L'Abricotier: Moulin Rouge

As a weekend visit, I went to L'Abricotier again, trying to catch it up to other top quite excellent shops so I can choose which one to challenge the current superb shops, which are vulnerable. Finding 3 hours on my feet too long yesterday, I went by bicycle. I was about about the same amount of time but my feet are much happier.

At L'Abricotier, I choose Moulin Rouge (other untried cakes are Fraiser and their cream puff) and ate in. This is a very soft fruity cake, so it was probably not a good choice, but it's been around there for a long time, so I figured I ought to try it. It has raspberry and jasmine tea mousse, separately I think. The macaron sandwich decoration I ate separately, but it was rather dry, so I should have cut it up and used it vary the texture of the cake, which was very soft. It was definitely good cake, with a good flavor balance, so it was not disappointing.

Bien-être: Jasmine Lime

Went back to Bien-être, this time by bicycle, though it was not in fact hotter today than yesterday, maybe about the same, but apparently I was hearing about tomorrow when I thought it was going to be hotter, because they are saying 39 degC for the weekend. That's only further northwest, I hope, where they tend to make the Tokyo records. Still, it might not be until next Friday that I actually run again, since I also have a busy midweek planned with little time for running.

They did have cakes that I hadn't had before and I could even avoid the verrine and get Jasmine Lime, which I had seen before recently, so I figured it was worth keeping trying visiting despite yesterday's failure. I asked about eating in and they said that they were full, which I was okay with. Then, after I select my cake, they offered to let me sit at the counter. Not sure why the story changed, but I took it. Maybe they took a second to calculate that it was only going to take me a few minutes to eat cake by myself. Not sure whether it's cheaper. They save themselves a box, ice packs, and a bag (actually, I would have reused a bag), get a glass, plate, knife and fork dirty and use a paper napkin and a wetwipe.

I kind of messed up my review of this cake. It was going along fine at first. It's quite sweet, again reminding me of Christmas cookies like another recent cake that I didn't care much for, though moister cookies that evoke better memories, apparently. I probably wouldn't have been able to guess lime, much less jasmine, though there was a dark green bottom (which I probably would have guessed pistachio, which can be fruity). There was a layer of red in there, so that might have been from red fruit, judging from the top. The problem came at the end, when it subtly turned on me and actually the aftertaste was a little bitter, which didn't make any sense (I was expecting to get sick of the sweetness). If you look carefully, you'll notice a stem sticking up behind the cassis/currants. I think I accidentally ate that (I definitely did not eat the plastic; give me that much credit), and that's were the bitterness came from. I was mulling over calling this great even maybe but decided against it, I think before eating the cassis stem, so I'm going to call this excellent and make it a somewhat priority to give it another chance to confirm, at least if I get to a point that I'm retrying excellent cakes, which I'm on the verge of doing for some shops.

Now, Bien-être would have reached #3 status based on reviews so far, putting as among the quite superb shops, except I haven't had that many cakes from them and I've managed to avoid some that I don't expect to be thrilled by, so I'm holding off final judgement. Even for a superb shop, I'd like a few more cakes from them and their competition doesn't have anything new for me to try anyway, so their relative rankings aren't so important.

In other Bien-être news, Pistachio and Grapefruit Chiboust is back (I'm guessing that they're out of American cherries), so suddenly I'm doing a first-round cake-off for tomorrow.

[Wed] 14 Juillet Tokyo: Au Lait Noix

Sasadera at night

The little Inari shrine on the same grounds as Sasadera

Worked a little late, but 14 Juillet Tokyo is open until 9 pm, which is not the same as having a good selection that late. Still, I can't complain, as it happens. I left Runtastic to measure the distance, which worked out. It's about 5.5 km to "New" Marunouchi Building, where the shop is, and I did 10 km/h and 9 km/h back with cake. For a change, and because the distance is not that much different, I returned going north, completing the loop around the inner moat (though I left the course at the northwest corner).

The cake I chose was Au Lait Noix (actually, it was written "Noa", but let's pretend not), which has some aspects of a chocolate tart. Milk chocolate is not my favarotie and often fails, but the walnut and jasmine made this something different and the base gave a good texture contrast to the creamy top, so I'm going to say that this was great.

Pierre Hermé [Aoyama] (Heaven)

No running Thursday or Friday. Thursday, I enjoyed some cake, though not the fresh kind, though similar. This was Chiboust Vanille Fromage from Konditorei Kobe, brought from Kobe. I like chiboust and good vanille, as well as cheese cake, so this was definitely good.

Friday, we went to the Omotesando (the station)/ Aoyama (the road and official location)/Jingumae (actual address) Pierre Hermé. The Dessert Jasmine [Updated, from latest Facebook post] is financier on the bottom, cut into one centimeter intervals and layered, to create a solid but still easily eatable base, on top of which is a mango gelatin flavored with grapefruit. Then jasmine-flavored mascarpone cheese, topped with meringue leafs. On the plate are mango sauce and grapefruit gelatin. This was definitely excellent and definitely greater than the sum of its parts/ingredients. I'm not that into grapefruit, but it cuts through the mango, which can be overly thick, and adds a complementary citrus taste, and it would not have occurred to me to use financier as the base for a fresh-cake-like dessert or how to do that well, so now I know.

The other dessert is easy to get the name of because it's popular and featured on the official Facebook page. It ends up looking like my photo, but starts as a chocolate ball (well, two chocolate domes put together) and they pour hot chocolate sauce on it so that it melts and collapses. Ideally, one would take video to display this, but I can barely manage to frame a photo (though at least the phone camera does better with the focus). It's called Sensation Plaisir Sucré, and is filled with ice cream and hazelnut praliné. Some solid chocolate survives, but not a lot. It's very rich and definitely good for a chocolate and nut lover, though ice cream is never high on the list of things I want in my dessert, regardless of the season, so I was still happier with my fruity cake.

Jog to Bien-être: Harmonie

Actual running today, the first in 10 days. Took it very slow, which I'll call jogging, as it was a little more than 7 min/km, which I'm fine with. Didn't know how long I could do it since my foolish run before which aggravated an old knee problem while not doing the current one any help. As it happens, the old problem didn't make trouble, so I'm not worse than 10 days ago before that run, I think, but on the other hand, the dominant behind-the-knee problem remained, so I only ran just over 7 km and then walked. That will probably be it for running until maybe Sunday, but I've got cycling planned a couple days and there will be walking a couple days.

The goal was Bien-être. Sill not a huge selection, but I'm a little more optimistic that I can find a few cakes worth trying (and at the rate I visit, I can keep getting something new). The cassis mousse dome, Harmonie for 540 yen, I think (although their website says 450, but I don't and didn't have 50 yen change and Joshi+ went last Sep. and reported 520). The harmony is with jasmine cream. I chose well, as this was excellent. The outer gel did not bother me (maybe I'm getting used to it) and the flavor was great. Still don't really know what jasmine tastes like, but if it works, I'm happy.