Frédéric Cassel, Saint Honoré Vanille et Goyave

Sunday evening I finally did my running for the weekend, but only to Ginza Mitsukoshi (I walked back). I was willing to be disappointed late on a Sunday but they had what I was looking for, the new cake from Frédéric Cassel, Saint Honoré Vanille et Goyave. Saint honoré were a standard for a while, but it's been 3 years since I've had one from there. Fortunately, they still know how to make excellent ones. 

This brings the net cakes up to 64, which is a nice round number, so it might be a while before I get back to them as I proceed through the list of exceptional, quite fine, and fine shops to bring them up to 8, 4, and 2 net cakes, respectively. Should take a couple years, but I'll probably not wait that long, even without cake-off wins.

Repos, Fromage Vanille & Fraisier (Muscat)

Got cake for two on Saturday from Repos (a.k.a. P. Ease), a fine shop that had given me one excellent cake from their new counter at Isetan. This time, I chose the cheesecake, Fromage Vanille, and a Fraisier, though with Muscat grapes substituted for traditional strawberries (also cheese based, but mascarpone is tasteless, so it doesn't really count; it's just a medium). 

While more soufflé-like than my preferred cheesecake, it was still definitely good. 

The interesting thing about the Fraisier, besides the contradictory name, is that it comes with olive oil that you pour over it (though I guess that's a standard thing with them for this type of cake, Muscat or not). It also was good, and interesting, but I was less convinced. This will remain a fine shop in my list.

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.

Frédéric Cassel, Framboisier Vanille

 The other cake I got three Sunday's ago from Frédéric Cassel was Framboisier Vanille, which had been my target during the previous week when I went to Ginza Mitsukoshi. Unfortunately, while good, vanilla is pretty weak as a flavor, so naturally then held back on the raspberries, which is fine, but the cake was still lighter than my preference.

Dalloyau: Coccinelle

I'm leading with the cake from Wednesday, when I reached my cake limit for the week. This is Coccinelle, which is French for the obvious. It is not a mousse dome, but rather than chocolate cake around chocolate and vanilla cream. It's good, in a basic way, but really you're paying for the the design, which is not what I want cake for. This drops Dalloyau down low enough that it's definitely hot challenging Sadaharu Aoki any more, though it will again unless Sadaharu Aoki can get a great cake first.

On Tuesday, I got out early enough to visit a new place on my (new) neighborhood routes: Kitasandou Coffee. I don't drink coffee, but they advertised sweets, so I got a Florentin Fruit, which is more confection than cookie, if that makes sense. Anyway, very high sugar. It was good, though.

Frédéric Cassel, Roulé Fraise Vanille

Frédéric Cassel: Roulé Fraise Vanille

Sunday, I had just enough time in the afternoon to run to Ginza Mitsukoshi and get some cake for two. Since I'm "behind" on Frédéric Cassel, I got two cakes from them. Actually, my plan had been to get two croissant from them, but they sold out by the third hour, so I'll have to try again next weekend. One cake I knew about, Roulé Fraise Vanille, so I'll start with that. Obviously, a strawberry roll cake with vanilla. It's a fairly fine cake, versus very spongy. In this case, that probably was good, since it's a high-end cake, though for simple roll cakes, I prefer the spongier. It was definitely good, but didn't convert me to a roll cake fan. Of course, that's only based on the second half of the cake.

Sadaharu Aoki, Chou Ginza Vanille

Trying to catch up, I'm trying to get two post in before sleep, so let me mention Saturday. Saturday was rain most of the day, so I walked to Ginza Mitsukoshi via Pierre Gagnaire starting around 9 am, looked around at Marunouchi at the usual places (Viron and main shop of Sadaharu Aoki, which hadn't opened for the day yet), and came back. In the evening, I ran my new top sites route on the neighborhood running map, which I had only developed as far as the northeast tip of Sendagaya. Still, that was almost 1.5 hours, so enough with light rain, wearing a mask, and having walked at least the same duration in the morning.

