Atsushi Hatae, Gourmandise

Foraging for food, I went out again today. I originally intended to do a neighborhood course clump, but quickly decided that the weather was too miserable, and that I wasn't actually confident about the changes I made in merging three loops into one, and combing that with two other loops, one new, to form the clump.  Fortunately, the miserable weather and general requests to avoid unnecessary excursions, kept people off the streets around the time I was running (i.e., during the March snow). I wasn't the only jogger, or the only one buying food that might not be vital to life, but it was pretty easy to keep a good distance from everyone. I'm remembering, now, that running, like alcohol, might not be best for maintaining good judgement, so I plan to be even more careful next time, if there is a next time (i.e., if the city isn't completely locked down). When I jogged in the evening, it certainly looked (from afar), that some shops were hurting for sales, as I would expect, at least for ones away from residential areas. But enough of the depressing stuff.

Working on the neighborhood sites, I got mini-financiers from Chavaty, which is a milk and tea shop (though I don't like milk in my tea), that has scones, but no clotted cream, so I'm not sure whether to trust them for scones. Thus, I went with the mini-financiers. They aren't like homemade, but maybe not everyone likes their financiers as baked/dry as I do. Also, these seem to be chocolate, from the color, though I can't tell so much from the flavor for this kind of baked good. They were good, but not impressive. I think I got 12 originally, but this was after the late run (after I dried off, had lunch, and then the first cake).

The first shop I got cake from was the Sarugaku-chou (the website, of course, says Daikanyama, since that's the nearest station and more sophisticated than "monkey pleasure") Atsushi Hatae shop that opened last year (at the same time as his other two shops). I went with the Gourmandise as likely to meet my tastes, as well as being strong for the return trip, which probably took me an hour through mush and detours trying to confirm other shops. Tea-flavored chocolate ganache, caramel and orange chocolate cream, and hazelnut praliné as the main components. Quite sophisticated, though not original, which is fine with me. I can call it excellent. This shop goes on the list of fine shops as one that I definitely want to get back to, in the next year or so (under the current strict system).

Jean-Paul Hévin: Passion

I don't remember whether I got this at Ginza Mitsukoshi (which would imply running) or Isetan, but this was the first day for this new cake, which is different from their previous passion fruit cake, which has been out of the line-up for a while and I'm assuming from this is going to remain out. It's their standard mousse layer chocolate, this time with ganache flavored with rum and a crunchy top (though I'm not sure of what, besides probably sugar). This was excellent, but my impression was that it did not stand out among their cakes. However, I had half of a piece more recently and thought it was great, so my current evaluation is semi-great, which at least means that I'll get back to it before reviewing just excellent cakes, though reviewing great cakes is keeping me busy enough.

Yoshinori Asami: Étoile

Again today, I went to Isetan for the visiting pâtisserie, which had changed to Yoshinori Asami. It's only a priority because it's convenient and a little cheaper there due to cards. Fortunately, this time I got there before they sold out, which they sometimes do on the first day, as they did yesterday on the last day of Blondir. I was disappointed that they did not return with their Van Dyke, since I've only ever found that when they were visiting Isetan and its my favorite of theirs, but I still had a reasonable selection of mostly things I haven't had before. I went with Étoile. Despite the name, this cake reminds me more of cakes from German or Eastern European cake shops. Rather than a few layers of almond-flour biscuit (or some of it might have been hazelnut; I didn't finish reading the card) and heavy ganache balanced by cream layers, this was alternating biscuits and ganache all the way down, with one fruity layer, though I'm not sure what. Very heavy, but still definitely good: I really appreciate having this type of cake occasionally, so I'm not at all disappointed, but it's drier than the cakes I like the most and maybe I don't really have enough experience to judge well whether a particular one is excellent or even great. That's a project I'll probably never get around to, focusing on specific types of cake.

The running was on the neighborhood course, where I verified kilometer markers 12 to 20, which took me to the other side of Omotesando Avenue, and came back home, so over 11 km. For the measured ones, I kept my target long-distance pace of 7 min/km pretty well, despite some slowdowns for congestion or automobile traffic, so I'm ready to try 20 km at that pace (which shouldn't be very hard, but takes time) but have other plans for at least through Saturday.

