Camélia, Myu

Ran to a get a first cake from a relatively new shop in Ginza that I saw on TV, P. Camélia. Looked very nice, in terms of atmosphere and selection. I got Myu, a blackberry tea chocolate mousse cake marked as the recommend cake. Unfortunately, because enduring my run back, which was longer than I expected, I got distracted and didn't get it into the refrigerator quickly, so it was probably in poorer shape than it should have been, and I wouldn't have minded a colder temperature when eating, but it wasn't overly sweet (which warmth can do), so it was fine. I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt and saying it was excellent. Certainly the flavor was good, particularly for a mousse cake, including a good aftertaste.

La Vie un Rêve, Chocolat Spécialité

Tuesday, I went over to redo verifying the Maruyamachou--Shinsenchou loop, not because it was the highest on the list, but just because I had it and then had to change it, so I wanted to clean that up. Then I can get back to Roppongi and the different Azabu neighborhoods. I biked out to Shibuya Hikarie and parked and then walked and then ran the loop, which is only 1.33 km, but with biking and then doing a basic indoor work out at home, it was enough for one day. At Hikarie, just to sample everything (though there were places along the way that I could have stopped), I got a Chocolate Sand' Bitter sandwich cookie from La Maison Shirokane Bis, which links to Bon Bonheur (which I thought was associated with a different brand) and the home page is part of a French restaurant La Coupe D'Or. Anyway, it's not a fresh thing, it's gift sweets, but what the heck. Because it's not fresh, the cookie is made with vegetable oil, not butter, which I can understand. It ends up being a pretty hard cookie, but since the filling is really thick, that's useful under biting pressure. Actually, it was excellent, consider the price, so I can recommend them for gift sweets. I ate it at the west JR exit, where it was pouring rain. It settled down by the time I finished eating and had made use of indoor routes to cross to the full west side of the connected system of stations and buildings for Shibuya Station.

Wednesday I did the same loop, only the reverse direction. First, I got cake from La Vie un Rêve, which is at Isetan with a lot of cakes that tempted me. I went with Chocolat Spécialité, which won an award in 2010. It is chocolate and orange. Unfortunately, the test just reminded me of bar chocolate with orange, which I wouldn't have thought was a problem, but apparently did, because it was not a flavor that I appreciated. Maybe I don't like chocolate and regular orange (versus blood oranges). Or maybe I impression from looking at the online cakes was correct: too fruity for my tastes. I'll call the cake good, as it was, really, just not what I want from cake, and consider them a fine shop for now but probably never get back there.

Peninsula Boutique, Okinawa Baba and Jivara Green Tea Tart

Saturday, I had and ate my cake first. Was trying to go to the Peninsula (Tokyo Hotel) Café, but didn't make the 17:00 cutoff, so got cake for two to go from the Boutique. Went with the Okinawa Baba, which looks like a (standard reverse) Mont-Blanc and the Jivara Green Tea Tart (which is not what was written on the card, which also didn't match the receipt, so I feel free to play editor based on the Japanese). There is a lot of coconut cream under the "shell" and some sort of maybe tropical fruit in the center and peach-colored sauce, which I can't identify, though there was a little banana consistency in some fruit and not in other but no such flavor. Very messy, especially with tiny plastic forks and wind. Not that into coconut, but definitely good.

The tart obviously has a big dome and is mostly green tea. The thin tart base has both a chocolate layer (the Jivara) and a dark layer of more green tea. Also difficult to eat with a tiny plastic fork just do the problem of cutting the base without breaking the fork, but could do it. Also definitely good. So it seems like a safe choice of a café before 17:00 (last seating), but neither cake sparked my particular interest, so I could recommend several definitely better places nearby for take-out at least (since Ginza Mitsukoshi isn't far). This shop goes to the fine shop list, at least until I split it, maybe into safe and fine shops. Glad to fill in some details of that area. Still a place in Marunouchi Building and one in Ginza 6 that I haven't tried in that neighborhood.

