Café Mikuni's, Tarte Tatin

Finally caught up to last weekend, when I was busy, so not as much to say. However, it did involve cake for two, so in some ways there is more. First, at least in photographing, was a Tarte Tatin from Café  Mikuni's, which is on the list of quite fine shops and I only had three cakes from there, so a deliberate choice. We weren't very early getting there, so the selection wasn't very brought and the person ahead of us took the last two of what would have been our first choices, but I'm still looking for a Tart Tatin as good as the one I had at Viron's restaurant, which is probably an unreasonable comparison. This one was definitely good and had a crust with buckwheat, which is unusual but didn't make eating it that strange. Even though this shop probably won't make the cut to stay on this overfull list, it's still a fine shop attached to my favorite fancy French restaurant (Viron being my favorite, but casual). 

Éclat des Jours, Tarte Tatin

Thursday, I took the afternoon off and got back to Éclat des Jours to get a new cake to balance a cake-off win (I'm more behind on ABVT, but they open at 9am and would not likely have anything new by the time I could get there). Managed to get the last of the only cake new to me from there, Tarte Tatin. It was a long run there, as I went around the imperial grounds to the north so I could swing by the Palace Hotel. Going back, I didn't run, to protect my cake, but I did walk as far as Ginza Mitsukoshi, to check out the new cakes at FC, since they aren't posting about this month yet, before catching the train back, so it took more than 3 hours total. I'll confess that I also got high-calorie bread at Éclat des Jours, which I failed to stop myself from eating all of, so it probably wasn't a successful day as far as getting my weight back down. Anyway, the tatin was quite nice. I'm making some allowance for the simplicity and my appreciation of the shop, but it was definitely one of the better tatins that I've had and I enjoyed it, so it should be fair to say that it was excellent.

Atelier Kohta, Shortcake and Tarte Tatin

After verifying that Pierre Gagnaire wasn't going to give me a new cake Wednesday morning, I walked and ran with an umbrella down to Paris S'éveille Thursday morning (this time taking half-day off work), which hasn't changed it's new cakes, though the recent new cakes are excellent. I came back by train to Atelier Kohta, but I went to the wrong location and had another 1.5 km to walk, plus it isn't close to the station I wanted to come back, so maybe half that again, besides the final walk, so I had an active morning. 

I actually owed them for a cake-off, plus the whole category is about to get reviewed, so I got two cakes to be efficient. Actually, there wasn't much choice, though there was also a tiny tart that I suppose would count as a cake. When I got was the Shortcake and the Tarte Tatan. I've learned to appreciate shortcake, and I guess I was in the mood for whipped cream, as I decided that it deserved an excellent rating.

The Tarte Tatin had so much cinnamon on top, that I could really see how to eat it to balance that out without a lot of drink, but I don't want to rate it too low, because I accidently left it out on the counter for a few hours (and put it back for a couple hours before eating), so it obviously wasn't in peak condition. Still, I can't see how that would change my appreciation of the amount of cinnamon, so I'm going to rate it as good, which sort of balances out the first. This shop should remain in the quite fine category, I think.

Viron: Tarte (Pear) and Tarte Tatin

Sunday, went to Viron (with a reservation) for a nice lunch for two. For dessert, we had Tarte Tatin, which I've had before, but can't find a posting for, so must of been preblog, and the seasonal tart, which was pear. The tatin was great, as before. Apparently, the season would usually be over but is extended this year, so it's still possible to get.

The seasonal pear tart was a pretty standard baked tart, but baking is what Viron is good at, so it was definitely excellent. I need to get over there more often. This is the only place I know with great café desserts (though there are places that sell their take-out cakes for eating in that have some great cakes), despite trying various other places, so I've pretty much given up searching.

Frédéric Cassel, Tarte Tatin

Went by bicycle (since the main exercise was indoors) to Ginza Mitsukoshi and got my target cake, Tarte Tatin. Not sure whether it will continue after today, since I see on Facebook that a fig tart is starting tomorrow and running to mid-November. This has a pretty hard pecan sablé base, which is what set it apart enough that I can call it excellent (not that tarte tatin are so common).

Le Salon Jacques Borie: Tarte Tatin

Tuesday, I was back at Isetan, this time to get cake at the new  Le Salon Jacques Borie counter (the tea salon has been around since I've been visiting Isetan). The selection is limited in general, but they had Tarte Tatin, so I chose that. This is a first cake from this as take-out. I don't get Tatin very often, so I did not have high expectations, but this was really rich. That probably means a lot of sweetener, but I've wondering whether any of that was alcoholic (though I guess there was not an obvious alcohol taste, so if there was, it was probably burned off in cooking). This was excellent, which is consistent with most cakes I've had from the salon. Next I'll probably get the fruit tart.

Akasaka laps and Sébastien Bouillet: Tarte Tatin Yuzu

I think I've only ever timed one lap around Akasaka Palace. Today was just two laps. Since it is a 3.3 km course, 20 min seemed a modest goal and I got the modest times of 19'36'' and 19'44'' for the two laps, which was a little disappointing but I was not running really hard. The differences from Meiji Gingu Gaien are that it is a longer course, it has a lot more grade to it ("saka" being "hill"), and it's a little farther to get there to begin with. I'm still stiff since the last time I was running fast, weeks now, but I should be able to do better. I might only raise the bar to 19'30''/lap, but simultaneously see whether I can do that for 3 laps, either of which goals will have me working harder. I definitely feel like I ran today, so I was not taking it easy by any means.

Cake was obtained ahead of time from (Sébastien) Bouillet at Isetan, Shinjuku. I haven't blogged them and I haven't bought from them much or at all recently, partially because I had a bad service experience buying a macron once, although I should maybe blame Isetan rather than this patissier/chocolatier. The cake was Tarte Tatin Yuzu for 496 yen, which is a fancy apple tart. The tart base is a little flaky and seems to be a yuzu-flavored butter tart, although the yuzu was very subtle. The top is baked apple, like you would have in a pie, but well baked. It was good, so I'll mark them as worthy of attention (and because of their convenience to me).

I haven't given up on great cake shops, and hope to get down to Lettre d'Amour this weekend, since I changed my plan to go their last weekend and now they are my least visited.