L'Abricotier: Chataigne

Sunday, I put off doing the giant new loop as a one-way neighborhood course run (~45 km) or going to Maison Douce (~35 km) and instead went to P. L'Abricotier, but by a very long route, going by dozens of sites to add to my neighborhood course map, which is getting pretty out of control. I don't actually have much of the actual course plotted out where I was adding and I was still finding (or not finding) sites to include as I went.

At the shop, I ate in and was not alone, though just one couple, so I took the far table (there are only three tiny tables). I got the Chataigne and probably shouldn't have. The card warned me that it had bitter caramel, which turned out to mean the caramel of Japanese purin (pudding), which I hate (the caramel, that is). But then, it's not as bad as coffee, and I can accept a certain amount of that in cake sometimes. In this case, the base cake was mascarpone cheese flavored (in the inside) with the caramel, and chestnut supposedly for contrast, though it would take a lot more chestnut to balance the caramel for me. So I did not like this cake, but on the other hand, it was well constructed, as advertised, and the flavor of caramel seemed normal for its type. I'm putting it down as good and will try to avoid bitter caramel. However, good is not enough to save the shop from slipping from quite excellent to just excellent, which it was already doing, so I went ahead and finally made that change, swapping it with Clair de Lune, though I'm worried that it might not be able to keep the position.

That phase of running took about 3 hours, so I decided to save my strength and come back from train, after taking a few more pictures and running the extra kilometer or so to the more convenient train line (in terms of frequency of direct trains), and get lunch.

Possible cake source 

After a few hours break, I went out again the in evening and ran 1+ hours around Harajuku. It was a surprisingly comfortable run. I did an easy counterclockwise run around the Jinguumae east loop on the way and managed to get the Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama loop clockwise correct without having to look it up. Also did some recon along Omotesandou and found another café worth adding, so I'm still fiddling with the Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama--Shibuya loop. Also, although the current café in Gyre doesn't rate inclusion by itself, they are scheduled to get a bean-to-bar chocolate shop next month in time for Valentines Day, which is a better step toward the loss of the cake and bread shops that used to be in the basement.

Très Calme: Exquis

Saturday, I did another long run. My first destination was Sengoku to visit Très Calme, which was made longer by the fact that I kept running laterally rather than wait for lights to change and the streets don't run straight. As usual, I ate in (the only person). I choose Exquis (not sure that was the spelling provided, but it matches the Japanese phonetics) and immediately forget the ingredients. It's chocolate cake with sponge bottom and a chocolate mousse layer above which has a mellow and fruity taste. Actually, the card said Earl Grey, though I was thinking blackberry, since that's the garnish, but Earl Grey is infused with bergamot, which should be quite a different flavor. In terms of construction, I'm against sponge cake, and certainly wouldn't combine it with a block of mousse. However, it worked perfectly well, so what do I know. Maybe not otherwise remarkable, but the chocolate was harmonizing well with the tea and I can call it excellent. I had this shop was listed with very good shops, but I'm upgrading it to excellent. Now the standout very good shops is Maison Douce, which has the advantage of a sample of only two, one which I have listed as semi-great (it got demoted from great after it's first cake-off round). That's a problem because it's a 35-minute run or more than 1 hour by train, so I keep hoping that it visits Isetan again, but I've been waiting quite a while.

The run continued down to Nihonbashi, to visit Mitsukoshi, and then as far south as Ginza 6, with various stops along the way. Other than the first visit, where I noticed a cake counter that I can now ignore as they visit Isetan and bought a kitchen gadget, it was fairly fruitless, because shops are waiting until Jan. 15 to change their line-ups. Coming back home, I was only just in time for a 2 pm appointment, which I was fortunately able to put off until after a shower and lunch.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot over Sadaharu Aoki's Mont D'or

Friday, I went for a long neighborhood run that combined practicing loops to confirm that I have them memorized and doing a one-way neighborhood run to and around a new loop, which means that it was really long neighborhood run, because I was doing full loops and then having to run back from the start point of the loop to the official link to the next loop rather than just use the part of the loop (once) that I needed. I was successful at doing clockwise runs on the Jinguumae east, Kita-Aoyama central, Minami-Aoyama north, Minami-Aoyama east, and Roppongi 7 loops. On the Minami-Aoyama north loop, I stopped at P. Takagi and got a Chausson Napolitain as my first pastry from there. Related, I made a decision to stop using the sidewalk that cuts through it as part of the loop, because it's really not somewhere where one should run and it's easy enough to go around, which still takes one by the signs saying what's inside. The pastry was definitely good. I've never seen such a flat chauson, though my experience is limited and this seems to be normal for this kind of chausson. It contained sufficient fruit for me (and apparently alcohol), so no complaint about that.

The new loop was the Azabu-Juuban--Moto-Azabu loop, which I'm going to add a little loop for to reach a Tully's. On that loop and coming back, I took some photos of places that I had missed or had second thoughts about leaving out, since as the photo at the right, which is a temple, though their business is pet memorials.

