Bien-être, Chiboust au Pistache Framboise

Back in April (not sure whether I'll ever get caught up with no running to speak of to write about), I got a cake-off reward from Bien-être, Chiboust au Pistache Framboise. I had seen this when I was last there. Two other chiboust au pistache cakes are among my favorites, but they already changed the base recipe in a way that I like less, so I wasn't raising my hopes up too high. It was good, but I was correct that I'm not that into this new version, also the ones I liked most went with sourer fruits.

Paris S'éveille, Bagatelle

Way back I had Bagatelle, but I just got the name so I'll post. Seems to be pistachio biscuit dusted with pistachio powder. It's good pistachio cream, as are the strawberries, but I'm not sure that the whole is better than the parts. Still, I'm willing to say that it's semi-excellent. Now if I just knew what it was called (the tabelog entry showing a picture doesn't know the name either). Eventually, the shop will probably post on Instagram, but not yet. Lastly I need to say that the shop is Paris S'éveille and I picked it up during the last cake-off run down there, which might be the last of the year unless I can get a couple 3-time winners together from a 4-round cake-off.

Rue de Passy, Fraise Pistache

I had delayed getting a cake from Rue de Passy when I worked through the exceptional shop because they had a surcharge if you only bought one cake, which is only unreasonable in that no one else does that. Anyway, since I was there fore a cake-off cake, I also picked up a new cake, the Fraise Pistache. The (raw) meringue layer on tope makes it different, though so does having a relatively thick, but I guess the first requires for stability. So it's an interesting combination and unique, so it gets an excellent rating from me.

Sadaharu Aoki, Tarte Caramel Framboise Pistache

I couldn't, or didn't resist getting more cakes during the week despite already being one ahead, though I did hold off until Wednesday. I'll catch up in a couple weeks, by which time I've finally start on the just fine shops, which have interesting points but will be something of a slog. Anyway, Sadaharu Aoki is a quite superb shop with not so many new cakes, so I got this one when it was available, still looking for a great tart from them. This is at the other end of their range, but still definitely good: Tarte Caramel Framboise Pistache. Under the pistachio cover is a fairly thick layer of fruit (and caramel, I think, which balances out the fruit well) sauce. 

Noliette, Sicilian

Saturday, I hit one more remote potentially quite fine shops, Noliette out west in the north part (relative to where I usually go, anyway) of Setagaya. I went with the Sicilian. I went by cycle, since I can't run so far and didn't get up early enough to walk very early. Actually, I arrived at opening time and was second. I went with the Sicilian, which in this case was (milk?) chocolate with pistachio. This cake actually survived better by bicycle than I should have expected, but the weak point was the macaron on top, which caused the top to to crack and sag. Chocolate and pistachio is actually a difficult combination, but this was working well. It was definitely good, so I was satisfied. However, it means that I have too many shops with 2 good and 2 excellent cakes to make a cut. I've got a lot of fine shops to go through, so I might find a great cake among them, which is what it would take to make the jump to quite fine. I more likely way to add to the quite fine shops would be to find an excellent cake from some new shops. I've still got three more 3-cake fine shops, two that are really far out (so I'm willing to wait on the off chance that they'll visit a department store in central Tokyo) and one that's pausing on their cake, so one clearly quite fine shop might not be enough.    

La Précieuse, Montelimar and Waguri Mont-Blanc

Though it doesn't feel so long ago now, last Saturday I got a couple cakes for two from one of the shops on my quite fine group, La Précieuse on the north side of the Yotsuya Station building. I got the take-out, though they have a café space that I've used before. My choice was Montelimar, since I've had good luck with at least one cake of that name, and I like pistachio (hard to see in the picture, but the bottom is pistachio cream) and I think the top is mousse with honey and fruit. It was good. 

The other cake was the Waguri (domestic chestnut) Mont-Blanc. The sign says that you have to wait a couple minutes, because they make them fresh, but I think they didn't take so much time in the backroom. It also was good and had a meringue base, if I'm remembering correctly. So it's definitely a fine shop, but will get cut if I every manage to do a cut (I'm running out of shops to test, so it will probably depend on whether I add any new shops that make it to that level).

