Debailleul: Macaron Breton

I was curious about cake appearing at Debailleul, which is a high-end chocolate counter at Isetan (where I had never bought). Actually, though, the cakes are from Collection Échiré, so not so distinct from Échiré Maison du Beurre, which is in the same company group. Anyway, even knowing the facts now, it was worth trying and was good, high-quality cake, but not more than that. Specifically, I had the Macaron Breton (マカロン　ブルトン; 734 yen), which is a sort of buttery chocolate (ganache) tart on a sablé base
with a macaron-type top.

The running was Meiji Jingu Gaien intervals, which ended up with 300 m at 14 km/h, 925 m at 13 km/h and about 3 km at 10 km/h. The fast intervals were all at least 13.0 km/h, as planned, though I don't have fine control at the speed, which is how I end up with one interval sliding into 14 km/h territory.

Au Bon Vieux Temps: Chocolat Fondant

Had a long run today down to Au Bon Vieux Temps again, last time being Dec. 18. As predicted, I was faster, just at the bottom of 12 km/h going out (12+ km). I walked to the park this time, so that cut out 650 m of running, but then ran 11 km/h to the Jiyugaoka Station Couca and then home at 10 km/h, again maybe both just barely within +/-0.5 km/h. So I haven't increased my distance, but I definitely increased my speed, by too much. I need to work on my consistency, which is where long training runs would be helpful, if I had time. I would have overrun my running budget but this makes the weighted amount of 12+ km/h running more than half, so I normalized 12 km/h. Still, I don't have much left for tomorrow and the day after that, so I might have to wait until Wednesday for more running and cake. In the meantime, I decided that I wanted to go by bicycle to the Mitsukoshi Cuoca rather than try to jog with 2 km of sugar and chocolate (which might not be great for the chocolate, against my back).

On the way, I stopped for energy at the Minamiaoyama Anderson and got Pain au Chocolat (パンオショコラ, 280 yen) again. It was softer inside than Maison Kayser's, which I don't think I prefer, but it was fresh baked and definitely good (as well as a little cheaper).

At Au Bon Vieux Temps, I reviewed the cakes and found that the one I thought I was going to get included coffee, so I went for Chocolat Fondant (チョコラフォンダン), though why it's called that, I'm not sure, since it was basically a block of raw chocolate. It is soft, so I suppose you could make it melt easily; maybe I should have taken it home and microwaved it a little. I know you can buy pieces of chocolate like this, but I'm not sure what that's usually called besides just chocolate. Anyway, this in no way resembles Fondant au Chocolate (which was obvious when I got it). It was still definitely good, but I'm not that interested in this type of chocolate. This bumps off this shop out my 2nd-tier "Superb" category, which comes as no surprise. At some point when I find another excellent shop, I'll split the excellent ones into top and bottom groups so it can stand out again as at least being at least among the top 20 Tokyo patisseries.


On the way back, I stopped in the Dean & Deluca Bakery under the tracks next to Himonya Park (which finally reopened recently). I got the seasonal Croissant Chocolat (クロワッサンショコラ, 224 yen), which is not that much different from Pain au Chocolat. It was cheaper, but only because everything was discounted for some reason (not because it was late in the day), which maybe they always are at that place. It was too much food, though, and only 30 min running after the cake, so I felt more full than I liked. Maybe I should have waited for Perch (coffee stand just above Nakamekuro on old Yamanote Road), but I was okay and that was probably not why I was much slower than going out.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Voyage

Decided to go to Jean-Paul Hévin in Marunouchi. I could go there on a day after work, but I didn't want to wait until next week and needed a not too long run for today. The plan (which I didn't actually consult beyond where I was going) was to stay around 10 km/h, but actually I was on the high side of 12 km/h going out the long way down through Meiji Jingu Gaien (6.2 km). That suggests that my next planned training run of 4 laps (5.3 km) is unnecessary, although there is about a 0.5% net downgrade into Marunouchi (although there is also a significant upward slope after passing through Akasaka) so I may not try to accelerate things. Coming back was naturally uphill, though I took the short route and stopped for groceries, so only 4.1 km at 11 km/h. I'm still okay budget-wise for tomorrow's run, even assuming 1 km/h faster than my last trip down past Oyamadai, but I'll need to shorten Monday's run, so maybe another training run with intervals or I'll go somewhere close, depending on how tomorrow works out (rain could shut me down).

The case, which I ate in, was Voyage (ヴォワヤージ, 639 yen), with is the usual relative simple (for multiple layers of mousse and biscuit), only with some raspberry sauce, though not enough that I could identify it by taste. It was definitely good, and I think it's fair to stretch that to excellent, but not a standout for them.

I'll include here that I visited Maison Kayser again last night, this time getting the Pain au Chocolat (パンオショコラ; 302 yen). Previously, I haven't been that impressed with this traditional form, maybe because it is not a chocolate/sugar bomb like I used to look for, but I've learned to appreciate layered pastry and the amount of chocolate seems right to me now.