The running came later, from about 19:30. I went down to confirm counterclockwise knowledge of Sakuragaoka-chou and Shibuya east loops, though I need to look for confirmation of demonstration clockwise knowledge of the former, which it's trivial. Maybe I left that loop until redo the main loop. I also confirmed a couple more Natural Lawsons and that I can ignore a number of other shops that I marked for checking for baked goods or reasonable accessibility/quality for café cake on nearby routes. Like Friday night, the running was 1:4 walking:running, though only as a maximum, since there are lots of places around Shibuya Station where advancing at all was difficult and I ran into a baseball game letting out coming back up Gaien West, which is new for me. Total running time was about 64 minutes, which took about 2 hours total, with the walking and various investigations.

Speaking of Friday night, no cake, but I did need bread for breakfast, so I got a couple things (not shown) from Christa, and visited Daisy around the corner for the first time and got what I think was called a Cinnamon Bun. They had actual croissants, which is more definitely a pastry, but there was a sale and I didn't resist. This is a somewhat of a chain (from outside Tokyo) and small and more limited to lunch breads maybe, depending on traffic south from the station, since it doesn't seem to have anything on Christa except more of a quickie mart feel, in a clean way. The bun, which was just sufficiently pastry like to pass (versus sweet bread), was definitely good, so I was satisfied, but don't need to get back there. Now I need to hit the Akasaka bakery that I overlooked (and is going to require me to confirm the revised now 14 km long loop). With shopping, the running amounted to only 16 minutes, plus walking. Note, the bag says "patisserie", but I didn't see any signs of cakes, which would be out of place there.

Lenôtre: Concerto

No running since last Saturday, due to some otolaryngological problems, although the usual accompanying dermatological problem appeared as well. Anyway, Monday I rested, so I didn't get to Sourire, one of 3 basically holiday-only shops among the 14 quite fine shops that I wanted a third cake from to whittle the category down to hopefully closer to the target 32 than 64 shops that its been near. Tuesday, I was well enough to work and go to Isetan afterward and make a third (blogged) visit to Morozoff and try their Rare Cheese Cake. Not that fond of rare cheesecake in general and this didn't impress me in particular. I can rate it as ok, but Morozoff goes in the just fine category, so I at least knocked down the remaining two-cake quite fine shops to 13. 

Wednesday, I went by bicycle to Ginza 6 to get a cake from Origines Cacao. Unfortunately, I've had all 4 or 5 of the regular fresh cakes on display and all 3 seasonal things next to them were jar desserts. They say they are verrine, and I believe them in principle, but JPH's verrine have actually sponge as a layer, so I've allowed them as cakes, but OC isn't JPH and these didn't have anything to distinguish them from a parfait-like dessert, so my previous resolve to accept verrine as cakes collapsed; I'd rather wait to see what comes next month, although if they are like JPH, just the same or different verrine, probably.

I had a good back-up ready though: Lenôtre, a chocolatier that opened a counter at Ginza Mitsukoshi between JPH and F. Cassel this year but I haven't tried yet. I went for the mousse chocolate cake, Concerto. It has glaze and crunch as well, but it's relatively soft for a high percentage of mousse and most resembles my favorite type of JPH cakes. That said, and given the quality, I'm going to have to say it was great, which is a pretty good start, though now I'm back to 14 among the quite fine shops with fewer than 3 cakes and a new top priority. Guess I better hit one of the other 13 next, rather than the old top shop in that category, which is going to have to wait.

Tante Maria, Camembert Cheese Cake & Tarte Pistache

Was busy Saturday and not fit to run, but I'm feeling less hopeless about my feet, which tells you about how my week was going. Anyway, cake for two, with drinks (required) in the max 3-group, 8-person eat-in area of Tante Maria in the Marunouchi Oazo building. I've passed by the regular home shop, though I've never stopped. Since it's their main thing, I choose the Camembert Cheese Cake and the other chosen cake was the Tarte Pistache. Based on half of each, and allowing some leniency in a first visit, these were both excellent.

The cheesecake has a distinctively strong cheese taste, though it still managed to be cake (it looks like it has a mold rind on top, but it's actually powered sugar). For its attention to cheesiness, I can say that it is excellent. They have two other cheesecakes, though the brie seems to be whole cake takeoff only, though it is smaller than the other whole cakes.

The Pistachio tart was mostly as expected, though it was softer than others I've had recently, which doesn't generally appeal to me, but it came without a sacrifice in flavor, and in fact it was more flavorful than some recent good pistachio tarts, so it also gets an excellent.

