Jean-Paul Hévin: Paris-Tokyo

My head was still a little congested Saturday, so I didn't tempt fate. However, I did not want to miss the other limited-time Jean-Paul Hévin cake, so I went to Isetan again and got the Paris-Tokyo (756 yen), which is a variation on the traditional Paris-Brest. In particular, it has nougat baked on top, hazelnut flavored cream, and Brazilian chocolate pastry cream. Again, Choux pastry is a little too bread-like for me in cakes, but it was excellent.

Saturday: L'Abricotier

Today's project was to walk the Yakushi "Peaceful Wood" Walk, which is the first part of the Suminami History and Culture course. Actually, the main point was to visit L'Abricotier, and the walk was a convenient associated activity. Unfortunately, we ate lunch after the walk and just before going back to the shop, which made me too full, although I didn't notice until after eating the cake, but it might have affected my evaluation.

The selected cakes were Desir and Savarin for 450 and 480 yen (before 8% tax). The Desir is a chocolate mousse with raspberry mousse inside. It was definitely good, although I'm not easily impressed by either raspberry or chocolate mousse these days. This was high quality but did not really try to do anything original, beyond decoration. Savarin is definitely not my thing, nor are pears, although this was good and the chocolate cream in the middle was a nice touch, as well as the chocolate cream visible on top, so this was definitely good too. This is a definitely an excellent cake shop, which is probably the best it can be in its location, where it can't specialize in only great cakes, like shops in core shopping areas can, but has to meet the local market. It is similar to my other excellent shops that I've made several visits to. Also, they are cheaper than the great shops of course.

Interestingly, there was another hardcore cake eater in the shop with us, evidenced by having 4 plates. He also was carrying some pretty big water bottles, so I suspect he was a cake urban hiker. It would be fun to track down his blog, but haven't been able to.

We also got a couple things for the road, which we ate much later but before reaching home. These were a Tranche Orange for 230 yen, which is candied (?) orange partially covered with chocolate and was good, and an Angadine, which is a sandwich cookie of nougat and walnut and was excellent.   

Saturday: Un Grain [Isetan]

Saturday was shopping. At the end, we stopped at Isetan. My hands were full, so I'm not sure about what cake had what name or much detail, but I'll say what I know. The cakes were, before the 8% tax, Harmonie for 408 yen, Nougat Pistache for 436 yen, and Succès Inverse for 408 yen. The Harmonie is raspberry and the Nougat Pistache is pistachio. Obviously, the Succès Inverse, is an reverse succès, though I don't know that I've had a succès (which I know is a kind of French cake) to compare it to; anyway, it is nuts (almonds and hazelnuts) on the outside and inside hazelnut meringue and some caramel. This last one was the only interesting one, though I can't say that any were above good. They are tiny with only a slightly reduced price, not they aren't filling any need of mine.

Henri le Roux and nonstop running 1/1 intervals

Got the fourth and last Henri le Roux cake type from Henri le Roux, Isetan. Need to get back to Henri le Roux Midtown for the Kouign Amann that I haven't had, since the two I had there were great.

For running, I went back to the unfinished loop of yesterday's run and continued the non-stop run. This time, inspired by a friend, I did 1 min/1 min intervals for an hour (as you can imagine, my ability to run all out was short lived, but I did continue to put out effort) and then did a normal run home.

The cake was Paris-Brest C.B.S. (caramel beurre sel) for 540 yen. Which is basically a round salted caramel éclair. It was excellent but I can't say great, either because I'm less impressed the second time around after having an éclair last time or maybe because I liked the chocolate better than the caramel. It still has a nougatine topping, more actually, and the cream filling has their specialty C.B.S.

Nonstop local run and Henri le Roux (Isetan): Éclair Chocolat

Got a third Henri le Roux cake from Isetan, so for my running, I did a nonstop run, using what I had learned previously and starting by going west. Still ended up coming out of the wrong subway exit when using it to cross to a different block, so I could go farther, but it was okay. At 1 hour, I intended to finish my loop and go back, but hit road construction that closed the sidewalk, so I had to detour to the next street back, which is really what I should have been using since the light was out only because of construction for the Olympics. Ended with 1:12' run. Was sore at the beginning, especially when I hit the first slightly up-slope part, so yesterday's Akasaka Palace course work definitely had an effect.

The "cake" (and they call it cake there) was Éclair Chocolat for 432 yen, which has thick chocolate, a solid chocolate bar inside, the biscuit of course, and some caramel and nuts on top (nougatine, "brown nougat"). Best éclair I've ever had (which is not high praise by itself), and I'm going to call it "great", although it is simple rather than revolutionary. This is a third great cake in a row (and three of only four available), so I'm going to call the shop "great".

Probably go back tomorrow for the last cake. Not sure what I'll get from there after that, but won't have to decide until maybe next Tuesday, since I have other weekend cake plans.