Sadaharu Aoki, Symphonie

Sunday evening, I decided to try to get the Isetan exclusive cake. I figured it was probably sold out, but if I could get it, I would run. As it happened, they were fully stocked even around 6 pm. Because of the upcoming White Day, they had two registers going and a line set up, but the moved quickly and I wasn't completing with the other people for cake, since they needed gift items, so I could Symphonie, which is a raspberry macaron-style cake with whole raspberries, tea-flavored crème brûlée, and violet cream. For the run, I did a clockwise run around the Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop finally. It's longer than I thought be a little closer, but still is about 10 km total and I took a longer way back to stop by a grocery. Counterclockwise might be harder, as I'm not sure where I'm supposed to turn off the inner street to go to the multi-lane main road on the west side to swing by a church.

The cake was excellent, with the macaron having just the amount of chewiness that I like in a macaron. The filling is not so exciting though, too subtle for me, but there is another macaron cake as a more general seasonal cake at all the shops through April, so I should get that one next week.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Violette

Did a lot of walking today, first to Isetan and then back from Ginza Mitsukoshi (rather than run with cake, and to focus on my right foot, which has been giving me some problems, though that's not new), though I also did a few kilometers of running in the middle.

At Isetan, my first two choices failed: Blondir (a maybe good shop I've had only one cake from who were visiting but sold out on their last day) and Jean-Paul Hévin, who were sold out of what I wanted. My alternate was Sadaharu Aoki, but I decided to go to Ginza instead, where I could have a second chance at JPH's cake and 4 alternative counters that I was interested in. As it happens, I was successful at JPH, getting the Violette (or maybe Violet, though the Japanese pronunciation, which is all I have online, looks like the Italian, which seems unlikely). This is a chocolate mousse flavored with cassis (redcurrant) and scented with sumire (violets) on top of a pretty rich and relatively solid chocolate base. It is great, so I'll have to keep track of how long it's going to stick around and get in a first-round cake-off.

Sucre-rie: Framboise Chocolat

Walked to a new shop. Speed was definitely around 6 km/h for the first 2 km, but no timing after that. Probably slower the next, while I ate a delicious croissant from P. Shima, and then maybe faster, but slow enough not to strain anything. I'll try farther definitely 6 km/h tomorrow night, if things go as planned.

The shop is Sucre-rie in Nihonbashiningyōchō. Sign on the door at 4:30-ish was that they were sold out of cream puffs, so that is presumably one of their specialties. Not much looked tempting, but a few. I tried Framboise Chocolate, for 500 yen, which is chocolate mousse with raspberry-flavored cream. As chocolate mousse goes, that part was good, though not something I need anymore. The raspberry cream in the middle was sufficiently generous (often you get a tiny amount of cream center in chocolate mousse cakes), but didn't really make it special. Also, it was a little painfully sweet, but I would forgive that, taking into consideration that it could be expected to be eaten with some usual beverage, such as milk or tea, but at the end I hit a tiny piece of bland spongish cake (probably a base), which seemed completely out of place (I would expect something crisp or crunchy), so I'm rating this just okay, so probably will never get back there. This is why going to new places stopped being my main aim.

Got a picture. Should have gotten closer, though don't like to stand in the middle of the street.

Frédéric Cassel: Violet

Was over near Ginza at night, so I went over to get a ninth cake from Frédéric Cassel, Violet, a seasonal cake, for 777 yen. This is a two-layer cheese cake, with rare cheese mousse over a baked cheese cake. On top and between is cassis, so there is a mild red berry taste rather than a lemon taste. The crust gave the impression of a graham cracker crust. It does not really redefine cheesecake, but it well combines several version and is excellent (and maybe there only another week).

That's two great shops in a row, so I'll aim lower next, probably Tuesday, depending on the weather. I've got my eye on a new place (to me) blogged by Sweet Sonobe. On the great shops' front, I miscounted: Jean-Paul Hevin is up to 15 cakes posted. The others are at 9 now, except Dalloyao, which is 13, and Henri le Roux, which only ever has the same 4 cakes. If I get all seven shops all up to 10, then I'll feel obliged to finally get back to Clover and Piece Montée (which was tonight's backup) to get all the potentially excellent ones up to 2 cakes each.