Limevert: Pruneau

For my long run of the week, I went over to Limevert again, taking a longer path of going south to the middle of Aoyama Cemetary before heading west to Roppongi Ave and then over to my usual route down to Old Oyamate Ave. (though I took the southern branch for some reason) and then down to follow Meguro River northwest and then the green path to Umegaoka, and from there along the train line.

I ate in again (obviously) and got chocolate again, this time Pruneau (580 yen) according to the French, but the Japanese name seems to be phonetic for "Brick" (though wrote down "Buritta": hard to write those cards). This is a couple solid chocolate sticks on top, then cocoa powder, chocolate mousse, chocolate cream, a little unlisted chocolate sponge (probably for cohesion), chocolate ganache, and finally a feuillantine base for crunch. I'm not completely confident, but I'm going to say it was great and look forward to testing that in the future.

From there, I went back a different route so I could stop by at Fraoula because I had overlooked that theirs was the first cake I rated here as great, so I should have started with them (I was greedy back then and had two great cakes on that day). Unfortunately, though they were happy to see me again, it seems to be something that they make on an irregular schedule. They offered to give me a call when they made it next, but my schedule is a little more complicated than that and I don't mind stopping in occasionally. I bought there Croissant d'Almonde, which was great. It is the soft kind, maybe with almond syrup, but the powered sugar definitely was part of the appeal for me. More than for cakes, this is a quite excellent place for the few pastry they make, so I need to get there more often just for that, though I'm not sure whether I've missed anything at this point.

Fiorentina Pastry Boutique: Marquise

Decided that consecutive training days is no fun, so I'm not going to do that. Fortunately, I wanted to get back to Fiorentina Pastry Boutique, which is close, so I did a leisurely run, just 10 km/h for only about 7 km round trip. The cake was Marquise　（マラキューズ; 594 yen), which is chocolate sponge with chocolate ganache. It was definitely good, but not groundbreaking, which is sort of the best you can expect from a Hotel patisserie, which is reasonable. They pretty need to be noncontroversial and cover the basics. However, they should know not to try to stabilize a cake for transport by taping a support to the loose napkin under it. Still, it survived reasonably well, considering.

Doutor: Ganache

The title is somewhat facetious, as Doutur (Coffee Shop) is a typical Japanese chain coffee shop, and their Ganache (220 yen?) is a tiny square barely pretending to be cake, though, of course, that is basically what it is. I'll say it's okay, which is better than I feared, and might be better than their usual cake. The only reason I mention it is for completeness (so even if I starting doing all cafés, Detour is covered now), and because I did not have anything else today. Tomorrow, if I can get them, I'll try to get two pieces of real cake that I thought last time were great and evaluate them in comparison with each other.

The running was interval training again, and it was hard, harder than it needed to be. It's difficult to be precise timing oneself by wristwatch chronometer on short distances, so I'm still not very consistent. I was trying for eight 300 or 325 m 13.0+ km/h intervals. The first just missed it, so I overcompensated for the next ones. I did get my eight 13.+ km/h intervals, but in the process I got six 14.0+ km/h intervals and one 15.0+ km/h i
ntervals, so I'm okay on 13.0+ and 14.0+ km/h training for now, but I'd like to do a total of at least 600 meters in intervals at 15.0+ km/h, and I may need to do longer intervals at 13.0 km/h to ever get consistent. First I'll try ten of the current-length ones, but I should do 5 full laps at 12.0+ km/h first, when the budget allows. I want to do a couple actual running to cake shops first, at reasonable speeds.

Pierre Hermé: Flocon Plénitude

Yesterday's run was boringly like the previous day's: laps around Meiji Gingu Gaien at 11 km/h, just I did a fourth lap (5.3 km total), plus kept the speed up going home, but was a little slower coming. 

