Il Pleut sur la Seine, Today's Cake

Visiting exceptional shops, I hit Il Pleut sur la Seine second on Sunday, which opened after being closed from the beginning of the state of emergency being declared, I think. I got "Today's Cake", which was how it was labeled. I asked the name and they told me, but I've forgotten, something not helpful or original, 1 word, like "seduction" or "satisfaction", but neither of those, I think. Anyway, I don't think it's a regular, although it s standard type I've seen elsewhere and once thought was great: it's three layers of bitter, milk, and white chocolate. Really, my tastes have moved on, so I should no better. It's not cheap, either. Of course, it is well made with good ingredients, so it was good, but it didn't make me want to return soon.

Michalak, Tarte Delphine

Went back for a second cake from Michalak. This time it was Tarte Delphine, which is a mild chocolate, almond cream, and caramel. It is thick and decadent, and yet kind of boring. Good, but not exciting. They still might be quite good overall, but they can wait their turn for a third cake (though, since they are conveniently at Isetan, that might not be that long a wait).

Maison D'ahni, Béret Pistache

Wednesday, I had pretty sore feet all morning and knew it was time to take a rest day, which I hadn't this week. And yet, I'm an addict, so by evening I wanted to run and didn't stop myself. I ran to Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs again, hoping from something from Sadaharu Aoki, but instead of 4 people in line, there were more than 14, so I gave up. Instead, I went for a third pastry from Le Pain de Joel Robuchon, this time choosing the Kouign Amann. It was the usual but excellent, so no complaints (I didn't eat it then, obviously, but after dinner, after which I was really full).

I worked on confirming my knowledge of the neighborhood course. I failed on the Minami-Aoyama--Shibuya loop but succeeded on the Minami-Aoyama south loop. However, it was a net loss in that, on the way back, I recognized a shop that should be added to the Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop, though what kind of chocolate shop is empty of customers February 13? I won't be surprised to find it closed next time I go by, as it seems a hopeless case. Nevertheless, for now, I need to relearn that loop and I'll probably keep the new loop even if it does close.

Thursday, February 14, I followed by plan to rest. I had pain in my left thigh, which was new. Now sure how that happened or how to avoid it.

Friday, a tentatively good shop that I've only had one cake from visited Isetan, so I decided to give them a second chance early. I got the Béret Pistache, which is a pistache mousse dome with a milk chocolate center. It was reasonably good, but definitely not anything that excited me, so that will probably be my list trip there.

In good news, Blondir in the next visiting shop. They are only potentially quite good, but I've reviewing the quite good shops and they are one of the less conveniently located (I took care of the worse last weekend and plan to handle the next most distant one this weekend). Now if Ces Jours would just visit.

Actually, before eating my cake Friday, I did another neighborhood course run. This time I did the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu and Nishi-Azabu northwest loops counterclockwise, but successfully, so that puts me over 40 km of loops confirmed both directions. I still want another 10 km before any major additions, though I might fill in the Shibuya east loop before that, and while I'm at it go for some more loops in the Shibuya area.

En Vedette: En Vedette

For cake, En Vedette was at Isetan, so I got their signature cake as my second cake from them.

For cycling, I went down to Tokyo Midtown to see what cake Dean & Deluca had for Mondays, and got a new name: La Garue M, which is pretty far south, where I've never had much luck, but some day when I'm done with Shinjuku Takashimaya for new local cakes, I'll given them a try, though I've also got a few around Yoyogi. I only cycled about 45 minutes, but took a lot of slopes and tried to work hard before going to get groceries and coming home.

My last trip to Éclat des Jours was disappointing not just for the cake I got but because it seemed to replace their rum raisin cake, which I thought was great (but did not seem popular, so I'm not really surprised that it got bumped for the summer tropical cakes). So the even without the name, which suggested it as a point of pride, I was in the mood for chocolate rum raisin. It'e pretty, but pretty hard to head without destroying it substantially, and the sides are a little gummy (sealing in moisture) but the flavor did not disappoint and apparently I'm in an accepting mood, because I'm going to say this cake is also great, which is three new great cakes in one week. Note that this is chocolate ganache, milk chocolate (not sure of the difference), and white chocolate.