The cake was another cake-off (trying to get through the potentially soon to got out of season cakes from the majors): Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot and Sadaharu Aoki's Mont d'Or. The latter is scheduled through February; it's not clear when Bergamot was leave the line-up, but it's listed as seasonal and some sort of shake up is scheduled for mid-January. These were both working for me. The Bergamot is just one variation of a type of JPH cake that I think is great, but I haven't gotten tired of it yet and it takes the win in this third-round cake-off, where previously it had one win and one loss.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne over Pierre Hermé's Fraisier Pistache

Still catching up. I'm pretty sure I slipped in some running Wednesday, just a run on local courses, but I can't remember the details now. Before that, just out shopping, I got a Choco-Fashion from Tully's Coffee, which is just a chain coffee shop. However, it was definitely good, as an old-fashion donut, which is good enough that I should start adding these to my local running map as a snack resource, though I'll skip any that require major adjustments.

Thursday, I definitely did not run, as I woke with a headache and was worried about having caught a cold. I did, however, go to Isetan, where I scored Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne and Pierre Hermé's Fraisier Pistache, on the grounds that these both are expected to disappear Jan. 15. I questioned the Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne last time. I think I managed to raise the temperature a little bit this time, and enjoyed the chocolate more. I still love the cake base and pistachio of the Fraisier Pistache, but have to admit that I probably put and kept this on the great list just to remind myself of this classic without having to make it myself. It is excellent, but I should consider shortening my list of greats, so it takes a loss and gets a question mark, while Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne finally gets a win in its third cake-off round.

Paris S'éveille: Figue Spéculoos & Poire Bergamote

Not sure which runs I did which days on Sunday and Monday. I think I did local runs reviewing loops nearby one day, with mixed success, and a long one-way neighborhood course run down to add the Moto-Azabu--Roppongi loop and the Moto-Azabu loop the other. One of those days also involved Mont-Fuji and Pyramid from JPH, which are repeats, so I didn't bother to take any pictures. Still waiting to find a great cake to match the former up with for a cake-off.

Tuesday, despite being busy, I had some free time (can't remember why) and ran down to Paris S'éveille in response to a recent cake-off win. I was getting cake for two (like the JPH cakes), so now I'm a cake ahead for the next new cake (it might be awhile otherwise, since I want to visit all the under-sampled excellent and quite good shops, which is a lot). They had two new cakes: Figue Spéculoos & Poire Bergamote.

These are both successful as fancy cake and both were good quality, but not too exciting. I'm definitely not that fond the design of the fig/chocolate cake, which is sort of a thin brick. They are right to balance it with a light whip, but I still can't rate it higher than good.

The other was very fruit focused, so not so much my thing, especially the dome of gelatin, though actually the texture was good and I like the balance of that and the tart, as well as the balance of the two fruits, so I'll be generous and rate it excellent, which does not drag them down too much and all the shops in the superb category have the same problem of coming up with new cakes that match the best of their regulars.

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's Sicile over Ryoura's Mont-blanc

Saturday, did a run out to Jiyuugaoka, since my first choice as a pairing in a cake-off was a Paris S. cake, but I was not willing to wait around for two hours. Didn't see this the next time I went either, so it might be out of the line-up. On the way, I stopped at Sunandwitch and got Choco Rusk (might not be the correct name), which was actually labeled as from Bread Espresso &, part of the same group, so I didn't really need the second sample. Still, the rusk was good and useful as a snack to carry on from Jiyuugaoka (though I had rations)

Also on the way, I checked out a café, which was closed, so not the useful, a non-existing shrine, and an unexpected church (forcing me to adjust a neighborhood running course loop). So not the most direct run to Jiyuugaoka to begin with. I continued on to Ryoura and got their Mon-blanc.

After taking my Ryoura cake home, I ran out to L'Abricotier and got the second-to-last Sicile. There seems to be a pretty narrow window of availability during the day for the cake, or they just don't like to make many. It's featured on their website, so it might just be really popular.

L'Abricotier's Sicile was as I remembered it. The Mont-blanc from Ryoura was also excellent, but I wasn't feeling the greatness this time, so I'm putting it on notice and giving the win to Sicile. L'Abricotier needs the help anyway, since they are slipping in ranking. Of course, the additional new cake could just confirm that while they are excellent, they aren't really at the quite excellent level. Report on that soon, I expect.

Toshi Yoroizuka: Tarte Tatan

Was somewhat busy (or my computer was) until now, so it might take some days to catch up, though I was busy for running and cake as well, so there is less to it than might otherwise be the case. I'll try to reconstruct my movements and cake from the photographic evidence, but there are gaps. Actually, I had a headache today and took a break from running, but there was still cake, which I'll eventually get to.

On last Friday (Dec. 27), I took a shortish run to Tokyo Midtown, where I could get Tarte Tatan from Toshi Yoroizuka, in response to their recent cake-off win. This has been in their line-up for a while, so I was happy to get a chance to sample it. It's very nice. I'm not big on fruit in my cake, and apple is not a common choice, but the mildness of the fruit did not overpower the tart aspect, and the texture is a nice variation. This was excellent.