Atsushi Hatae, Griotte Pistache

Last Sunday, which was my most recent cake, from a relatively new place, Atsushi Hatae in Sarugaku-chou. Since the first two were excellent, I decided to take a chance on something a little different from what I might usually choose or the several nutty or chocolaty cakes and get the Griotte Pistache, which of course has nuts but pistachios are the fruity nuts and I've not particularly appreciated cherry cakes, but this one looked like a good bet as far as having a lot of structural aspects in its favor. Half the inside is actually white semi-solid, which I'm guessing was mascarpone cheese, just because it shows up in cakes a lot and has no particular taste of its own. It was choice dilute the pistachio and cherry. In general, I want a strong taste, but I can see where that might not be the correct choice and here I respect the balance struck and say that this bet paid off, as it was excellent, so it's going to stay pretty safely among the quite fine shops, regardless of how the fourth cake is, but hopefully that will be great. Many other shops to visit, so I might not rush it.  

Camélia, Reine

I was free from late afternoon on Sunday, so I half ran half walked to Ginza and visited P. Camélia and got Reine, so a princess cake, perhaps. Anyway, lots of pistachio, including a nicely textured biscuit and a suitable balance of red fruits and a touch of chocolate. No surprise that I found it excellent, which makes four in a row from this shop. Still, haven't found a great cake yet, so it's staying in the quite fine group but I might get back to it sooner than otherwise from getting cake for two, as they'll have a counter at Isetan from April (I assume it's a 6th-month gig).

 

Asterisque, Montmorency

Last weekend when I was nearby getting Chocolat Cuit for a cake-off, I stopped also at Asterisque I got a fourth cake from them as I work through the list of quite fine shops alphabetically. The top got messed up, so this was a reconstruction from the best side. The outside is obviously pistachio and this layer is fairly thick and drying than a paste but similar. In the middle is a balanced about of griotte cherry, not withstanding the top decoration. Definitely a sophisticated place and a cake along the lines of what I lick, so it's getting an excellent and they'll make the next cut to stay in this category.

à tes souhaits!, Bijou de bois

Last Thursday, I finished off my caking with my first systematic visit to a reputably quite fine shop to get a fourth cake. Top of the list was A Tes Souhaits, which is way out in Msushina-shi, so I went by bicycle, since that's too far to run and walk in a reasonable time and anyway I was starting around 13:30 and had had a runny nose all morning. I over dressed, even after taking off one layer on the road, but better a little hot than sorry. I went with the Bijou de Bois, which is mousse "praliné" (actually pralin, I think) pistachio and apricot gelatin, according to the card, though the dual color makes me suspect there was another fruit in their, since it didn't make me think of apricot when I was eating it. It was definitely good, but not enough so probably to stay in the quite fine group and keep me making the long trip out there. Still need to find 8 better shops to cut the bottom third out of the quite fine group in this round (I could cut the bottom fourth last round with this group, that left it still bloated). Of course, I really hope to find a great cake to identify a challenger to the exceptional shops to keep the competition going.

 

Coffee Parlor Hilltop, Pistache Chocolat (dome)

So, Sunday I went for one quite excellent shop and one quite superb shop, since I figured I wasn't going to get any cakes once the workweek restarted, which is turning out to more true than I expected (even if Isetan would open their normal hours, I couldn't get cake this week, from long work hours).

I started with a run/walk to Coffee Parlor Hilltop for an 8th cake from them. The cake that got them counted as exceptional was one great cake, Pistache Chocolat. Sunday too, they had a cake with that name, but it was obviously much different, so I gave it a try. This one I'll call Pistache Chocolat (dome) to keep it straight. Like it's name-sake, it has strawberry, perhaps much more. Inside the dome, there is a relatively lot of strawberry sauce for a nominally pistachio and chocolate cake. I'll say that it was colder than I should have eaten it (that sauce was a good heat sink). Even though I like cakes with an outer coating, this wasn't working as particular special. I appreciate the type and it was good, but this shop might have a tough time staying in the exceptional group, as any of the quite fine ones could challenge it with a great fourth cake, and there are a lot of shops in that list needing a fourth cake. 

Ladurée, Religieuse Pistache

Two days behind blogging, Tuesday I was particular lazy about running, doing only about 15 min. There was a lot of walking before that, as it took extra distance going home to get cake, and of course I did indoor workout components. I'm also working various stretches at night, as I was getting some hip pain.