Guess I'm going to be late this week with pastries, since I want to take advantage of En Vedette's last day at Isetan tomorrow, now that I'm considering this shop at least Quite Good.

L'Avenue (Kobe): Cache Cache, Lady, and Segur

Only my third post of Kobe cake here. I really don't visit enough, I know. This time I got to what I think of as the best shop, although I was not as strongly impressed this time, so we'll see. Still, what a great webpage: they show all the individual cakes with both the Japanese and Western (mostly French) names with really nice pictures.

The best cake, I thought, was the Cache Cache, which is actually a series of cakes around the Kobe area, Kobe Originals, where they all try to create something original on the theme, in this case hiding various ingredients. This has a pistachio tart base (a pretty strong one) with fig in it, but on top it is more like a mont-blanc, so chestnut, vanilla cream and accented with white chocolate. It seemed excellent (all evaluations based on half a piece).

Lady was actually the first one I had, which is mascarpone (cheese) mousse over strawberry flavored center and a little pistachio biscuit. It was good but not very interesting to me, since I'm not that interested in strawberry flavor and in general it is quite mild.



The last one, called Segur, was Bretagne salt caramel in a milk chocolate tart. It was definitely good and met my sweet tooth. If I judged more on appearance, then perhaps I would rate it better but I really don't cake what cakes look like beyond what it reflects about the construction. Fortunately, my foot had finally stopped hurting (I hadn't been running through Sunday, but still did more walking than I would just commuting to work).

Pierre Hermé: Yu

Did another neighborhood run to learn the Southeast Sendagaya course. Made too early a turn after the station where I changed the map (or tried to; Google reverted it) and overshot going around Zuienji loop, the southeast one, and apparently ended up going around it twice, which surprized me at the time, since I though I reverse direction at one point and went around a corner, but quickly found that I hadn't, but at least it gave me another chance to make the correct turn turns. I also followed the course south of Shinjuku Gyoen over where I messed it up and confirmed that I could do it correctly (at least until the bypass get's finished and that area gets cut off). Total, I think I did about 9 km (including 3 pedestrian bridge crossings) at a low -9 km/h.

New month and new cakes at Pierre Hermé. Rather than following this month's theme, vanilla (which I've had the main one already), I chose Yu, which is yuzu-flavored apple compote inside praliné mousseline on top of hazelnut dacquoise surrounded by milk chocolate. It looks good and has good ingredients of no doubt high quality, but it is all overly mild for me. At the very least, dark chocolate would be an improvement, I think. Still good, but someone it seemed dry, maybe. I had it with Earl Grey tea, so maybe milk as a drink or a side of rich vanilla ice cream would make this better.

[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.

L'Atelier du Sucre: first cake, Sanguine

As planned, I ran the Shibamata History and Culture course, or at least I ran most of it. After the Shibamata Taishakuten temple, there are not any signs until the park, so I don't seem to have exactly the done the final part correctly. I suppose I should try again, which I should do anyway, since I want to get back to the cake shop. The run there was about 10 km/h apparently, which is faster than I expected. I was trying not to press it, since this is my longest recent run. I had the same speed from the end of the H&C course to the cake shop, but then dropped down to the high end of 8 km/h on the way home, not surprisingly, though some of that was navigation issues and a lot of it was the quite heavy crowds on the streets for the cherry blossom viewing. Total distance was between 42.5 and 43.0 kilometers, so I met my goal of a marathon length run. I'll do two shorter runs next week, am busy the week after that, so maybe I'll try a 50 km run in three weeks, though I haven't planned out where to go yet. I still have maybe three more H&C courses to do, but that last couple are ~100 km, so probably not until the fall, if ever.

The Shibamata course is pretty nice, although the temple entrance shopping street was packed, so so running it would be better to skip that. Like many courses, the beginning is not marked that I could see, and no signs after the temple until you get to the end (or near the end), where they have of the full-sized maps. Otherwise, it seems like a nice neighborhood, especially compared to the bleak view running east from Tokyo, though that is skewed by the fact that I need roads that will connect me reasonable well between bridges.