Megan: Moist Gateau Chocolat

Wednesday, I noticed that the Trend Sweets shop at Isetan (which get's a three-week run) had cake, so I changed my plan and got a Moist Gateau Chocolat from Megan Bar & Patisserie, which is based in Higashi, Shibuya Ward, outside the Yamanote Line. It's too new to show up on Google Streetview, but I assume it's part of a new hotel that they provide a link to on their webpage. I'll have to work it into my neighborhood map once I'm up and running again. I got a slice, but they use the name for a whole cake with a different top decoration on their website. On their cake menu, they list Moist Terrine Chocolat, so I assume that this is probably that version. Anyway, it's a flour-less chocolate cake, which I'm pretty easy for. There was not a lot of other cake options there, nothing I'm overly optimistic about, but I'll be sure to follow up while they are at Isetan (which will probably remain my only source through next week), since this was an excellent first cake.

Colombin: Gateau aux Fraises

I visited Colombin for the first time. Rather than the main shop that is directly on my neighborhood course, I was in the Shinjuku Station neighborhood, so I went to the Keiou Shinjuku Salon. As my cake sample, I got the Gateau aux Fraises, though the Japanese was Shortcake. This was definitely good. This was maybe average or slightly heavy whipped cream, whereas some like it light, but I was fine with it.

A big set menu was also chosen that included an ice cream desert, including the mont-blanc, but not the chestnut. It also was good.

Michalak, Michalak Monkoeur

Wednesday, again my feet felt much better than the previous day, but not perfect. Decided not to run, though I did walk again to Isetan and get cake and later I rode a bicycle to get groceries, which was actually no problem, so I'm going to try going out by bicycle tomorrow morning as stage one. The second stage is still planned to be on foot, so I'm not sure how that will go. Also, rain is coming, which might matter. Anyway, for today, I got a first cake a shop on the neighborhood running course that just opened a counter at Isetan, besides the one on Omotesandou Avenue on the end near the Harajuku Station (on the far southeast end, for the subway): Michalak. I got the Michalak Monkoeur (I'm assuming the spelling was deliberate, versus Mon Coeur, since other product names used k's when written in the Latin alphabet, though where to break between words is less clear). This is a chocolate biscuit, yuzu syrup, chocolate mousse (under the red sauce), and exotic fruit (I think at Isetan the explanation said 4 fruits, in the form of compote). The fruit taste is a little thick but this is nicely decadent, so combined with it being a first cake, I think excellent is a reasonable rating. I'd certainly like to have another cake from them.

Libre: Fleure Pomme and Paris-Brest Marron

Friday afternoon, I took off, so I visited P. Libre down in Shirokane, which is peripherally connected to the neighborhood running course, but requires a long detour, so I haven't plotted out the specific path that would include it. This is the first shop recommendation taken from Sweets Magic! (see your local NHK Premium listings). The eat-in capacity is 11 or 13 people, and it's hard to image that many people there. Besides the chef (who took my order) and three other underlings there was a man and woman in black who were also staff, which was more than really fit in a place not that much bigger than my living room. They were busy though, so I suppose they were preparing for the night French restaurant time, as cake time was about over. The guy in front of me ordered 5 packs of 3 large bonbon-sized chocolate "pyramids" for >4,000 yen.

The closest thing they have for cake are the "fleure", which are mousse or sauce in a shell in a jar. I saw him make just little balls like that by dipping frozen mousse or sauce in the coating. If you eat in, you can probably see him do it, because the bar counter is both the eating and preparation surface. I asked for the apple version, Fleure Pomme.

The other like that I allow as cake is their Paris-Brest. They only had the Marron, but I didn't have a strong preference, so no problem. They both survived the train ride home. These are certainly interesting, and good. They were nice as something different, and excellent as art, but maybe too far from what I'm looking for in cake to take me back unless it is for the restaurant, which I bet would also be interesting.

Anniversaire Café: Anniversaire Chocolat and Rocolte

Went to Anniversaire Café for the first time. On one hand, this is definitely Tokyo cake, but no take-out, so technically its Tokyo café items. I got Anniversaire Chocolat, their chocolate cake. It's more traditional than I go for, so I'm saying its excellent partially on technical grounds, but it was certainly very good. One interesting aspect is that it is a layer cake, but the middle layers don't go all the way through, so the ganache (I would call it, mostly ignorantly) on the outside is uninterrupted by sponge cake.