The cake was, working through the exceptional shops, a new cake from Ladurée. There most exceptional aspect is their prices, which are high. I went with cheapest, though it also was perhaps the most promising. I got the last Religieuse Pistache. Although the Saint-Honoré Pistache hadn't impressed me, I had rated the Religieuse Fraise as excellent. This is large and small choux pastry balls filled with pistachio custard and covered in thick pistachio icing. It's not subtle, but I like pistachio, and sugar, so for me this was excellent.

 

Jean-Paul Hévin, Bûchette Pop Music and Bûchette Victor

I got ahead with the second cake (but the following week I'm busy), but I got the two individual Christmas cakes from Bûchette Pop Music, Bûchette Victor (the third design is just the first one below with a different color, though the large scale cakes with the correspond themes are different from each other and from these individuals). I got these when I was in Ginza Sunday morning, reasoning that it was my best opportunity to avoid long lines and them selling out and that both are robust enough that a day at zero degrees in the cooler isn't going to hurt them.

There was half an hour of running, dancercise, and other indoor exercises, as usual. I had the Bûchette Victor first, the second one below, which is mango, like the full-sized version, and I think another fruit, though I can't remember what. The fruit wasn't so strong and it wasn't so exciting, though of course it has all the quality JPH parts of biscuit and mousse, so it was good. I liked the Bûchette Pop Music much more. It's suppose to be pistachio, and it has it's own posting on the web page (not sure why the other doesn't), but it tastes like whisky to me, or at least what cakes that say they have whisky taste like, which is all I have to go by. Anyway, the flavor went with the chocolate and nuts well, along with the texture and it was an excellent cake, as I would expect.  

 

Sadaharu Aoki, Chocolat Pistache

Like my Tuesday plan, my Wednesday plan veered off course, with good results. The Tokyo Palace Hotel was visiting Isetan, and I wanted to get a second cake from them. The cheapest options were a tiny grape shortcake for 800 yen and a similarly priced chestnut whipped cream (not cake, apparently, just a mount of whipped cream). I'm not that into fruit-center stuff, so I wasn't too excited and decided I could wait until next week. Getting ahead (because I'm late writing), I swung by their deli and sweets shop the next day and found that they had those two cakes, at lower prices, as well as the broader section that I was hoping for. Since the Isetan counter just mentions the hotel, I'll assume they are selling things from the café menu, at their eat-in prices. Also, the Isetan counter had a least one higher-end grape tart that I didn't see in the shop, which fits that explanation.

But I was in Isetan and it was a new month, so while JPH doesn't have anything new (until the week before Christmas, as usual), Sadaharu Aoki does and I'm always behind on them. As it turned out, it was the same kind of cake as the previous day: Chocolat Pistache. In this case, the cake was about double the size, but less intense. Still, it was excellent, so I was satisfied again.

Dandelion Chocolate, Sierra Leone Opera: Pistache

Left work on time and went looking for a new cake at a new neighborhood shop. I had been thinking that Cafe Casa had a couple cakes, but the apple turned out to be just baked apple, versus a tarte tatin, and I suspect that the banana tart is a bakery tart rather than a fresh tart, so it was just as well that it was sold out. I had other business that I had to get home for, so after leaving, I went for Dandelion Chocolate, where I've had two excellent cakes in a category where the rest have 3 cakes and I'm working on raising them to 4 cakes (28 of 49 done). I had the hazelnut opera last time, so this time I went with pistachio. I'm still not confident about what kind of chocolate that one had, but in this case there was a hint on the receipt, so I'm confident calling it Sierra Leone Opera: Pistache, though it was the only opera on display, so I'm not sure what chocolate any opera are now, and the bars online have already changed from last time I looked. It's a small cake, but dense, and I was quite satisfied with this definitely excellent cake.

Le Salon Jacques Borie, Pistache

Was busy on the weekend, but catching up, midweek I had one cake, La Pistache from the (Le Salon) Jacques Borie at Isetan. Actually, I was looking for something else at Isetan, since I haven't finished bringing up the exceptional shops to 8 net cakes, but I didn't mind getting back to this quite fine shop that I had three excellent cakes in a row. 