The cake was the Sanguine, that is, blood (orange), which is used with one layer of cream. There is also Bergamot orange, which I suppose is the slices on top. The other cream layer is milk chocolate. The bottom has chocolate crunch and paliné. I done that this is sandwiched between probably a almond biscuit, though I haven't backed either for a while, so I'm not sure that I could distinguish from a hazelnut one. It was simple and cheep (only 400 yen), but I'll have to say it's excellent, so I'll have to get back there, which is not very convenient, but maybe I'll work it into a longer training run.

Note that I was fairly restrained after all the gorging the previous two days and did not have any other snacks along the way, or even a sports drink (which would probably be bad if it were hotter and I was sweating more). I did have a couple English muffins with tea milk jam immediately upon getting home.

[Kobe] Akito: Gateau Chocolat & Yuzu et Chocolat Lait

I've been to enough cake shops in Kobe that I thought I should start posting on them. Also, I don't go to Kobe enough that I need to include areas outside Kobe to start. (I've looked, but can't say that I've had better luck in the richer neighbor towns.)

One place worth visiting is (Patisserie) Akito, which has a café space and is known for its milk jam. Went there and got Gateau Chocolat, which was good, as a heavier cake, where it has what I would call icing rather than glaze (or ganache). The other cake was Yuzu et Chocolat Lait, which is what it sounds like, and was excellent. Yuzu is often combined with milk chocolate with good results. 

Unlike for Tokyo, I'm not going to try to add every shop I've visited already to the map, as most places I've visited are better forgotten (which would perhaps also be true of Tokyo if I visited every single shop I could find rather than just the ones that I have some reason to think might at least be good).

Jean-Paul Hévin: Longchamp Chocolat Lait

Got the last cake I know of currently available from Jean-Paul Hévin, the Longchamp Chocolat Lait (ロンシャン　ショコラ　レ; 680 yen), which took two tries. Note that I previously posted on the Longchamp Chocolat Noir. It's possible that the Marunouchi chocolate bar will have some special cake for the upcoming Valentine's Day, since they surprised me with ones for Christmas, but otherwise I might have to wait for spring for something new, which means I need to finally getting around to reviewing all cakes I've rated as great and start comparing them to each other, which I haven't looked into yet (as far as, where I would start).

For running, my goal was to do 6 x 300 meters intervals @ 13.0+ km/h, down at Meiji Jingu Gaien, which was a little crowded when I got on, but I didn't see the largest group again once I passed them. Unfortunately, my fourth interval fell below 13.0 (but was still around 13 km/h), so I have to watch out for intervals over the last couple hundred meters of the course, which is where there is a slight upward slope. To make up for it, I did an extra interval (I would have kept going around third lap anyway). Actually, I had three intervals that were 14.0+ km/h, the last being closer to 15 km/h, plus another interval between 13.5 and 14.0 km/h. In the end, I got my 1.8+ km @ 13.0+ km/h, and 0.9+ km @ 14.0+ km/h, so I can use that as a start point when I want to deliberately do intervals at 14.0+ km/h, which I had been planning to do. First, I'll try to do 8 x 300 m @ 13.0+ km/h for my next training run.

Cake was great, which is no surprise. In some way, it is an extravagant cake, being a light chocolate mousse meringue (I assume, since the description says meringue and chocolate mousse, although maybe chocolate mousse is still chocolate mousse after you bake it, though I assume it would just melt) around maybe just plain meringue, with a milk chocolate coating with almond bits. On the other hand, it's a pretty simple taste, so maybe just my bias is talking. Nothing is stopping other shops from making similar cakes, though.

Actually, I tried to get this cake the day before and failed, so I got Pain aux Raisins from Maison Kayser, which was actually just okay (too dry for me, but maybe I shouldn't buy fancy bread in the evening).