But back to catching up, after scoring three cakes (since I was trying to get specific cakes and don't know when things are going to get shut down again, with Tokyo one case short of the re-evaluation level the next day), my shut-down all cakes on the weekend strategy is continuing. Coming back, I ate one of these after a half lunch, the Chou Ginza Vanille from Sadaharu Aoki, the last of the current special chuu cream selection at their Ginza counter that will continue through August (Tokyo Sta. area shops supporting each other, I suspect, as one shop doesn't usual dominate that counter for that long). This time, I knew what to expect from the Chou Ginza Vanille, so I wasn't disappointed. Not sure that the chou pastry is my favorite type, but it's fine and the filling is good, so this was definitely good.

Frédéric Cassel, Tarte Calamansi

Continuing from Ryoura, I put on my mask and used the train to go to Ginza Mitsukoshi and get the new cake of the month from Frédéric Cassel: Tarte Calamansi. The tart is just what the name says, though I've never heard of this fruit before. It's a coconut tart base, obviously, and the top is mixed calamansi and vanilla cream, with lime peal sprinkled in. It's very tropical, which is a hard sell for me, but ultimately it won and I can it was excellent, though I'm not sure that I need more calamansi cakes, particularly.

The afternoon run was all local loops, all successfully completed (about 2.5 hours of running): the Minami-Motomachi--Samon-chou--Suga-chou--Shinanomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya loop, which is up to 8.44 km and hits all the main Soka Gakkai buildings now, the Daikyou-chou--Shinanomachi loop, which is up to 2.32 km and now includes the folk music museum, since Soka Gakkai claims it on the map of the complex (they also claim their main newspaper buildings, but I'm drawing the line there, as well as buildings that are dormitories or guest houses or shuttered, which might not be fair, but it's hard enough working everything in), the Samon-chou--Yotsuya loop, which is up to 1.1 km (though the link to the previous loop is now much shorter) and now includes the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Headquarters and whatever the above shop is, the Sendagaya central loop, which is up to 1.90 km and now needs to be part of the cluster as the loop leading to it, as does the final loop, the Sendagaya 3 loop which is up to 404 m and has an OK, which is a grocery store, well named since the Two-Layer Creamcheese Tart I got there was only ok.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Alexandra

After a morning of pastries and a visit to Jean-Paul Hévin to get Alexandra. I went out again and visited few shops I wanted pictures of over in the Suga Shrine clump of my neighborhood running course, and then tried to run the Gaien clump, where, in reverse order, I found what was wrong with one of the loops and then, when it didn't matter, turned too soon. Hadn't known about a shrine.

On the way back, I enabled verification that I should not get the Chewy Roll (Hokkaido Milk Cream Cake Roll) from Lawson Station.

All this is just to day talking about the Alexandra, which is my least favorite JPH cake as of now. It's Madagascar chocolate mousse (which might be fine), thyme honey infused biscuit, vanilla Bavarian cream, and raspberry gelatin. These don't seem like things I want in a chocolate cake in generally, and they certainly didn't combine well. Actually, the cake had a seedy texture, so maybe there is actual thyme, not just honey from bees that collected pollen from thyme. Well, it was ok; at least it was educational, I suppose: don't get cakes like this.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Bûchette Hope

Last Thursday, probably again working late, I skipped Isetan and Marunouchi and went straight to Ginza Mitsukoshi by bicycle to get Bûchette Hope, the individual version of the most expensive of the regular sized Christmas cakes (probably because of the decoration ball not on the individual) of Jean-Paul Hévin. Based on descriptions of the full-sized cakes, the top chocolate mousse is Ecuadorean bitter chocolate, next is crème brûlée using Tahitian vanilla beans and a little timut pepper, then the same chestnut and almond biscuit as Bûchette Lichen, then a flour-less chocolate biscuit, and finally a chestnut powder sablé, hazelnuts, and caramel flavored chocolate croustillante. Like the previous day, a relatively crunch/dry cake that is a nice change while still being decadent chocolate. It's easy to say it's a great cake, though it will never get a chance to be in a cake-off. I'll have to wait until next year to see what new Christmas cakes they offer.