The cake (bought today) was from Pierre Hermé at Isetan, the Flocon Plénitude (フロコン プレニチュード ["plenitude of flakes"]; 864 yen). This is pretty complicated, supposedly: a chocolate macaron, chocolate ganache with chocolate in it, chocolate with fleur de sel (a kind of salt) in it, and chocolate mousse. It is a rich chocolate cake and everything harmonized well, except the dryness of the macaron (?) wasn't really working for me, as texture. Maybe if I had known what it was (I found the description online later), I would have appreciated it at the time. I was worried that I am overly biased toward chocolate, but I realize that I'm also critical of chocolate cake that doesn't live up to what I think is the best I've had, so I suppose those factors balance out. This was definitely a good cake, but not something I need again and so hard to recommend at the price. I would like something more exceptional than design from the half dozen shops that I am designating "superb". Of course, I already knew that holiday cakes made for shape rarely are great, so maybe I should have chosen differently, but the description is sufficient interesting, now that I've had a chance to read it, it still seems like the logical choice, so no regrets, except that the photo came out blurry.

Shirotae: Ganache

Revamped my training run of 300 m intervals as 12+ km/h, since yesterday showed 11 km/h was too slow. I only did two intervals to start with (and the first one was too fast), then went and checked out Tokyo Midtown (which is getting more crowded), and then to Shirotae for cake. I got the Ganache （ガナシュ; 350 yen), as they did not have the rare cheesecake that I wanted and there was not much of a selection left. Being not far from home, I waited to eat it. Total running ended up about 4.6 km at 9 km/h, 2.6 km at 10 km/h, plus the two fast intervals (next week I plan to do four).

The cake was only okay. There is a little actual dark ganache (presumably) on top and very light ganache, maybe, on the outside to give it shape, but there is sponge cake inside, plus a cherry and a couple raisins. So there was a reason why I never bothered to post about them before.


I'm not sure whether I should get cake tomorrow, because I've got friends coming in and maybe we'll go out for cake (my preference), but I'm not going to force the issue. However, I want to run and I want some excellent cake, so I'll probably go to Isetan and visit Sadaharu Aoki. If I get more cake later, then I'll just do some running without cake next week.

Au Bon Vieux Temps: Marjolaine

Did a round trip to Au Bon Vieux Temps in Oyamadai (well, Todoroki, actually, but the nearest station is Oyamadai Station, also in Todoroki but next to Oyamadai, so let's go by that): 25 km. Kept up a good pace, definitely 6+ km/h and not that much slower coming back. Happily, my feet didn't turn red, unlike the big walk last Thursday, so I did something right. Not so sure about my knees yet, crossing my fingers, but I plan to rest tomorrow anyway.

Got the Marjolaine, for, I forget how much, around 500 yen, anyway. 496 yen? They keep their regular individual cakes small, more than do the big international brands, not high priced, unlike their frozen deserts. This was a great cake, and the best Marjolaine that I've had, I think. Not sure whether they made Japonaisemasse as the biscuit, as it is not baked that dark, but it's hazelnut dark and tastes right. They went with powered sugar on top and included a layer nut slivers in the creme praline. The ganache layer is pretty thin, but seems a good choice for keeping the chocolate from taking over from the praline.

Finally, a near-great shop lives up to its designation, so I'll give it a new color on the map and mark it and other ones as such when it's convenient. Not sure when I'll get back to this shop, as it's a good distance, but if the weather ever clears up (typhoons keep bring in rain), I can take the bicycle out for more trips to these farther ones.

Thursday: Jean-Paul Hévin, Choco Passion

Last day of Golden Week holidays was shopping. Fortunately, we went by the chocolate bar just when we wanted to rest and it was nearly empty. I ordered the Choco Passion cake, which I had completely forgotten I had had until I saw it. Fortunately, it is great for 647 yen. Obviously, it is chocolate cake flavored with passion fruit, but also rum-flavored ganache and feuillantine for crunch. Not sure what the nuts on top are.

I also got the Nectar of the Day which was passion fruit, which was ultimately too sweet. Should have gone for tea.

The other order was Apéro Gourmand "Affogato", which is chocolate ice cream with apricot sauce/nectar for 1,322 yen. Not my thing, but it's good.

Finally, running, back to Frédéric Cassel for Tarte Chocolat a la Caramélia

No rain, no knee pain, and no cold (I hope), so I ran today!