The day after JPH, I tried to go to Octobre, thinking they are open until 8, which they are not. I could have then tried Plaisir, which is very close and theoretically should have been open (I know now), but was too stubborn and/or really did not care that much (after 8.1 km @ 10 km/h, I was pretty mellow, though now I'm disappointed that I hadn't managed 11 km/h). I'll get around to Plaisir eventually, but I've been there before, even though I haven't blogged them, and there are closer places I could do first, as far as revisiting places. Returning, I missed my turn and ended up connecting back up with Yamanote Avenue on a completely unfamiliar road that was none-the-less going in the right direction and well framed by routes I use regularly. Similarly, heading toward Yoyogi Station, I tried a slightly different way and ended up going past a school south of Shinjuku Gyoen that I didn't recognize buried back in a neighbor that I go frequently, just on different streets. Ended up 9.1 km @ 11 km/h coming back, even though going seemed more down hill (although a lot more worry about navigating a new route).

So no cake Wednesday, but I had great cake on Tuesday, I'm not underweight, over-lean, or over-slim right now, and I've got definitely not great homemade desserts in the freezer to use up, so no worries. Thursday, though, I'm getting cake from Isetan before Valentines Day chocolate sales makes things too crazy over there. Speaking of which, I would have stopped at a bean-to-bar place on Yamanote Avenue if they had been open and if it had not been packed with people receiving a lecture, presumably on how to make chocolates. (I've never been in there, but I've noticed them before and seen some stuff online about a few such places in Tokyo.)

Jean-Paul Hévin: Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne, Feuilletine Praliné

Was at Tokyo Midtown and picked up pieces of the two cakes I haven't blogged yet (but I've had multiple times before): Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne (マカロン ショコラ　ア ランシエンヌ, 699 yen) and Feuilletine Praliné (フィユティーヌ プラリネ, 624 yen). These are "Saisonnier", but regulars. The first is just what it sounds like, a cake-sized macaron of dark chocolate with extra dark chocolate around it as decoration. As a macaron, it is on the dry side, both the filling, which is pretty solid, and the shell part, but as cake it is decadently chocolaty. I'm going to say this is great, but I can't be objective about it and actually I've had times when I was tired of it from getting it too often. I really need to compare it to something else.

But the second doesn't really help, because I like it about the same. It's similar in being meringue, though is very airy (it's hard to cut and keep the dome intact when you're trying to split it with someone) compared to the crisp shell of the macaron ancienne and it's milk chocolate, along with the obvious nuts, but one has the same impression of eating something more decadent than a usual cake, though still more substantial than a mousse cake. I'll also say this is great and look forward to comparing with other great cakes. These put me at 26 cakes posted for JPH, so it's going to take a while for me to catch up with other shops, probably next year, but I'm getting close. I don't recall there being that many more regular seasonal cakes. Perhaps there will be a couple new weekend-only specials for the holidays. Still, there's the one coffee-flavored cake over at Marunouchi, which I will give a try for the sake of completeness.

I ran later, over to the imperial moat and around once. Not many people at 8 pm on a Sunday night. Passed one couple going the other way twice, which is a first, I think, and means they presumably left the course on the north end and ran on the other side of the road for that part, since it's narrow and marked as one way, the one part that is. Also on the north end, it was a little unsettling having someone running behind me, matching my pace, for about the last quarter of the 5 km loop, but the north end is pretty lonely (though there are police stationed a couple places along there), so I don't blame her for preferring to have someone else in sight. I'm rotating through my injuries and have come around to having some foot pain (and I walked a lot today, thus Tokyo Midtown), so I was focusing on rolling heel to toe rather than just straight-legging it pendulum-like. My first kilometer might actually have been closest to only 7 km/h, but the average to the course was 8 km/h, and the course and coming back made it into 9 km/h territory. I've having to adjust my planned course down to remain within my budget. I'm going to try a 16 km run on Wednesday, which is a holiday, but still want to get back to Asterisque this week. Tomorrow I'll hit Isetan for a second Le Jardin Bleu cake and do some training running, which is relatively short distance, if there isn't heavy rain.

