though I couldn't use the normal course, as they have the pedestrian bridges over Omotesandou blocked off at night to keep people from going up there to take photographs of the street. People are always doing that any time of the day and year, but now there is an illumination display along Omotesandou, so they could get dangerously crowded.

Saturday, was cake-off day. My morning appointment was canceled, but I didn't leave so early and collected half a dozen photos on the way for neighborhood sites leading to Pâtisserie l'abricotier (which could ultimately be on the course, if it ever extends that far). Unfortunately, even arriving 1 hour after opening was too soon by an hour to get what I wanted, so I need to go back at noon, maybe Sunday next weekend, though I've got some appointments that might make a cake-off difficult. So I used my back-up, Bien-être, which would be another 6 km, but I practiced some neighborhood loops (where I didn't need photographs), and it was farther. No trouble getting Chocolat Cuit. From there, I ran a little but mostly walked to Tokyo Midtown to get the main goal, Cassis from Toshi Yoroizuka. The walking was partially to project my cake but partially because my right foot wasn't so great (fine now). I haven't been having trouble when not running, and have gotten lax about stretching. I'll try to do better tonight and tomorrow. I came back by train with too cakes, though that still involved more than 1 km walking (since I wasn't willing to do transfers, especially not to different lines).

I'm happy to report that I definitely still think both these cakes are great. I couldn't say that one was better than the other eating them, so I'm giving the win to Toshi Yoroizuka, because its has the most fig of cakes in cake-offs and there are lots of versions of chocolate cake (though none like this one, so I could justify either). Another excuse is that Toshi Yoroizuka ranks lower, so it needs the support more.

Cake-off:Toshi Yoroizuka's Saint Marc over Bien-être's Mont-Blanc

Sunday, I got up at an only slightly more reasonable 6:00, though it was so cloudy that it seemed earlier. This time I was racing only my plan to arriving at Toshi Yoroizuka at Tokyo Midtown, not meeting anyone who was expecting me, so less pressure. As it happened, I could have been another several minutes later, since the Saint Marc were not ready.

I successfully finished all the planned parts of Azabu (south, west, base, and #10). I ran most of it, but didn't feel obligated to. Found some locations that I had previously missed and even had time to figure out the area around Roppongi Hills and how I was going to deal with a giant shopping complex (I'm willing to use stairs up to the level that crosses the running cutting through it). On the way, I stopped at the Mont-Thabor that's in Azabujuuban and got their Mont-Thabor Croissant Chocolat, or something like that. It's not very croissant-like, and actually it's not that pastry like, as the outer crust is more like a roll, but they were open before 9 am and this was fresh, so it was actually quite good and inside was typical of a pain au chocolat.

I decided that I didn't need to be in a hurry and had lunch before going to Bien-être. I hesitated about using the bicycle again, but was tired, and I was correct that their Mont-Blanc (which is pretty dense and squat) could take it. They had a couple new cakes (I've had five different kinds of mille-feuille from them so far, but never strawberry), so I might get back their this week, if the majors don't announce anything that I feel I can't wait for. For the cake-off (and note that I only had two cakes during the week, so I was planning for a double cake-off on the weekend), both cakes were definitely great and to the end I really couldn't decided between them, mostly because I was too busy enjoying them. I'm going to give this one to the Saint Marc because I feel it had more flavor, just because a little chocolate goes a long way, but that's really a guess.

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Moelleux Chocolat over Toshi Yoroizuka's Monsieur Kitano

Saturday, ran to Tokyo Midtown to get a Moelleux for a second-round cake-off, and was surprised to see Monsieur Kitano (the cake) at Toshi Yoroizuka there. It's not convenient to take a train home from there, so I ran. I stopped at SweetsHolic, along the Minami-Aoyama south loop of my neighborhood course for the first time and got a Chocolate Chip Cookie. I put away the cake and ate lunch and cookie first. It was hard, as I was warned, but that was find with me, and a great improvement on the near-raw one I had recently in Harujuku.