It's been so long (well, more than a week) that I had forgotten what it feels like, so I went with that and tried running in a way that I knew was different: I ran like a girl. Or at least, I ran like a former girl group (AKB48) member who just started as the third host on a running program that I decided I should watch. She did a marathon 4 years ago but hasn't been running. She was preparing for a 10K (well, or she couldn't be a host), but didn't want to get big muscles on her legs. Actually, that is reasonable, because top long-distance runners don't have thick legs, because that is not necessary or efficient.

So she met a trainer (at the Gaien course, naturally because it's a marked route and there is big open space in the middle for training) who photographed her form and told her that she was taking too big of steps in the sense of the height of her toes. I've heard this before: think of stepping on a tuna can when you run, because you don't want your toes far off the ground when your heel hits. Otherwise, you are putting on the breaks, which uses a lot of muscles for stopping and then restarting. The other thing was lean forward, which they didn't talk about, but showed.

So today I didn't try to pump my legs at all, I just leaned into it and tried to keep then rolling fairly effortlessly. I wasn't sure how far I could do it, so I broke it up before the biggest hill going out to Ginza, but I ended up faster after that point than before, both very fast and almost racing speed on the hill part (it goes back down, of course). In one way, it is effortless, because I'm not trying to go fast at all, I'm just trying to do it at all (I have no basis for comparison running like this). At the last part of that 5.2 km fairly continuous run (there are a couple lights that you can't make at a reasonable speed), I didn't feel tired and was going as fast as I probably went the whole run, but on the other hand puffing very hard. When I stopped at the light just short of Ginza (from which I walked to Ginza Mitsukoshi), then I could feel that I had used some muscles.

Going back, I did 4 km very slow because I was somewhat tired, that kind of running doesn't work with carrying cake and having the weight of my jacket in my backpack, and my left knee called attention to itself at about the same point as my previous run, though not as bad, not increasingly bad, and not hurting during the walk home from the 100 yen shop (although I still iced it for a bit). Also, no headache, so the runny nose I have left is just from pollen and the fact that I woke up 90 minutes early this morning.

The cake was my eighth from Frédéric Cassel, and I'll give the name a try: Tarte Chocolat a la Caramélia for 756 yen. The website leaves off the "Chocolat" that was on the in-store card. This is a baked tart with milk chocolate ganache (and a small amount of pecan pieces) under caramel chocolate ganache cream. It was definitely excellent. I like chocolate tarts and this was a good one.

Short run to Amitié: Rhône-Alpes

This was a run to the northeast part of Shinjuku, in the neighborhood of Kagurzaka. Took a short direct route from Yotsuya Sanchoume, which I don't recommend. I think I need to take the main road from there to the New Mejiro Road, take right and come back to it from the north next time. It will still be close compared to Ginza and Shinbashi. The more direct route that I used was too crowded relative to the sidewalk or mazy in the back streets.

The cake is the Rhône-Alpes from Amitié, which is a basic chocolate cake, layers of ganache between "biscuit" regular cake layers, but with meringue and powered sugar on top. Still pretty simple but delicious and only 450 yen. I'm calling it great. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything else I particular wanted. Noix Noix was listed on the hand-written board out front but I didn't find it inside and the website says that its currently retired. However, maybe something I don't know that I particular want is also great, so I'll definitely go back. One point for Joshi+. This week, they visited Noaki, which I've already done, so no replacement for the list to visit from there.

(Paris) S'éveille: Everest and Fig Orange

No running again today (maybe I should have run Friday night, but there was no budget for cake and I ran Thursday night, so I just worked out inside), but I went today by bike and rode farther than I needed to. Still, I feel like I should workout some more inside again, although I did work on cleaning the balcony, a job I've been putting off for months, so that sort of counts as far as exertion.

Went to Paris S'éveille, since they seem to be most underrepresented (I still need to get back to Takagi and decide whether they really belong among the greats). The first cake was Everest, for 580 yen, which is a cheese mousse cake with raspberries. Or it might be called a Charlotte with cheese mousse filling. Either way, this is very good for the type (or otherwise), but a tough sell for appealing to my tastes and doesn't rise to great. It's not really what I should be getting when I visit this shop, since they have so many other delicious things.