At home, I did the indoor workout with weights.

Friday, I did a neighborhood run course, the new Dougenzaka--Maruyamachou--Shinsenchou loop, which merges two new loops. On the way to shopping I discovered a LaDuree salon behind the Bunkamura in Shibuya, not even on Google maps yet, so I had to revise the Kamiyama-chou--Tomigaya--Udagawa-chou loop again. That led to noticing that the Jinnan loops should be merged, which meant the new loop needed to be put in a clump, which has let to a shape up of a few clumps and discovering that the Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop was linked to the wrong loop. I still have one more clump to fix before it's all sorted out.

Origines Cacao: Cassis Vanille

Worked late, but still got to Ginza in time to get the last Cassis Vanille from Origines Cacao, which I think catches me up with their current line-up. Forget to check on cakes for the next cake-off, so I should stop back and ask about both new cakes and that if I manage to get out there again during the week (I'll have two chances, but I'm busy). In terms of construction, I would say that I don't like this type of cake, with sponge wrapped around a soft filling, and yet it worked for me this time, with a really nice vanilla accented by the cassis. I might be favoring them, but I'm calling this one excellent, so they're still a priority shop. Ran most of the way back, I'll say, though not after I stopped the first time for groceries. Also did the indoor upper body weights workout, so just running tomorrow, somewhere that closes late.

Origines Cacao: Saint-Michel

Wednesday, after several tries, I finally got a new cake that was better than good. It was time to visit quickly rising quite exceptional shop Origines Cacao again. I still haven't managed to get my first choice of the new cakes before it sold out, but I thought I would try the Saint-Michel (over the pumpkin one). Running was a direct there and back, though I of course checked out things at Ginza Mitsukoshi and used the tunnels to cross from there to Hibiya Park and avoid a lot of traffic lights.

From the description, this cake seems to be a round Saint-Marc except for the vanilla part being "bombe" cream (they didn't spell it, but I've assumed the French word). The next day, I asked what that meant and they just said it was a really light cream, but I assume it's pâte à bombe (whipped egg, heavy on the yokes, with sugar), maybe mixed with whipped cream. Certainly there seemed to be some other flavor than just vanilla and chocolate in there, but I've already forgotten. Could have been egg. Anyway, it was excellent, so Origines Cacao maintains it top priority status. Still needs 6 more new cakes before I can consider promoting it to superb.

Frédéric Cassel: Inspiration Guava

Because my hip was hurting, as one reason, I bicycled to Frédéric Cassel at Ginza Mitsukoshi and got this month's inspiration: Inspiration Guava. This is very tropical, with guava, lime, lemon, baba (okay, nothing to do with the tropics), rum, and vanilla with a coconut sablé as the base. From anywhere else, I'd probably pass this up, but I can count on Frédéric Cassel and this was excellent. I ate it after coming home and doing a full indoor workout (the other reason for not running; I should really be doing these every three days), which takes me about an hour, but for 14 sets, I should be able to do them in 35 minutes, if I made more of them timed intense 1-minute workouts, which right now the weight training isn't. Maybe I'll that try once and see how it goes.

