Shiseido Parlour, Mont-Blanc

The emergency declaration for the Tokyo region as been rescinded, so Isetan is now open until 8 pm. Searching for a new great cake within this month but still working through the quite fine shops, I hit the Shiseido at Isetan. The 8 pm closing time was new, so it was pretty empty just after 7 pm and already discounts from the non-dessert areas had started. I had two shops to choose from to visit and I went with Shiseido. Actually, I may not have had a choice. At Shiseido, I definitely didn't have a choice because they only had their Mont-Blanc. As it happens, that was pretty lucky, because this was definitely lucky. The special feature of this is that the cream inside (I think) has white chocolate. The result is a mont-blanc that tastes like (not wet) ice cream to me, and not much like chestnut, which actually I'm fine with. There were actually also exercises. Besides walking, I did squats, presses, and curls. The squats were only 5 per set, but I did too many sets, I found out afterward, so I was limited the next couple days. Now I have an incentive to building up those muscles. 

Très Calme, Printemps

Started Sunday (today!) with a cake-off win inspired visit to Très Calme, where among the new cakes I went with the Printemps, which seemed a longshot, but something different appealed to me more than just something with my favorite flavors. Not that it was obvious what flavor a pinkish mont-blanc-shaped cake named 'spring' from the shop of someone on the record for not liking mont-blanc in general, due to the taste and texture of chestnuts. This particular cake was strawberry flavored, with the, I assume, chestnut paste used to cut that and vice versus (wasn't any distinctive chestnut flavor). The base was consistent with the fruit, being like a flaky pie crust, though just on the bottom, not folded up on the sides like a pie or tart. It was good.

Tadashi Yanagi, Mont-Blanc

Working through the quite fine shop list to get them all up to at least 4 cakes, I picked up a Tadashi Yanagi cake, Mont-Blanc, from the counter at Shinjuku Takashimiya, as they are featured there on Mondays. It was good and had a meringue base, I think, both huge improvements over my previous Mont-Blanc. Unfortunately, that probably isn't enough to keep in it the quite fine category, but we'll see.

I note that I'm also going to want to go back there to get cake from Le Jardin Bleu for the same reason. Yanagi actually isn't that far away, even for Setagaya (they used to have a shop on Aoyama-doori Ave., but that's been closed for a while), whereas Le Jardin Bleu is deep in the western suburbs. Not that far but not as close as Yanagi, I note that Noliette doesn't have their counter there any more, so I should have visited them earlier at Takashimaya.

Vie de France, Mont-Blanc

Full disclosure, since a bakery with cake moved into the Shinanomachi Station, I felt compelled to give it a chance, but I wasn't that surprised that the result was not good. It's close enough that I could actually run the entire way. This Vie de France is in the Atré café space, next to a Starbucks. Anyway, I got the Mont-Blanc, which is in the same old-fashioned early-Japan style (in my imagination, anyway: when they were just recreating western desserts in the early days before studying cakemaking in the west) or maybe it's just a café style that is more robust. Anyway, the base is dense like pound cake but overly dry for fresh cake and making up way too much of the cake, and the top has little make up for it. It's a style, I suppose, but I can't call it more than okay, so no need to every eat cake from there again, much less buy it.  
 

(Café) Le Pommier, Mont-Blanc

I'm probably not going to catch before the weekend, but last Sunday I hit a couple local shops. Imperfect is a chocolate shop that's gotten out of the cream puff business, so they no longer have anything that qualifies as fresh cake. Next in that neighborhood was (Café) Le Pommier, from which I got a Mont-blanc. I'd probably have a bigger selection if I went to one of the regular shops, but I was only looking for a fourth cake, so this seemed good enough. It's got the meringue-type base but the unusual feature is a chocolate coating. That's not a bad idea, but wasn't really making this special. Still a good cake, but probably not enough to keep this shop in the quite fine category. 

Il Pleut sur la Seine, Le Turin

No cake and little running during the short week, but indoor exercise. Saturday I had a couple appointments, so didn't try a cake-off, but went for the last two (simple) exceptional shops I wanted another new cake for. After the morning appointment, I went to Il Pleut sur la Seine. They are only open a short time every week and they are expensive, but their main thing is the school, so maybe they do best with the basics. I got Le Turin, which if not basic, at least uses basic elements. The biscuit is hazelnut, which gives a special flavor and a nice texture. As the name suggests, the main flavor is chestnut, in different kinds of cream. The chestnut flavor isn't so heavy and it harmonizes well with the hazelnut. So good quality, interesting combination, and solids basic elements make this an excellent cake.