The other cake is Rocolte, which looks like a mont-blanc, but there's no actual "Blanc" (whipped cream). The chestnut paste/cream is fairly thick. Inside, beside most chestnut, is a light (in terms of the amount of fruit/color) cassis cream, I think. This is definitely excellent. I'd like to get back here, but there are four other places in the area that I haven't visited/posted on.

Afterhours: Gateau Chocolat

Took the afternoon off yesterday, coincidentally one of the few days without rain, with the main plan being to do a one-way neighborhood course run taking in all of the Hatagaya--Hatsudai--Honmachi--Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop, which merges an old loop with what was going to be the Hatagaya-Honmachi loop. Haven't measured how far it is to the nearest point, but it took just under 50 min, which I was happy with. The target loop is 11.1 km long and includes 4 pedestrian bridge crossings and another bridge-equivalent set of stairs between the New National Theatre Tokyo and Tokyo Opera City, which maybe they don't want people running through (just the down half were in the arcade, so I limited myself there, at least while the guard was around). I could avoid the latter stairs if I took the long way around on the main streets. The loop took about 80 min. There was lots of pausing to check the map and some walking around crowded areas, so I could probably do it faster and felt like I should practice it some more, but when I played back the run in my mind, I could remember the total shape, just there are just a couple places were I don't yet recognize because there isn't an obvious landmark and its more than three streets from the previous landmark. I found one problem with the map (I pedestrian signal blocks the main path), but it gives me an excuse to take out separate loop (I can just turn there and pick up the loop as part of the main loop). Found one cake shop, though it's just homemade style tarts, so not a high priority, and a Christian ministry headquarters, which I've added to the map, along with a sandwich place (Sun&Witch) on the way that sells bread, now that I'm adding general take-out baked goods places, not just places with cake or pastries. I'm still walking on updating the rest of loop, just to make sure all the included landmarks are together, in order, and labeled.

There was also cake, not surprisingly. One of the harder to visit cake shops on a neighborhood course (specifically, the above-mentioned long loop) is Afterhours, which was closed a long time in summer, closes at 6 pm in general, and isn't open Sundays. They are tiny and have just a few simple cakes and a small table and a counter (both occupied this time) that require a drink order, so I got cake and ran it to the next park on the loop. Choices were a tart, a shortcake, a baked cheesecake, and a traditional (French) chocolate cake, Gateau Chocolat, so I went with the latter, which they just put in a paper bag like a loaf of bread, which is all it needed, since you might find this at a bakery. It was good but didn't really surpass its simplicity, so no special reason to go back there other than that I'm going past and want some cake (though, if they were closed, I was going to go to Cacao Store, which is less than 100 m away running (probably 50 m as the crow flies) and I owe a cake from a cake-off win.

Café Le Cordon Bleu: Earlgrey Chocolate, Macaron Chocolat Gianduja

Saturday, went to a new place for cake for two, which is to say I had half of each of these first two cakes, Café Le Cordon Bleu (supposedly the current name, though the old name is still on the receipt: Le Cordon Bleu La Boutique). It is close to the old Asakura Family Estate, which dates from early Showa (about a hundred years ago), which is a cheap (100 yen/person) visit. Back to the cafe, it is self-serve and has a limited selection of cake, pastries, bread, and simple cafe lunch, salad maybe. On a Saturday, they ran out of at least one of our cakes shortly after us, maybe a little before 3 pm.

Both of these are chocolate (there was also a strawberry mousse/cream and a cream puff), but are quite different. One is Earlgrey Chocolate, a fairly standard mousse cake, but definitely good. The tea gives, well a tea taste, but I would say it makes the chocolate a little fruity. The other cake is a macaron, Macaron Chocolate Gianduja, and I advised cutting it, though it turned out that picking it up was very possible, as there is a center of chopped nuts (I assume hazelnuts) in chocolate that acted as a central post while not offering resistance to biting (so it was sort of sticky rather than solid). This sort of heavy cake is more my preference, so I thought this was excellent. Based on two cakes, it seems a quite good shop, which is a fairly good find for just a local shop I noticed on my neighborhood route.