Pierre Marcolini, Éclair Vanille

Thursday, I did a lot of food shopping errands, starting with visiting Pierre Marcolini, which had four éclairs I haven't tried. Since it will probably be a long time before I'm back and finding something great that's about to disappear would be less useful, I went with one of the two standards rather than the seasonal ones, and got Éclair Vanille. The filling is vanilla, but obviously there is some red fruit on top. This is one of the quite fine shops that I've only had two cakes from and I decided that this éclair was excellent, so they stay on that list. This is despite the crust not seeming to be the traditional choux pastry, but was rather soft. Maybe I'm influenced by the high-end atmosphere, but in any case, this remains as some place that I would like to visit again. Actually, I'd like to visit the salon and get one of their salon deserts, but like the éclairs, everything is about double what you would except from an ordinary shop, though they are not trying to be ordinary. I think eventually I'll do it, but it might not be until October. Interesting trivia: if you pay by cash, they round down to multiples of 10 yen.

I'll include Friday here, since no food is involved: I went for a long run that took about 3 hours, though I walked on stairs and crowded places, so maybe close to 2 hours actual running. The balance was good, and I was still running well at the end and am ready to run again on Saturday, though there was a lot of stretching between. Back to the trivial details for Friday. I did the recently altered Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama south loop counterclockwise, so that route is confirmed. The main goal was to do counterclockwise the Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--hachiyama-chou--Nanapeidai-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop, which is 9.75 km long and has a lot of stairs and slopes (as well as churches as sites). Along the way, I first confirmed the current (until the construction on the southeast corner is finished) updated Dougenzaka south loop (1.1 km), but later failed trying to do the Maruyama-chou--Shinsen-chou loop (I did the first turn at the correct intersection, but onto the wrong street (it's a five-way intersection). I didn't try to do connecting Dougenzaka north loop. I'm going to call the main Daikanyama... loop a success. Actually, I turned early at the end, but it was dark and a long run and I could immediately see that it was wrong (and the reason for not turning there is not that important), so I'm not going to ding myself for it, or I can never do long runs in the dark. So I'm done with that area for now, and I'll move over to in front of and south of Roppongi Hills for the run Saturday afternoon, where I've really only run a little bit, though I've previously done runs to officially add those loops to the neighborhood course, while consulting a map.

Frédéric Cassel, Mille-Feuille Finger Chocolat et Vanille

Another week, another great cake from Frédéric Cassel. The running was much like yesterday (same route, same destination), only I walked a little less (but substituting a dash for 1 min walking on the grounds that I had rested at a traffic light during the preceding running period) but again decided that walking back was good for the cake and my body (also, it had been raining, so it was seriously humid). I got my target cake, which was the Mille-Feuille Finger Chocolat et Vanille (otherwise, I was considering going elsewhere and trying again tomorrow). There was a time where every month had a different flavor of this as part of the monthly "inspiration", but not lately. Instead, I think that they've had this mille-feuille finger for a while. I can't find the official announcement for Ginza Mitsukoshi, though it was at Ebisu for a few days back in April, so maybe it's been around since then. Great texture (the base has some crunch, as well as the mille-feuille) and great chocolate, so how can I resist. I'm never going to get to third-round cake-offs of older cakes at this rate, although the only other new cake at FC is about to be replaced (from mangue (mago) to maron (chestnut)) and FC has to keep winning cake-offs or else eventually I'll get fewer cakes from there even if they have new cakes. Still, It's the kind of probably that you want to have. At home, I did the base indoor workout, to get some more exercise, and so that I don't feel compelled to stay in on Friday night. I should do more upper body tomorrow, though, when I plan to run to a different Ginza shop.

Lenôtre, Plaisir

Was busy Sunday and most of Monday, but Monday afternoon went to Jean-Paul Hévin, since the cake I wanted from Sadaharu Aoki was sold out at Marunouchi and I needed someplace for two to test. We got hot Chocolate (Chocolat Chaud Mangue and Viennois), which is relatively cheap there, and two macarons, Frambois'in (not sure what the "'in" concatenates from) and Mésange. The first hot chocolate is mango, obvious, and wasn't anything special, though good of course, and the second is whipped cream, which also was nothing special but good. I liked the Macaron Mésange most. This is passion fruit and matcha and was excellent. The Frambois'in was raspberry and Venezuelan chocolate and was good but not exciting.