Walking to Limevert: Mer

Had a half day off today, so walked to Limevert patisserie café, which took about 13 km at I guess 5 km/h (had trouble with starting and stopping chronometer correctly), sometimes in heavy rain (tｙphoon pasｓing through tonight). Happy keeping it slow, as I want to work on my distance before trying again to regain some speed. Managed to follow the correct route in the middle for once going to this area.

The end is easy, because I'm following the elevated train line for several stations. Never can remember the station name (Soshigaya-ohkura), but recognize Ultraman (not sure what the connection is, and there's at least one more in Yokohama).

Shop does not really stand out and is narrow, but they have the usual stuff and pastries. Already ordered the canelé (230 yen) for the road before noticing the bostock (which would have been hard to eat neatly walking down the street), but it was good (it was a well-baked one, which I like over soft ones).

The Mer (550 yen) is various things: earl grey flavo(u)red milk chocolate, apricot gelatin, and caramel walnuts. It was definitely excellent and I'm going to call it great because I haven't had one this before and I'd like to have it again. For good or bad, the flavor makes me think of pie. For one thing, it's not very firm, but it took a while to bring it back. Not sure what the connection to the "Sea" is.

Almost forgot, tried a couple more caramels from Henri le Roux yesterday: Citron Vert (lime) and Diable Rose (banana, raspberry, and passion fruit). Very good candy and it's interesting to taste very good candy, but I prefer the chocolates.

Cerulean Tower-Tokyu-Hotel Pastry Shop: Isocele

2 km @ 6'10'' to 7'/km & 7 km @ 7' 8'/km. Okay, but hot and humid. Used up budget (6 km & 21 km, respectively), so no running tomorrow. New budget starts Wednesday: 12 km & 22 km, respectively. Not much for a 3-day weekend, so maybe finally try bike again.

Cake shop was a new visit: Cerulean Tower-Tokyu-Hotel Pastry Shop just past Shibuya Station (congested in every way).

Cake:  Isocele @ 699 yen: no ice in box! Must ask next time. Still, excellent in a candy bar way, but I'm biased toward chocolate (tho not necessarily milk) and lots of hazelnut, and lemon cream harmonized well (at least warm), so should go back next week.

Arcachon: Puuruka

Keeping close to home and avoiding straining my knee (which I'll keep doing for another week and a half), I got a third cake from Arcachon. This one didn't work out so well. I wrote down "Puuruka", which was 480 yen. I let the nuts on top convince me. It's also got white, milk, and dark chocolate mousses, strawberry gelatin, and probably pistachio base. Even getting it home fairly quickly with 2 cold packs in the box, which I kept a while in the refrigerator, the base was still not firm enough to support it. It was not really well constructed and the flavors don't really add up to anything, so I'm going to have to say that it was just okay.

In fairness, I put carob powder in my cheesecake filling, which worked okay, which is to say, never do this, or at least not if you don't know what you're doing.

L'Abricotier: Trilogie au Chocolat

Have been busy, but got a chance to go out on a weekday, so I visited L'Abricotier for a fourth post. Still didn't get my third target cake, but got this Trilogie au Chocolat for 480 yen. This is a chocolate mousse dome with dark, milk, and white chocolate layers (besides the chocolate coating on the outside). I'm really struggling with rating this one, since it doesn't really escape the limitations of the chocolate mousse dome, although the taste was good and the construction was excellent (of example, the base cake was not overly soft sponge, unlike a non-Tokyo shop I visited for lack of much else open in that neighborhood yesterday). Also, based on their reputation so far, I'm going to put this one down as excellent, as it is an excellent example of what it is. We'll see what they have for me next week, although I'll probably go again on a Wednesday (a national holiday), so they may have exactly the same cakes available, which is okay.

In running news, I haven't been, and yet things do not seem to be getting better, perhaps because I did a lot of walking and some biking. My experimentation with serious running last Friday really did not agree with my knees, which made walking last weekend unpleasant, but I'm not sure that it's even the same part of the my knee as before. It feels more like my college knee problems come back. Anyway, I won't be running again soon and I won't be running like that again unless I try it for a very short distance and see how that goes and then slowly build things up, over months if not years. Definitely more pain than I'm willing to put up with and not something I can run with, even though it most seemed okay at the time.