Libertable, D'Or

Monday, working through bringing the exceptional shops up to 8 cakes, I paid a visit to Libertable at Akasaka. According to their homepage, they shut down their department store counters in March and now only have the main shop.  Glad they are still going, as they have very high-class cakes. Another nice point is that they are open late, so no problem visiting them. Was surprised that the huge selection compared to the past, though the space is the same as always, so maybe just I usually go when most things are sold-out. A relatively new cake for me, and a seasonal one, is the D'or, which is obviously in the mont-blanc family. Since my favorite from them (Charm, which they still have) also is, it seemed a reasonable choice. Besides the usual chestnut paste on the outside over whipped cream, this has an almond and chestnut center, red, rather than black, currant and fig as the fruit accent. It was definitely excellent, so I was satisfied. It's a pretty short run down there, though, and I walked back, but I'm rather lazy lately, I suppose.

Presqu'île Chocolaterie, Mont-blanc

Having brought Presqu'île Chocolaterie, a quite fine shop, up to the target 4th cake level, I went back the next day to get one cake ahead with them on the grounds that it could be years before they come back to Isetan (whereas normally they are inconveniently far from central Tokyo). I went with the only cake of theirs that has no chocolate at all, the Mont-Blanc. The unique feature for me was the base, which has pastry more like what I only see with quiche: salted filo crust. Inside the base is almond cream. It's definitely excellent even among the crowded category of mont-blanc.

Ron Herman Café: Cheesecake and Mont-Blanc

I was busy on the weekend, but did a first visit to the Ron Herman Café in Sendagaya and had lunch and cake for two. The cakes were their Cheesecake, which has fresh grapes, and a Mont-Blanc. For a café, this place has a pretty good selection, which was one reason for choosing it, plus it's not in a crowded area, though fairly busy (not sure where people come from, since it's far from the standard shopping areas, and yet they continue, though obviously on people's radars). Too much gelatin on the top of the cheesecake for me, but definitely good cake, with amount of sour cream sourness that I miss in a lot of cheesecakes here. 

I thought the Mont-Blanc was also definitely, but it was pointed out that it had a sort of amateurish disorder. The base is about 1 centimeter thick of something between a dense pound cake and a sablé-type cookie, which is a bit unusually, but probably useful for a café. I suspect both the base and the cheesecake are prepared in advance at a remote location and the top parts are added locally.

Anyway, good enough that it should count as a cake shop on my local running map, but not good enough that I'll probably get back to it now that I've had two cakes.
 

Viron, Moelleux Marron Chantilly

I was disappointed Monday that the Baba was sold out at Viron (Shibuya-ku). I wasn't surprised, though, since it was a work day, after which I went (running) to get my dry cleaning before coming back and then heading out to Isetan to get a PH cake. However, the latter cake definitely would be fine an extra day, despite them saying it needs to be eaten the same day, regardless of the cake (for JPH, for example, I note that the Paris website indicates 2 days for the same cakes as sold in Japan). Back to Viron, I was happy to see new cakes, since their new items appear slower that I would like, so I'm always looking for something new. In this case, I went with the Moelleux Marron Chantilly, which pretty much tells you everything there is to know, at least with the picture. On one hand, it's just a soft chestnut-based cake with whipped cream with candied chestnut pieces. On the other hand, this creates a well-balanced dessert that I have no hesitation about calling excellent.  

Kouhiichakan Shuu, Marron Chocolat

Spent the day hitting neighborhood shops around Harujuku. Only one really counts, so I'm leading with that one, Kouhii Chakan Shuu. I've visited one of their "Natural Cake" shop, but they have a different line-up. This time I ate in (since no smoking now), though they do takeout. I had Marron Chocolat, which is a seasonal cake. It's on the sweet side, so it would be better with a drink, which is what this is for, after all. It's comparable to the other coffee salon I know and at least as a first cake, I can say it was excellent.

Other cakes were from shops that don't deserve being marked as cake shops for my running map (and were cheap). One was Brook's, where I got the Basque Cheesecake. This is my first time with this kind of cheesecake and I can't say I get it. It was okay.

The other was the new shop in the Aoyama Grand Hotel, The City Bakery. I went with the Lemon Pie (if that's the correct name) which is their lemon tart. This also was just okay, not very lemony, which is the only thing it had to work with.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Matcha Marron

New month, so the verrines are gone (almost: their were still some coffee ones at the side on the 2nd), which I'm not sorry about. Lots a great cakes in the line-up, and an exceptional one that I wouldn't mind having again. Importantly, there is a completely new cake, Matcha Marron, so the second day I got that. Recalling that I've fallen off with the regular Matcha, I wasn't sure how this one was going to be for me. Don't think I've had a matcha-maron pairing before from anywhere, but it totally works. Probably the bitter chocolate mousse and biscuit at the bottom helps. As even my photography shows, the matcha part is extremely light, like chiboust. Nothing else to say about it except that it was a great cake, which I hope stays around for awhile. If I'm lucky, I'll find another great cake to have a cake-off with it (or another cake that's eluded me for years will reappear, but I've been touring their shops, and no such luck this month yet).