I hadn't had cake Sunday and I was already at Yuuraku-cho, so I got a third cake from Lenôtre, Plaisir, which seems like a Saint-Marc from the components (milk chocolate and vanilla mousse), but isn't. For running, I ran down to Akasaka again (like Saturday morning) and tried to do the revised Akasaka loop that split off all the stuff south of Roppongi-Doori, and a little on the Akasaka 2 side and I was successful, but realized afterward that I didn't like that the route doubled back where it could have gone around the block, so it was a failure of route making. I finish practicing Akasaka 4, doing it counterclockwise, and did the new Akasaka 3 east loop clockwise, so I had to be satisfied with that.

Plaisir is nice and well made, but definitely not a Saint-Marc and ultimately, though it's definitely good, I can't rate it higher, as it's just not that exciting. Still, with two great cakes before this, Lenôtre easily is a top the quite fine category and is challenging the quite exceptional one, so I'll be back there again early next week, regardless. Also, I need to find another great cake, quick, but I should get to that later as I catch up with this week.

Tante Marie, Lu'bre

Still working my way through getting third cakes from all the shops on the quite fine list. Tante Marie, a newly added shop, was a priority because I rated the first two cakes as both excellent, so it had a chance to take over the top spot in the group to challenge the exceptional group. I went for the Oazo shop, next to Tokyo Station, since it's open until 8 pm. I did a loop around the imperial palace ground, clockwise, to be able to use the running course (you can't go against the pack on the north part, though with ran today, there wasn't much of a pack).

The running was 4-min running (first minute slow, last minute fast) intervals separated by at least 2 min (usually exactly 2 min of walking, but there are traffic lights and one stop to purchase cake). Was just in the 48th minute of running when I ran out of course. Next step is 3:7 ratio of walking and running, but not tomorrow, I think.

The cake I choose was Lu'bre, if I remember the name correctly (and I had doubts) which Google Translate tells me is Corsican for "the sun". It's chocolate mousse and vanilla cream. I caught a glimpse of "raspberry", so maybe there was a little in the chocolate to give it fruity flavor, but not enough to be easily identifiable. It was definitely good, as these chocolate and vanilla mousse cakes go, but I still can't see the point of these cakes other than as a safe choice. I should have gone for the Gorgonzola cheesecake, since cheesecake is their specialty. Well, I'll get back for a 4th cake eventually, though it may take a couple years. Hopefully they'll last. Look at where to go next, I see that Shirokanedo is gone, not just from Isetan but from the neighborhood of the same name. I guess Sourire is next among ones to visit on holidays. 

Clair de Lune, Mandarine Napoléon

I had done my planned weekday cakes and still not found a new great cake to match up against Mont-Fuji, so I turned my thoughts to the alternative, finding an old great cake that hasn't had a first round (which means I've been searching for it unsuccessfully for more than two years, so little chance). I had the four or five most convenient candidates to check again in mind for over the next three days, and today started with the nearest (fail: no Chiboust Yuzu) and the one with the latest hours, the Clair de Lune, where I preferred to get a pastry if they had a new one (not the case), considered getting a cream puff, but decided to get the Mandarine Napoléon, since it's a long run and this is now a top priority shop, since I tentatively promoted it to quite excellent.

Just in case, though it was not on display, I asked the chef about their Chiboust, which I have down as a great cake from 3 years ago. He said he makes it sometimes (which is what I've been told before, but no schedule) and that I should call ahead. Well, yeah, but I don't do that and it takes my excuse away from running.

The Mandarine Napoléon was very nice. Perhaps very conventional: vanilla and fruit mousse cake with a thick gelatinous outside to hold it together on some kind of cake (seemed like chocolate) base. But it was well made and I really appreciated the mandarin/mikan, which I don't get enough, versus chocolate version, which are almost ubiquitous and often not very good. This qualifies as excellent.