Esola: Black Cheesecake

No running Friday, but took an out of town guest with us when trying a new place, Esola in (Minami-) Aoyama. Noticed this near my neighborhood running course through the area, once I adjusted it to allow cutting through the alley/driveway at the end of this road that needs to a park on the other side. The crust/topping is bitter chocolate cookie crust (with salted butter for the bottom, at least), though I thought it was sesame for some reason. It's not very strong compared to the center, which is layers of fresh cream, rare cheese cake, and baked cheese cake, apparently. It's definitely good and definitely and a little different in a good way, like the shop.

Caffarel: Gianduia

Had reason to be inside JR Station, so I finally got a cake from Caffarel to blog on, their signature Gianduia, which is gianduia brulée cream on top of chocolate cream with a some raspberry filling. It was definitely good, but not especially compelling among the crowded field of chocolate cakes. Strictly speaking, this was not my first cake from them, or even maybe even my first cake from them since starting to blog (and probably not my first time to even have this particular cake), but my other encounters were in Kobe.

For running, I finally got back to my neighborhood course and finished doing a one-way neighborhood run completing the Jinguumae east loop, Kita-Aoyama central loop, Minami-Aoyama north loop, and newly added Kasumigaokamachi--Kita-Aoyama loop.

Cacao Store (Théobroma): San Juaquin Dos

Defying the Sunday forecast that Monday was the violently hot day and the rest of the week would just true summer hot (30-35 degC), every day has been hotter than the previous this week and it looks like tomorrow is more of the same.

Nevertheless, I went running to Bien-être, where they had nothing new for me, so I headed down to Cacao Store in Tomigaya, Shibuya, where I got San Juaquin Dos, which actually comes from the Théobroma shop, which several blocks south. Now I know. Their closing hours are the same, I think, so it doesn't matter which I go to. Cacao Store is a little Bean to Bar & Chocolate Bar shop, whereas the other is an older shop on a larger scale, whatever that proves.

Anyway, in some ways this is a pretty basic chocolate cake, with high sugar glazing (to keep moisture in, of course). It was definitely excellent, and I'm really not sure how it is not as good as the best other chocolate cakes, so I'm going to call it great and put to the test, though I'm not in a hurry. However, as a cake shop, there was not much on offer there, just 3 other items (none chocolate), so I'm not sure that this shop can rise very high in the rankings. Also, I've yet to buy cake from Théobroma, so I'll have to see whether they actually have different things there (I know Théobroma has pastries, which Cacao Store doesn't).

I think I'm to try Bien-être again tomorrow, so maybe I'll find out, since the next nearest backup isn't so close and Théobroma is easily on the way. I'll go by bicycle, I think, so I might have time to get to some place that closes at 7 p.m. instead, such as 365 Days near Cacao Store, which has pastries and over 2000 photos posted on the main food rating site, so maybe I should try something; anyway, I've put it on the local neighborhood map, so I'll have to learn a new route.

Le Grenier à Pain: Saint Honoré Pistache

Another day of proper running and another first cake, this time an actual first cake. Le Grenier à Pain is at Isetan, and though they are a bakery, they have cake, apparently. They have a shop out in Kojimachi, so they are practically local, just a little bit on the wrong side of the north boundary. I got Saint Honoré Pistache, which is just what it sounds like. 

For the running, I worked on revisiting the neighborhood course from yesterday, only approaching Lawson 100 from the reverse direction. I wanted at least 30 minutes of running, but ran almost 48 minutes, which is the longest I've done in months, though it was pretty slow in the 30+ degC evening weather.

The cake was good, but the pastry part (versus the custard and cream, which was normal) was fairly hard (not a bad idea, to avoid sogginess) and frosted like Christmas cookies, which was just weird. It's not a taste I've run into with cake before, and its not one that I need, so I'm not sure whether I'll take advantage of them again for a second cake during their week at Isetan. I assume that they are there for a wekk, but the Isetan webpage with that info has been blank or missing all day.

It is possible that I'll go Friday and get a pastry, if they are not sold out (on a Friday, I may end up walking around the entire Shinjuku 3-chome area and finding everything I might want is sold out), though my first choice is the new chocolate tart coming to JPH, for which the odds of my getting on its first day after work on Friday are close to zero.