En Vedette, Mont-blanc

Monday of last week, I had lunch at Isetan and could make buy cake in the middle of the day on a workday (and in fact would be the only such cake during the week). En Vedette was visiting, so I took advantage of the opportunity to buy their Mont-blanc. This is the usual whipped cream under chestnut paste arranged horizontally between two meringue disks, which makes for a high meringue to cream and chestnut, and a rather sweet cake, which suits me, especially for something that get verge on bitter like chestnut. In fact, I want to have it again, which is another way of saying that it was great. This puts En Vedette on a path to challenge the category above, quite exceptional shops, though this third great cake probably isn't going to be enough to take it all the way, even if it stands up under testing.

En Vedette, Marron Vanille

Ended up at En Vedette again, after first striking out at Viron for their apple tart, going northwest up to Bien-être for the chance of something new (they do have something maybe new in the lineup---I needed to ask a more detailed question about what was in the chocolate chiboust besides the obvious, since I've had the chocolate raspberry)---but it was sold out) and back down south, past Viron to Shibuya Scramble Square. This time I went for the Marron Vanille, which is chestnut brulée, and lemon cream surrounded by vanilla mousse. It's very soft (except for the chestnut) and fairly mild, and my first reaction was that it was just good but not my kind of thing, but really its a nice change, like the last cake I got from them, and it qualifies as excellent. I'm going through their cakes pretty fast, but I just need one more to promote them and finally have a clear boundary between the quite fine and exceptional shops.

L'Abricotier, Oriental

As a second shop and a reason to keep running on Sunday, once Rue de Passy had secured its place among the exceptional shops, it meant I knew which shop was facing the chop, so I didn't have to visit the bottom shop of the group. In stead, I went to the top of the quite exceptional group, L'Abricotier, to allow them to challenge the group above. It's about 10 km from Rue de Passy to L'Abricotier, so it wasn't the easy choice for running, and I was tired enough after I got there, having done 3 hours of running Saturday, that I knew I was going to take my cake home by train, unless I could eat in. However, they were quite busy and all seats were full, but I preferred to have lunch at home first anyway, so I wasn't disappointed. I though I'd have to go with cream puffs, but actually they were sold out and there were two other cakes I haven't had, though I've seen their strawberry tart before, so I surprised I hadn't had it yet. However, I went with Oriental, which is mikan/tangerine  and chestnut with a chocolate base, which sounded interesting at least. Interest I might have been, but I can't say that the combination worked for me. It wasn't poorly made though, and it was as promised, so I can say that it was good. Maybe someone who likes mikan or chestnut more than I would appreciate this more. I've gotten a few cakes ahead with L'Abricotier, so it might have to wait awhile for me trying to get another new cake.

Jun Honma: Waguri Mont-Blanc

Still trying to sort out the quite fine shops versus the exceptional shops, I ran to Jun Honma again. I didn't get turned around 180 degrees again, but I also didn't pick my route that well, so it took about the same time. Actually, coming back with cake took the same time, and I walked under Shinjuku as far as Isetan. Takes a couple hours total.

I went with the Waguri Mont-Blanc this time, very traditional. And it was very traditional tasting, so good but nothing special, so Jun Honma slips behind, giving a different shop a chance for the next day. I'll say that this had a sort of almond tart base, since besides using Japanese Chestnuts, the base classifies it within the Mont-Blanc family.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Bûchette Hope

Last Thursday, probably again working late, I skipped Isetan and Marunouchi and went straight to Ginza Mitsukoshi by bicycle to get Bûchette Hope, the individual version of the most expensive of the regular sized Christmas cakes (probably because of the decoration ball not on the individual) of Jean-Paul Hévin. Based on descriptions of the full-sized cakes, the top chocolate mousse is Ecuadorean bitter chocolate, next is crème brûlée using Tahitian vanilla beans and a little timut pepper, then the same chestnut and almond biscuit as Bûchette Lichen, then a flour-less chocolate biscuit, and finally a chestnut powder sablé, hazelnuts, and caramel flavored chocolate croustillante. Like the previous day, a relatively crunch/dry cake that is a nice change while still being decadent chocolate. It's easy to say it's a great cake, though it will never get a chance to be in a cake-off. I'll have to wait until next year to see what new Christmas cakes they offer.

