Cake-off: L'Abricotier's Le Piemont over Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly

Saturday, I did a 4th-round cake-off between two cakes with one win to two losses each. Getting L'Abricotier's Le Piemont involved running 25 minutes in intervals of 1 minute and running the rest. My leg is not really getting better, but I'm getting more serious about identifying where needs stretching. The root is probably still a teenage back injury and resurface a couple decades ago, though it also shows up along the same place as a more recent lateral problem which required a lot of stretching, so I'm not giving up. They didn't have a lot of the Le Piemont compared to others even a little after opening, so maybe they are troublesome or not so popular, despite being an old standard. The Fraise Chantilly from Noix de Beurre required standing in line for an hour, which wasn't fun, but not as bad as I thought when I first saw the line. Not sure why this place is always like this. Despite the similar histories, it wasn't very close between the cakes, as I wasn't finding the merit in keeping the Fraise Chantilly in the lineup. I like whipped cream plenty and more of that and less sponge cake than a typical Japanese "shortcake" is fine with me, but I'm okay without it. I'm in new territory here, as I gave it a pass last time, but not the time before. Not sure what I'll do when that happens in the 5th round, if it ever does, but I'm deciding now that it's okay to cut it whereas my previous idea only if the two doubts occur in a row. I'll mention that I previously had my doubts about the Le Piemont, so these two cakes were well matched in that respect too, though I don't check that before the cake-off.  

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's Montelimar over Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly

Walked as far as L'Abricotier's, then to nearest JR Station, then Shinjuku Stn. to Isetan, and then home, which was a lot, and certainly more than other controlled walks, but seemed reasonable, so better than previous walking tests. I was there to get Montelimar for a third-round cake-off of cakes that were one and one. It's opponent was Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly, which is why I went to Isetan. The wait was less than 30 minutes there, which was less than I feared, given the lines from opening time (not sure when or why this started). I questioned last time whether the Fraise Chantilly belong among the greats, but when you want cream and strawberry and a little sponge cake, this is still my favorite, and it is nice sometimes, so I'm keeping it in. However, I like the hazelnut accented by apricot of Montelimar better. Wish it was a little more solid, but then it would be a different cake.

Cake-off: Dalloyau's Croquant Fraise over Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly

Saturday, I was busy, but did a fairly long run trying to verify kilometer marks from the 11th kilometer on my neighborhood map but soon ran into a mistake, so I've spent a long time with Google's automatic route plotter fixing through the 25th kilometer, though not at that time. Instead, I ran over to Shibuya Stn. area and visited all the main cake sources and confirmed that I really don't like running around that neighborhood or really have a great need to. It shouldn't have taken 2 hours, but I did a lot of back roads going the wrong direction (though never very far) and the ones on the west side were all crowded.

Not one to learn much from experience, I spent about 3 hours running to get one cake on Sunday. I wanted Croquant Fraise from Dalloyau for a cake-off and started by looking at Ginza Mitsukoshi, but they don't handle that one, they told me. Then I jogged across town to Shibuya Toukyuu (same as the previous night), where they claimed to be sold out of that cake, despite having a full (small) case of other cakes at around noon, so I'm more likely to believe that they never had any. From there, I went to Jiyugaoka, where the main shop is, with a café, mostly along a different route from usual, since I was going from farther west, but it was not any roads I haven't used going that way before and I had no trouble getting what I wanted. Since they open at 8:30 (though not the café until 11), I should of course have just gone straight there, just I was interested in checking out Ginza Mitsukoshi to see what was there on the weekend, and then it seemed worth a stop in at Shibuya as sort of being on my way to Jiyugaoka (but I wasn't going to swing by Meguro Stn.; if I had failed at Dalloyau, I would have given up and gotten cake elsewhere in Jiyugaoka.

The priority cake in this match up was actually Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly, which had managed to win it's first-round cake-off, but this time I really couldn't recognize what was great about it. It's much like a shortcake, which I'm not that into, so I've been giving it the benefit of the doubt sort of, as the best in it's class, but I think that's gone along far enough. Still, I'll keep it in for the third round and if it doesn't manage to seem great then, I'll bump from consideration. Dalloyau's Croquant Fraise, in contrast, is definitely great. I really can't think of another cake where the main component is custard (vanilla) that I think is great, but this one is great on it's own merits. It's certainly the best of the Dalloyau cakes that I've managed to get in a cake-off (most of their great cakes have been seasonal ones that haven't reappeared in the last year).

While I'm catching up, Monday was a pastry day, so I got my first from The Ritz-Carlton Café and Deli, a Pain au Chocolat. I'll note that it was after  7 pm, so they gave me 25% off (in the end, they forget initially and I wasn't sure whether the discount included pastries, since the sign I saw said cake, but they self-corrected). It's on the small side, but a proper traditional pain au chocolat, and was excellent.

Cake-off: Fraise Chantilly over Bernard

After Monday's fast intervals in cold weather after long weekend runs, I had sinus problems and had to talk yesterday off. Actually, I probably should have taken Monday off, so I need to revise my schedule.

Today though, I was feeling better, so I finally called Toshi Yoroizuka and reserved a Bernard and then went to Isetan (specifically, Noix de Beurre) where I could successfully get their Fraise Chantilly (though they currently also have custard and chocolate versions, so I had to be specific). There was light rain, but I was committed and it wasn't so cold, so I dressed warmly and did an easy 10 km/h jog to Tokyo Midtown, which is not much over 3 km away.

The cakes were as I remembered them, pretty much, and it was a tough choice. In this case, though the Bernard is still composed of things I like, such as chocolate and pistachio, I can only rate it excellent. Not that the Fraise Chantilly was exciting, but as previously, I rate it great for being the best cake of this type I know and I appreciated the clean fresh taste of just lots of cream, a little strawberry, and sponge cake it a sensible design.

Toshi Yoroizuka is still an excellent shop, and I'd like to get to their new Tokyo shop to eat in (not that I can't do that at Tokyo Midtown, just my café dining timing has not matched up and I'd like to see the new shop). And I don't mind having to blog a third cake from Noix de Beurre soon, which is conveniently located.

Running and Patisserie Noix de Beurre fraise chantilly

Today I got cake first, from Noix de Beurre (ノワドゥブール at Isetan. The fraise chantilly (フレーズ・シャンティ) is basically a French short cake, only they don't dump the cream on it and add the strawberry on top and side until you order it (although it was still a couple hours before I ate it). It is 648 yen, so it is relatively expensive for their things. They are basically an in-house unit of Isetan rather than an outside shop like many of the counters there. I'm not a big fan of short cake, but this is great cake from a great shop. Plus just this cake was enough to make me feel very full after running (which does not tend to expand my stomach), probably because of all the cream, although I recovered in a hour for pizza, no problem.

Before eating it, I went for the run, which is a little dangerous, because my motivation is weaker and I wonder why do I run, can I just give it up forever now? After some warm-up running, I did my first lap around the Meiji Jingu Gaien, near where I usually start, and that problem was solved. I stopped between laps (all I had to time myself was my flip phone). Did 7:13, 6:30, and 6:27 times and thought, "Eh, I have to go again?" (since I hadn't gotten my best yet) and decided I wasn't going around a fourth time today. The track is just short of 1.4 km, so not that long but not a sprint. Next I jogged over to Akasaka Palace and did a lap around that in 18:54 as a benchmark for future runs. Apparently, it is 3.3 km around, plus it's not a flat course, so even if you don't do +5 km first, it's more challenging. If the weather holds (and they're warning that it may not be safe out in the evening), then I'll try a hill-focused run tomorrow.