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.

Pierre Hermé: Plaisirs Sucré

I'm still a little drippy today, so I didn't go running in the rain, but maybe tomorrow. I don't want to get more sick, since I've got important plans for the weekend.

Swung by Isetan and got a Plaisir Sucré for 648 yen, which is considerably cheaper than on the Paris homepage, even with the stronger yen. According to there, it is a dacquoise biscuit with crunchy hazelnuts, hazelnut crisp, thin wafers of milk chocolate, milk chocolate ganache, and milk chocolate chantilly, which pretty much sums my experience: like a really good milk chocolate bar with nuts. That limits it somewhat, but it's still definitely excellent and I would welcome another one.

Friday: Frédéric Cassel, Jivara

Did a little running after 4 days rest for the back tendon on my left knee. Managed 8.3 km very slow. No problem for maybe 7 km, but then I decided I had to stop. That's not too bad for such a short rest. I'll stick to bicycling this weekend and see how I am for running Monday.

Went to Frédéric Cassel in Ginza Mitsukoshi, and they had some new cakes for April, unlike Henri le Roux, so they are more like a real cake place in that respect. This time's cake was Jivara, which is a kind of milk chocolate I've learned (I always have to look up the phonetic Japanese to try to figure out what the Roman spelling might be). It's mainly milk chocolate mousse, although drier than normal for mousse, almost "cake-like", if that makes sense in context. There was also Bavarian creme inside and hazelnut, although I'm not sure how the latter was mixed in, besides the obvious ones on top. It was well balanced and maybe excellent (versus definitely excellent), but I'd prefer better for 756 yen, though the price is not surprising for the location.

Yoshinori Asami [@Isetan]：Van Dyke

Didn't run, but decided that my cake was overly linked to my running, which led me to run more days than I should. Or at least that is my excuse for going back to Yoshinori Asami again while they are at Isetan. This time I got the Van Dyke (? written phonetically as vandeekku, which is the correct original pronunciation of Van Dyke, for all I know), which is milk chocolate mouse and cassis mousse. The construction was similar to yesterday's but I was more satisfied with that aspect, somehow. I'm not particularly fond of cassis, but I don't dislike it and the balance was perfect and the mousse was so thick yet good, that I'm going to say that this was Great cake, for 540 yen.

Frédéric Cassel: Azalea

Started out with 1.85 km fast, and then 3.6 km very fast, followed by 626 m racing speed, after which, Ginza got in the way (if I measure from Yamanote line). From there to Ginza Mitsukoshi and back to the Lawson 100 in Yotsuya along Shinjuku Street was a slow 4.76 with cake.  So about 10.8 km of running today, giving me a 6-day total of 74.1 km, which leaves almost the same amount to run tomorrow and still say within the 85 km budget, so enough enough to get to any priority sites (even if I wanted to go to Frédéric Cassel again tomorrow, I don't need to stop at the Lawson 100 again: I'm stocked up on tofu and yogurt). Probably, I'll try to do a short run and see if I can get out of work in time to make a 8 km to a 8 pm closing shop feasible.

At Frédéric Cassel, I got the Azalea for 810 yen. This is yuzu flavored milk chocolate mousse, coated in chocolate, with yuzu and banana compote. On top, is biscuit, rather than the bottom, which I haven't seen before. They had this last time I visited, but it just didn't sound like a good idea. Actually, though, it was great. At least, I like chocolate (though I've often been disappointed in it), and the fruit was a great balance. As always, since I'm testing this out as a great shop, I want to think that this is great cake and it did not give me any reason not to think so, so I'll go with that. Certainly, I don't have any ideas for better chocolate, yuzu, and banana cake and I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't hate chocolate or fruit (neither the yuzu nor the banana were distinctive flavors, though the fruit was definitely effective, so disliking either of those would perhaps not mean this cake was bad for that person). That's 4 great cakes of 5, so I'm going to have to say that this is the eighth definitely great shop of Tokyo by my standard.