Wittamer: Chocolat Noisette

Had some business around Shinjuku Stn. (besides confirming the cake names for Bigarreaux from Sunday night), so I got cake from another "neighborhood" cake shop that I haven't posted from before, Wittamer at Shinjuku Takashimaya. Of course, Wittamer is a pretty standard department store brand, but they have a reasonable line up. I went with the Chocolat Noisette (chocolate and hazelnut), which seemed safe. The cake is good and definitely as avertized as far as flavor. The cross-section is pretty ugly, though, and I'm not that thrilled by the texture, as it was softer cake than I like (I like mousse or a drier biscuit, whereas this was mostly sponge cake, maybe). Still, not a bad choice if you're at Takashimaya.

I ran with the goal of Lawson 100, following neighborhood routes around south Yotsuya. Total, it was 27 minutes, though I wannted 30 minutes. Still, it was fine and I can increase the length tomorrow and run in the opposite direction, at least on the southwest Yotsuya part, and meet up where I finished today. As my running increases, I can get back to more distant neighborhood courses. Also, I still need to update the one today by Akasaka Palace, where they finished the construction around the park (now, there's construction around the north just north of Akasaka Palace, but that doesn't block my route).

P. Ikeda: Cassiser

Tuesday, I went to Shinjuku Takashimaya looking for something different and got a cake from Patisserie Ikeda via the Patisseieria, which may be their only Tokyo distributor. They count as a neighborhood cake shop, so I felt obligated to try them, though nothing looked very appealing. Maybe I should have gone with cheesecake again, but I choose Cassiser, or at least that is my guess at the spelling, if there is a French spelling. It's cassis mousse and cherry custard cream. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, it was not any better than it looked. Not that it tasted bad, it was ok, but what seemed like a not very good idea was not improved by the execution, though I'm not an audience for the this cake, so this shop and its cake might be fine for someone else.

Exercise was about an hour of riding over the more extreme parts of yesterday's shadowing of the east Yotsuka neighborhood course, though in the reverse direction (so the worst slope I could do going up), plus one lap around Akasaka Palace Grounds. Then it was push-ups at home.

Wednesday, I cycled again, toward Ginza, stopping by P. Shima to verify that they still had the same pastries that I've tried previously, which they do. At Ginza Mitsukoshi, I tried again and failed to get the basic cream puff from F. Cassel (sold out), and instead got a couple Mini Pain aux Raisins from Dalloyau. Even perhaps a little not fresh at the end of the day, they were excellent.

Tadashi Yanagi: Praliné Croustillant

Friday, due to not feeling totally well the previous two days (maybe a mild cold), no running again, but I had skipped Thursday and needed to look at computers again (still using a loaner, which is very nice, except being tiny, though that was what made it easily portable so that I could borrow it), so I got cake in the Shinjuku Station areas again, again at Takashimaya; I'm nothing if not a creature of habit. This time, I could and did choose from Tadashi Yanagi a new cake (apparently) called Praliné Croustillant, which, besides the totally obvious, has chocolate. This cake has some of my favorite elements, so it should be no surprise that I like it. That and erring on the positive side, I'll say that it was excellent. This brand might be the best choice at Takashimaya, though as a shop, I recommend Au Bon Vieux Temps, just I'm not sure that their best stuff gets to Takashimaya.

Ecole Criollo: Slim Rarecheese Fraise

Last Wednesday, I went to actually pick up my broken computer and do some shopping. Didn't do any actual running, but I think that was the day I went out by bicycle and stocked up on roasted peanuts for making peanut butter.

As cake, I went down to the Shinjuku (Station) Takashimaya and got cake there from Ecole Criollo, whose shop I could visit on a weekday, if I wanted to run down to Nakameguro. I got Slim Rarecheese Fraise (though the card might have abbreviated this as just Cheesecake Fraise), which is half rare cheesecake and half sponge cake and strawberry gelatin (in the picture, it looks like the cheesecake dominates, but actually they are equal. This was definitely good and had a good balance between cheesecake and strawberry flavor. This shop is associated with low/no sugar cakes and I was previously unimpressed, so I was not in a hurry to revisit them, but this was better than expected.