Maison Kayser: Chausson aux Pommes

Decided ahead of time that it was a good day to skip the cake, though I just took a step down to viennoiserie, which is to say, fancy bread. In this case, I got a Chausson aux Pommes (ショソン　オ　ポム; 302 yen) from Maison Kayser at Isetan. Maison Kayser only opened there fairly recently and has several fancy things not found at other Isetan counters, so they fill a niche. This one is rather plain, being a very flaky apple pie, but it was good. Maison Kayser used to be my favorite place when I was living in Narima District and came into the Ikebukuro Station area.

The run was lap training at Meiji Gingu Gaien. I did three laps (about 4 km) at +12.0 km/h, which was hard, but I managed to stay just high enough coming home to call that 12 km/h, so I may be able to do 4 laps next time. Not sure when that will be be. Have a three day weekend (with a Monday holliday) coming up and I need to get to Au Bon Vieux Temps one day and still keep in the budget, but would like to get somewhere the other two days, too. Monday, though, I probably won't have much budget left and will do some sort of training run, but even 4 laps might put be over.

L'atelier Motozo: Monte Bianco Giapponese

Today was a company holiday, so I went to a new shop outside my normal weekday range (since Au Bon Vieux Temps is closed according to their usually weekly schedule), L'atlerier Motozo, which Sweet Sonobe mentioned. I didn't actually look back at his post, but he claimed the specialty as the Monte Bianco (or at least the specialty of the chef, who moved from shop that closed), which is a rational version (the cream is on top of the chestnut paste, not the reverse) of a mont-blanc. Actually, I got a modification of that, the Monte Bianco Giapponese (モンテビアンコジャッポネーゼ, 810 yen), which uses Japanese chestnuts, perhaps because I'm a cake snob. The cake was excellent, though not that different from other mont-blanc, which is a fairly simple cake, mostly. The meringue base, which has some chocolate in it, I think, is a flat disk, in keeping with all their few cakes being mainly tarts. There was an eat-in counter (as well as a bar, though I'm not sure whether and when that's used), but it was a reasonably nice day and it's next to Meguro River, so I ate at a bench outside.

L'atelier Motozo

The runs to and from there were 7 km each, in north of Meiji Gingu and out through Omotesando. Both were on the low side of 11 km/h. I came back through Omotesando because I want to stop at the renovated Pierre Hermé (photo failure). They've added a casual counter on the first floor and sell fancy pastries and apparently coffee (didn't see a menu, just the big machine). I tried the Bostock (ボストック, 432 yen), which was good but I'm still searching for double baked versions.

Starbucks: NY Cheesecake

Didn't plan to get cake, but still had some points left and had a request for a break. The cheesecake is decent (420 yen + 8%), again, especially compared to other major chains, although I can't remember that well the last time I tried to eat other such shops' cakes, so that's just a general impression.

For running, I just tried out a new fanny pack (I think) for running by going down to Meiji Gingu Gainen and doing one around the track. There where two 300 m intervals at 13 km/h and 225 m at 9 km in between, but there rest of the about 3 km run was at 10 km/h.

Jean-Paul Hévin: MOF2016

For New Year's Day, we went to the Omotesando Hills Jean-Paul Hévin, since they are open (many other places are quiet, but Harajuku to Omotesando was still full of crowds of people). Got both the cakes that are Jan. 1 to 10 only, the MOF2016 (714 yen + 8%) and the Mont(-Blanc) Fuji (637 yen + 8%). The new one, was the MOF2016, which got a little mangled trying to get it out of the box. There's still plastic around it that has to be peeled off, but as it took a little chocolate with it, it's just as well I took the photo first. It's got a top half of whipped cream and a bottom half that includes small pieces of maron (chestnut) confit and it's a nutty cake, generally, but what nut powders they used, I'm not sure. It's good, but not really special. The Mont Fuji, which I've blogged before, is confirmed to be special. Maybe by next year I'll get around to comparing it to other cakes that I've rated as great (surely, I'm getting close to running out of new/seasonal cakes, although I'm not sure what will appear Jan. 11 and I still need to get back to the Marunouchi Jean-Paul Hévin, which has a completely different selection of cakes).

The run was the Akasaka Palace course, with the goal of only a slight increase to 2 full laps (3.3 km/) at 11 km/h, since that's what fits in the budget. For this kind of training run, I'm trying to definitely get at least 11 km/h rather than just approximately, but I was above 11.5 km/h on the first lap, so it counts as 12 km/h for my budget. The next lap was a little slower, so walking home evened things out. This and the previous run indicate I need to up all my training speeds 1 km/h, although I'm not sure that I can actually get 12.0+ km/h for Akasaka Palace, but perhaps if I don't have to do a second lap I can make it. I should do the Imperial Moat course first, though: it's longer per lap, but definitely flatter (midway between Meiji Gingu Gaien and Akasaka Palace).