Then I went out by bicycle to finish up photographing sites along the main Hiroo loop of my course, which actually didn't take long, relative to other projects. Then I went down to Jiyuugaoka to check what the line-up was at Dalloyau, but nothing I'm looking for. I would have checked out Paris S., but it was late on a Saturday and there was a huge line, so my expectation of useful information, as well as my patience, was insufficient for the wait and I went home, stopping at Bien E. to verify that they had nothing new this weekend.

The cake-off of chocolate versus chocolate went find. This time they gave me an explanation sheet, and I had already planned to microwave the Moelleux, so I was really comparing a different cake. It could have been warmer, but I'm not sure that I don't prefer it cold. I like moelleux but not so interested in fondant, maybe. However, though was still interesting, so excellent seems reasonable, I wasn't feeling the greatness from Monsieur Kitano, so it's getting retired from the list. The Moelleux will have to remain undefeated for now, unless they manage to hold it over until Friday, which is longer than the announced plan (but they aren't ones for wasting cake, so they will probably keep it going until they're all gone, so I'll try to check in before I get something else).

Cake-off: Ryoura's Mont-Blanc over Toshi Yoroizuka's Antique

Friday was a no-cake day, but I went running to try to do the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya Loop. I tried looking in at the new Number Sugar in Sendagaya and found them open, with a line. I went in and bought two salt-flavored caramels. As a gift for being one of the first customers, I got a gift bag with another salt- and one ginger-flavored caramel. They all seemed good, and I ate them greedily later, but it's not looking like caramels are going to be a new passion of mine, even though they are enough of a step in the right direction from hard candy that I'll keep them on the neighborhood course map as landmarks. I failed to do the loop without needing to backtrack and consult my map. I hadn't remembered the new part by ShIbuichi Bakery well yet, thought that's partially because I don't remember the old part that it deviates from well. I'll try again Monday, maybe.

Saturday, I did a long run out first to P. Yu Sasage to verify that they still didn't have two great cakes there (they post to Facebook pretty often about their line-up changes, so I probably don't really need to check in person). On the way, I checked recent and upcoming neighborhood course to verify that a couple landmarks don't exist (the temple moved and the church wasn't listed on the outside of the building where they ware supposed to meet, so no landmark) and that some did, so I took several pictures and have added them to the map.

From there, I went down to Ryoura, my target for their (Western chestnut) Mont-Blanc. My feet were getting pretty sore, but I'm running a lot, I guess recently. Besides other problems, my right foot tends to swell, so I should have loosened my shoe earlier. I could see bright red lines the next day. I too the try back to Tokyo Midtown to get Antique from Toshi Yoroizuka (and look around again, though nothing new). With two cake and a sore foot, I took the train home, though that was still a lot of walking to keep within one train system. It had been three years since I had Antique, so I wasn't surprised to find that I wasn't feeling the greatness any more. It was the unusual combination, from the chocolate tart crust on the bottom to the fig on the top, that struck me as interesting before, no doubt, but that was not repeatable. The Mont-Blanc was still great. I think what makes it difficult is the vanilla flavor in the whipped cream, which maybe I'm more interested in than chestnut paste, so I'm probably not the best person to recommend cakes to someone who's favorite is mont-blancs. No picture, but for the 3rd year anniversary, they gave out canvas bags the right size for a least single-cake boxes, so I hope to use that. It's a little small, but it's more secure than plastic bags, which I get too many of (but tend to use for raw vegetables in the refrigerator and raw garbage).

Toshi Yoroizuka: Croissant

Did a run (there and back) to check on the shops between Tokyo Station and Ginza. Nothing interesting to report, but it was a good run. There was a threat of heavy rain, but it fell elsewhere. As a snack, I got my second pastry from Toshi Yoroizuka, a Croissant. It was fairly fluffy, but after the recent pain au chocolat I've had, which were more tough than flaky, I'm pretty happy with fluffy. Despite being a cake shop, they are more geared toward bread than pastries so I'm not surprised that their croissant is somewhat on the bread-like side. Good pastry, though.