This was definitely a good cake. It's got a great sablé and the whipped cream, but the latter tends to drown the pistachio flavor (perhaps the pistachio part is pistachio cream rather than a stronger paste). Nice cake from someone who likes something on the light side, though I assume this shop will safely stay in the quite fine category, even though I'm hoping to cut 1/3 in this pass.

En Vedette, Annette

Monday night, even though I did exactly the same thing Friday, I ran down to Viron in Shibuya to see whether they had a new cake, which they didn't. From there, I went to En Vedette, since they were close and I'm coming up on wanting another new cake from them (and several other quite exceptional shops). As it happened, they had one that tempted me, so I went for it: Annette. Unfortunately, I've already forgotten what the fruit was, but the picture shows strawberry, which I can believe. It wasn't so strong, obviously, nor would I want it to be in this kind of cake. Also inside was pistachio cake, but again, mild, so not my kind of cake so much. But the outside was white chocolate, and that is a fine taste, with the others just there to accent it. So even if it's not along my usual lines, it was a high quality item that I enjoyed, so I can say it was excellent.

While I'm blogging, I'll admit that I was lazy and walked back, protecting my cake. Tuesday, I did a run just out to Tokyo Midtown for my favorite grocery chocolate, also stopping for some Lindt chocolate that was 63% discounted at the local supermarket. Wednesday, I got up early and ran before work (which I wasn't taking the morning off). A little more crowded on the streets than my evening runs around there, but felt good. I stopped by Pierre Gagnaire and confirmed that the folks working there aren't actually told about the cakes (green tea is the theme, but one of the cakes on the posters I haven't actually seen in person). In the evening was rain and Thursday I am taking off the morning (though the rain is predicted to be even heavier then, so probably just walking for cake), so I worked out indoors, more than I usually do, which means three rather than two NHK muscle training clips (but the level 2 ones, so...) and a couple sets of curls, which is a couple more than I usually do lately.

Ease/Repos, Nut, Dried Fruit, and Caramel Tart

Not that I was in a hurry, just I wanted to know how it was before this weekend Repos, so I sent to Isetan a lunch time and got a cake from the new counter, Repos (by P. Ease). It's pretty pricy and away from my usual tastes, so I momentarily gave up but after looking at the visiting counter of the week (a fine shop) and not finding information about when Repos might leave (though they replaced a shop that was there maybe 6 months?), I reconsidered and got the  Nut, Dried Fruit, and Caramel Tart, which was relatively reasonable (nothing exotic or seasonal in it) and looked promising. As the name states, it's a tart, specifically an almond cream tart, on top of which is a crème mousseline of custard, butter cream, and pistachio paste with bittersweet caramel. The topping is nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistachios, and cashews) and dried fruit (raisons and cranberries). Definitely hots of things I like in a substantial tart, so no surprise that I thought it definitely excellent. The name they put on top of the each is Ease. I assume they want to differential the location names because the offerings are different, but they have a pretty big space, offering various bake goods besides the fresh cakes. I should definitely get back there for a second cake earlier rather than latter when it comes time to go in for second cakes from shops that had at least good cakes.

Éclat des Jours, Tartelette Fraise

At the same time as getting a cake for a cake-off, following covid rules of minimizing shopping trips, I also topped up Éclat des Jours after their last cake-off win by getting Tartelette Fraise, despite some new tempting non-tart cakes, which I also hope to sample soon. This was the same base as the great blackberry tart, though the top is different, besides the strawberries. Though in general I'm not that into strawberries, I could really respect these ones. I could also respect the shop for using strawberries that were not perfectly red. Definitely excellent. Think I've had all their tarts now except some sort of mixed fruit one. I'll probably hold off on that one to get to new cakes in the lineup. 

Viron, Coloré Pistache

Went down to Viron the following Monday, the one in Shibuya, which generally has a better selection late at night. Actually, they had three new cakes, so I got one, Coloré Pistache, even if I wasn't sure that it was their turn to have a new cake. Despite the decoration, the inside accent fruit for the pistachio outside is cherry, which is a common pairing with pistachio, and yet I haven't been happy with it until this cake. This was excellent, so I'm glad I gave in to it. This was to last me for a few days, until I did an early cake-off on Thursday, and put Viron back in the running to keep it's superb shop slot against BE and another challenger.