The other cake was the Fig Orange, for 620 yen, which is as advertised, except, as is obvious from the picture, it is a chocolate cake with layers of ganache. This is really great cake. The fig excellently complements the dark chocolate and its texture complements that of the rich cake and ganache. Then, the accent given by the orange clearly raises the level. Be warned, though: this is really rich and heavy (which is a good thing), so I recommend splitting it with someone or having a book and/or beverage to stretch out the time and flavor. Not that I got tired of it, but it seemed like a lot of cake just eating it by itself outside where I did not want to linger.

I also verified the existence of Addict au Sucre as a patisserie one station north, although I don't have any information suggesting that I particularly need to go there. Just one for the list of not yet visited places added to the map.

Cake: (Boutique) Troisgros: Sacher Abricot and Savarin au Rhum

Busy today, so no running. Was over at Odakyu, so I tried Troisgros, since they have a fairly large area in B2 of Odakyu that I noticed recently, with a cake counter (with no staff for awhile), a bread counter, and other sections that I did not notice in detail. This is actually the Boutique, and the same name is used for a café on the 8th floor and a restaurant. I haven't been that impressed by the quality of cake at the actual cafés or counters at Odakyu, but this looked above average, so I tried it.

I got the Sacher Abricot for 572 yen and the Savarin au Rhum for 540. Both were okay, but neither was great. The Sacher Abricot is feuillantine praline and chocolate biscuit (both good) with chocolate ganache and apricot (good, although too little to compete well with the chocolate, a common problem with chocolate mousse cakes). I suppose the mousse was the ganache, and made up the bulk and seemed watery to me (I don't know what that really indicates, but I don't like it), so it had merits and demerits. One Savarin au Rhum is much like another to me, but this seemed fairly average. There was another chocolate that I might have gotten if I was choosing both cakes today, but I'm not in a hurry to go back, despite it's location. It still remains true that Isetan is about the whole good place for cake among the department stores, although I know of a couple individually good cakes at Takashimaya.

Noix de Beurre: Chocolat Léger

Decided that yesterday was a new shop, so I should do a "great shop" today and save the next new shop for tomorrow. Also, wanted to do upper body workout at home and not mix it with running (which was how things starting going wrong last week). Went to Isetan and got the Chocolat Léger (yes, I'm tired of ignoring the accents) for about 600 yen from Noix de Beurre because, although I list them as "great", I've only blogged them once. 

As the name of the cake says, this is a light chocolate, which is inherently not that great (chocolate should be dark, or mixed with something stronger than cream). It's been a while since I had this, so I couldn't remember why it was just okay. Actually, I think I'm ready to downgrade this shop to not great, although I'd still have to try the Mille Feuille again to see how it stacks up, so to speak. In detail, this is thin layers of cake separating two thicker layers of cream and one layer of chocolate cream. Outside, is ganache with whipped cream on top. It's good as light chocolate cake, but not exciting enough to come back to.

Sunday cycling with a flat

Today I went out to Au Bon Vieux Temps and got a Quartette for 486 yen, I think. I chose this particular great place because they open at 9 am and the extreme heat is continuing, but I left a little late and had navigational problems, so I didn't arrive as early and I could have, but at least before 10 am, I think. I've had this cake before and have been looking to have it again. The three layers of mousse (white, milk, and bitter chocolate) are extremely creamy. Maybe because of the heat, the outer chocolate was too sweet or something for me. Maybe if it had not been chocolate. I may have to alter my selections for the season. Still, great cake otherwise. Again, with this heat, it's a race to eat it, so the picture is messy.

Next, at Sucreries Nerd down the road a few kilometers was the Opera Praline. Usually, a cake called Opera has coffee in it, so I automatically stay away from them, but there was nothing about coffee on the description card so I asked and it was coffee-free. Instead, it is a harmony of ganache and praline buttercream, with milk chocolate icing on top. It was good, but I was distracted by a flat tire; not fun in the heat. Anyway, the cake was good and they had a few interesting things, but no priority to get back there. Glad Ota-ku has something good, though.