Since I was still there (I ate in) and so was the chef (making something in the back), I asked again about the Chiboust, like would he make it this weekend, for example, and could I specifically order it (which PS seemed willing to do for me the other day, if I could wait 2 hours, which I couldn't). He considered and I managed to persuade him to make it for Sunday (Saturday would be too tight for him). I've repeatedly asked about a cake until they finally made it before (Fraoula), but I've never talked someone into making a specific cake, so this was new. So no cake for me Friday and Saturday. I can do a second round on Monday (holiday) if Mont-Fuji wins (if the Chiboust wins, then I will have to call and see if they carried it over for another day). In principle, I could do a third round with either to matching something else that I can get on a weekday (again, assuming that the Chiboust is not just a one-day thing).

On other JPH news (besides Mont-Fuji), they seemed to have retired one cake from the lineup without notice and announced the end of another along with the Mont-Fuji for Jan. 15. I hope this means that the Mont-Blanc will continue, or I'll be trying to do four cake-offs in three days, which would mean no more cake for a week.

Le Chocolat de H/Paul Bassett: Imporatore

Tuesday, I went down to Monday's backup. I've been wanting to visit this place since I realized that they were hiding cake in the back (the Le Chocolat de H counter doesn't have fresh cake, but in the Paul Bassett part, they have the cake). This doesn't count as an unvisited local shop because I've visited the Ginza Le Chocolat de H, but there, as cake, I've only had a café dessert (made fresh), which is a different category. However, among local cake shops that I haven't had cake from, I figured this was the prime choice for someone who likes chocolate cake. Certainly, it has a relatively high-class atmosphere and is in good company in Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs.

I choose the Imporatore, which is pretty standard in someones, having vanilla crème brûlée in the middle of milk chocolate mousse surrounded by a chocolate coating and on a dacquoise base. Usually this type of cake is a glazed dome rather than a coated cylinder. The almonds in the coating are a small but appreciated touch, and the shape allows some whipped cream, on which there is chocolate (I think there is a special name for that shape, but I'm not looking it up now) and dusted with coco powder, all of which I appreciate and wouldn't mind seeing on more cakes. While I prefer mild chocolate, this was still excellent, so I'll probably be back there next week or so for a second cake.

On the way back, I practiced clockwise runs on a couple small loops without trouble, except I found a Benten branch temple (a Buddhism-based Japanese new religion) on my Shibuya north loop, so I should add that to the map.

Bien-être: Martinique

Did a run to Bien-être, since I knew they had new cakes as of last Saturday, so I hoped the Christmas cakes would be over and I could get something my size. New things included a tart, a couple roll cakes, and one fancy cake, the Martinique. This is a thick banana, raisin, and rum tart on the bottom and an ample amount of white chocolate ganache flavored with vanilla. My first impression was that it was probably excellent. Certainly, its a lot of cake for its size, since it's dense. I was hoping for great, since JPH's pistachio mont-blanc is back and I haven't done a first-round cake-off with it. I've got a little more than two weeks to find something, and of course I'd like to do second and third rounds after that, before it disappears again. Unfortunately, this was not the great cake. It was excellent when I was eating it, so I'm sticking with that, but I think especially paired with rum, the banana taste lingers, which I'm really not fond of. Maybe I should have gone with the pastachio and apricot tart. I'm almost caught up with this shop, or at least It's now one of many that I'm ready to get one cake from.

Running back, I worked in some neighborhood course loops on the west side, so I've now got both ways for the Sendagaya west loop and clockwise for the Jinguumae northwest and west loops. Yesterday (Christmas) I messed up again on the west side of Yotsuya, but at least I got clockwise for Sendagaya central and southeast right. That was not a very long run, less than 60 minutes, though intense running up and down stairs cutting through the nation stadium station tunnels and then going through Wakaba and Suga in Yotsuya. I repeated the subway route today in a 90+ minute run, but didn't need to get groceries, so I didn't have to go as far as Suga Shrine.