At home, I did the indoor workout with weights.

Friday, I did a neighborhood run course, the new Dougenzaka--Maruyamachou--Shinsenchou loop, which merges two new loops. On the way to shopping I discovered a LaDuree salon behind the Bunkamura in Shibuya, not even on Google maps yet, so I had to revise the Kamiyama-chou--Tomigaya--Udagawa-chou loop again. That led to noticing that the Jinnan loops should be merged, which meant the new loop needed to be put in a clump, which has let to a shape up of a few clumps and discovering that the Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop was linked to the wrong loop. I still have one more clump to fix before it's all sorted out.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Bûchette Lichen

I'm way behind, but here goes. By last Wednesday, I had noticed that the individual versions of Jean-Paul Hévin's Christmas cakes were available, so I went hunting. I tried Isetan first, where there was a line (not necessarily for cake), but when I got a chance to ask, I found out that they were sold out, so I left. It was still early enough for me to go by bicycle to the Marunouchi shop, where they didn't have either and I didn't ask, so I went to Ginza Mitsukoshi, where they had both, not too much to my surprise (they are never as busy there). I went with Bûchette Lichen first because they only had one compared to several of the other, so I figured next time the other would still be easier to get, which would turn out to be true.

There is a full-sized version that has a fuller explanation of the layers, so I'm going to assume that they are the same, since the pictures match. The top (and sides of the big cake) is Venezuelan chocolate mousse, then Ethiopian café au lait mousse, a chestnut and almond biscuit, a chocolate and marzipan biscuit, and a cinnamon sablé base. So a high proportion of hard biscuit-type things, flour-less. The problem is the coffee, but I knew that going in. I really like this harder, drier cake as a change and I could accept the café au lait as an interesting flavor and enjoy it. There wasn't even a coffee aftertaste problem for me this time. However, it still left a burning feeling in my stomach, if not my mouth, so I still need to avoid coffee and have to rate it as only excellent.

Besides the bicycling, I did my indoor non-weights workout, which was enough.

Origines Cacao: Mont-Blanc Japonais

Failed to get the new cake of Sadaharu Aoki from Isetan, so I went to Ginza. Normally, I wouldn't go to Origines Cacao so soon, but they are holding up FC, who has new cakes, and there is only one new cake from Origines Cacao to try, so I figured it might take a few tries (even as it is looking like getting SA's new cake is going to take a few tries, but I'm free Thursday afternoon, so certainly by then). And I was successful and got the Mont-Blanc Japonais (corrected), actually the first mont-blanc I've ever gotten from there, as the 24th new cake. I mostly walked it back because I was using the big bag and because I planned (and did) the non-weights indoor workout when I got home.

This was another great mont-blanc, and again I'm not sure why other then just pure simplicity and I could have kept eating more, and yet it was different from the last great mont-blanc (it will be interesting if they get to face off against each other). The Japanese chestnut is milder than the standard import, which should work for someone like me who isn't that into the strong flavor, but that hasn't proved true until this one.

I'm going to officially call it and promote Origines Cacao to the superb category, knocking down poor Bien-Étre to quite exceptional, so they need a cake-off win to get a visit from me (though, speaking of mont-blanc, they have a great one that hasn't had a third-round match). Also, now Origines Cacao is slightly dominated both quite superb shops, though will only half the cakes, so they are a long way from that promotion. Still, it means, I should hold of on FC at least, whose slightly below SA. Also, now that the superb shops are resolved (and Viron's dropped slightly), I should get a new cake from Paris S. Wish now that I had paid closer attention to new cakes when I was there yesterday. Maybe that's where I'll go Thursday, though I can put that off while I visit the returned Hilltop Coffee Parlor and go there Saturday.

La Vie Douce, Marronnier

Tuesday, I got a 6th cake from La Vie Douce, which is challenging the bottom of the next shop category, the exceptional shops. I got the Marronnier (horse-chestnut) early, did my non-weights indoor workout (Monday I did the weights workout after running), and went for about a 90 minute run. My target was the highest priority neighborhood loop, which was the revised Ebisu-Nishi west loop, which I failed, as I didn't recognize an old turn (I think they changed the billboard, but I should just remember that it's the first left after incoming link route). On the way, I finished verifying the Higashi north loop and did two new loops clockwise, the Ebisu-Minami loop and the Ebisu 1 loop. Maybe I'll get back there again on Thursday. It depends how I decide to travel to the Tooyou-chou Station area.

The cake, which has hazelnut, chestnut, and cassis/currant, was definitely good. It's a fall cake, so more nutty than sweet. It's really a quite fine shop, I just wish they would make their yuzu Chiboust again.