Sunday cake shop tour: 2nd shop, Lettre D'Amour [Closed]

I made my second trip to Lettre D'Amour, and they are looking like a great shop, except no other customers soon after opening at 11 am. They are part of a consortium, or something, so they may be okay as far as finding other work if it doesn't work out there. Anyway, I got the Tarte Exotique, which was great. It is pineapple and almond cream baked in the tart shell with a layer of milk chocolate mousse sandwiched between salt caramel ganache. On top is a compote of pineapple, mango, banana, and passion fruit such that you can "enjoy the feeling of the fruit flesh". I can't say I'm fond of all these ingredients (I don't really go for pineapple or banana in my cake and I'm not sure why mango and passion fruit are so popular), but it completely works. This was 550 yen. I better get back there before they close shop. It's on my list of places to visit the cafe.

35 km to Seijo Alpes

This is the running route map. The first leg was to Shinagawa Station. This was good, although muggy even at 5:30 am, and I should have bypassed the route I took through Roppongi: very crowded with people doing the bars or working for the bars (I assume).

Next was Shinagawa to Jiyuugaoka, which had the usual problem of me having trouble navigating Ota-ku. Trying to follow the path above a train line where it is underground, I took a wrong turn just after here

at a five-way intersection. I should stay of Ota-ku unless I'm following a river or something obvious.

After the turn at Jiyuugaoka, I got a sports drink from a convenience and drank it pretty quickly (although I carry two 500 ml water bottles and refill them as I go past park drinking fountains) and then past Nakameguro, I got a Bostoc at Aux Bacchanales,

so now I know what this is. I didn't like it as much as the one from Fraoula. I think this one was a lot moister in the middle. It was okay and only 180 yen, so it was a good midway snack.

I turned east near Yoyogi Park. The last leg following the train line to Seijo Gakuenmae Station (named after a school) was great: enough pedestrian traffic to slow cars but not enough to be a problem except maybe the last couple stations where first there were first almost no pedestrians and then for the last little bit, where I had lost sight of the train line (even though I was near the station), suddenly there were dozens of high school girls going the other way. I think there must have been an open campus event, since they were from different high schools (they wear uniforms, so you can tell, although they tend to travel in packs of like uniforms).

Today, the humidity seemed to burn off a little around 7 am but never felt any hotter and it was cloudy. Guess I'm going to have to pay attention to the weather reports more: no running when the heat stroke index is in the red "danger" zone (last night they said noon for southern Kanto, which includes Tokyo, but actually the temperature was falling by 11 am in eastern Tokyo. It rained from around noon and sometimes afterward, which spikes the humidity, so my timing was good. I'd like to leave earlier next time, though, maybe 4:00 or 4:30.

The cake was okay, but not great. I should have left it in the refrigerator for a few more hours or popped it in the freezer to firm up the mousse, but it did not actually melt. They ask you how long you have to carry it when you buy, but the question is either rhetorical or they have no sense of the difference between summer and winter, since they put in only one tiny freezer pack with my three pieces of cake. Even if I'm not dressed for a cafe, I should eat in.

I got the Noble （ノーブル）for 470 yen、which is hazelnuts in ganache with bavarois (Bavarian cream) chocolate.

Then I had the Mireille (ミレイユ) for 440 yen, which is blueberry and cassis (blackcurrant) mousse with condensed milk cream, with a little white chocolate on top and the chocolate shop name plate, which I respect.

Finally, I had the mousse chocolate and Tahiti vanilla cream, Anphicles (アンフィクレ）for 450 yen. They all seemed fine. If I lived near here, I would go back (actually, my next route takes me back there anyway, but they'll probably be closed when I pass them), but I don't need to.

In the evening, I got this linzer tort and a baguette from Le Petit Mec. This is tiny for 300 yen, but actually the right size. It's raspberry and very good.

32 km to Jun Ujita: Gateau morjolaine, Orange caramel, Chocolat pistache

Today was a 32 km run along this course (I've imported things from the current Weekday map), which hits Jun Ujita at about the one-third point and returns there for the end. At the first visit (actually I've gotten simple chocolate cake there some time just to confirm that I hadn't been ignoring them for a good reason), I got a Gateaux majolaine for 450. As you see, with a hazelnut meringue crust (definitely could tell the nuttiness), there is a cream and butter layer and a cream and praline layer in the form a ganache sandwich. It was very good, but not so special. Maybe I would have wanted it to be a little "heavier", but then it would be a different cake.

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