Le Chocolat de H/Paul Bassett, Chocolata

Tuesday, I mostly took a rest. I did some running, trying to pick off the clockwise run of the Jinguumae Northwest route, but I knew when I started that I didn't really know it. I just changed the route and need a turn at a particular alley along Takeshita Street, which is crowded and filled with similar shops: lots of crepe and lots of youth fashions. Now I remember that the convenience store marks where to turn to link up to the next loop and the turn after that is to continue on the Jinguumae Northwest route. For a snack, I stopped for the first time at The Deck Coffee&Pie. By pie, they mean in the sense of a fruit pastry pocket, though I actually got a slight variation in the form of the Chocolate Nuts Stick Pie, which is a chocolate and peanut pastry, so it's a little oily with peanut oil (it's hot pot). I'm not making it sound good, but it was. I wouldn't mind trying one of the fruit ones, though it's not a priority.

Wednesday, JPH finally updated their webpage, so I see that they have a longchamp cake that I haven't blogged yet, so I'll try to get that tomorrow, and the Tonka is back, so I'll tentatively plan for that as the cake-off entrant to go against Saint-Mark Praliné from Sadaharu Aoki, who've announced pistachio ice cream for Tokyo Midtown and Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs, but not what the new exclusives will be at the other locations. Related to the latter, today's run was down to Hikarie ShinQs, but not for ice cream. I wanted to visit the Le Chocolat de H/Paul Bassett café. This time, I got the Chocolata, which features orange peal and walnut. Not sure where the walnut is, since it's not obviously nutty, but I would guess that the biscuit uses walnut flour. My first thought was that it was not that exciting, since I usually like a heavier cake or light in sense of mousse, whereas this cake is very much a café style cake, being a like a torte, with just ganache between layers of biscuit. The biscuit is very light and thick, but it's not short-cake like sponge, but neither is it one of the tougher cakes. As I ate it thought, "good" did not seem sufficient; even if I usually go for something more decadent, I can enjoy this and it's a nice change and among such cakes, this might be what I would choose, which is sort of my definition of excellent: if I could make it, it would be worth making. So that's too excellent chocolate cakes (my bias). They have third, a raspberry as the seasonal cake, I think, so should go for that before it disappears.

For running, I finished off verifying my memory of the trivial Shibuya central loop, and the similarly tiny Shibuya west loop, though I did expand it slight, so it now reaches the northeast corner of the famous Shibuya scramble intersection. I've also noticed that I've never gone and looped at what's in the Seibu basement food area, which is the northwest corner. They might not have any cake, but they have counters of a few brands I like, so I should check. They have a Factory Shin, which I know from Tokyo as good or quite good, but that doesn't mean they have cake there (it's not like they're going to import fresh cake from Kobe). On big loops, I failed on the Shibuya north loop counterclockwise, but I can get that when I do the west loop again. I did get the Jinguumae northwest loop, which was my priority, as far as being the closest in not confirmed. Tomorrow I should work on the east area around Gaien.

à tes souhaits! Pistache d'Abricot

Monday, which is a national holiday, I ran out to à tes souhaits! with a couple back-ups in mind further out from there in case they were closed or my patience was insufficient. The person in front of me counted 21 people in front of her when she called her partner. That's about typical for this shop on a weekend (it's reasonably accessible on a weekday). They were well staffed, so the line moved a little faster than I expected, but I was glad that I had an extra jacket, long pants, and hat in my bag for the outside part of the wait (if felt nicely warm at first when I first entered, but the door is open, so not so much once I got used to it), though the person several spots ahead who also looked like he ran there was not visibly suffering without doing so. I limited myself to only a few pictures of sites that could potentially be on future neighborhood course additions.

Selection was pretty good. I went for Pistache d'Abricot, which looked like something I would like. The apricot is a layer on top, under which is pistachio mousse (with pistachio cream on top), but under that there are nutty layers, including feuillantine praliné, which I don't usually associate with a fruity cake but I do associate with modern traditional fancy cake, so my regard for them has improved. This was definitely excellent cake. I suppose the distance was about 14 km, including about 1 km to and from stations coming back (the cake was fine, though maybe only because the mousse proportion was low).

This shop will make the cut when the quite good shops gets trimmed down to half their current size (hopefully), once I get all the current group up to 3 cakes each, which will make the designation more significant. Right now this category is just the not definitely below average group, though that's average among the places that I'm will to visit. For example, there was a much smaller patisserie 300 meters away that didn't seem to be having trouble with lines.

In the late afternoon, I went out again and completed verifying my memory of the Jinguumae central loop and then did clockwise on the new version of the Jinguumae northwest loop (probably wasn't necessary to change it, but it was nice to get some of it off Takeshita street, which is difficult to do even a slow walk due to crowds and finished off the linked Jinguumae central west loop. My plan is to finish off the Jinguumae northwest loop next, and then continue down to the revised Jinguumae--Jinnan and Jinnan loops (as well as try to get pie). The other neighborhood memory-check run will be in out toward Aoyama, where I didn't manage to get to Viking F (bakery) last week, but it requires that I avoid overtime work. Other plans for the week will depend on what the cake shops put out to replace cakes retiring Jan 15.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Mont-Blanc over Aigre-Douce's Tarte Caramel Salé

Strictly speaking, I'm not behind posting, though I am behind on other types of communication, due to other obsessions.

Friday night, I worked on testing my memory of (near) neighborhood course loops. I got at least Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop correct clockwise this time, after failing again on the Jinguumae central loop. As a snack, I got Salted Butter Bread from Pier's Cafe (I'll translate the name as), which is a croissant like roll with basically two layers created by a little butter between them (versus an actually pastry croissant, with a lot of layers with butter between). It was good and it was fresh (in that it was not wrapped and kept toasty hot by a heat lamp (so it was still warmed after I ran the loop). I had thought this was claiming to be a bakery cafe, but I was misinterpreting a single advertised menu item. It's a just a cafe, but I'll keep it on the map.

 Saturday I ran during the day. I started reasonably early, but had an afternoon dentist appointment, so I didn't want to stay out too long. I combined trying to do neighborhood course loops with getting missing photographs of new sites. For example, Crayonhouse, which has simple cakes and tarts.

What I actually bought was a wholewheat Croissant from the grocery section. The actual making has the name Natural Pao and they're in Chiba, but I'm not going to Chiba. It was definitely good. Probably because it was wholewheat, it didn't get soggy from being bagged, but it still had croissant layering of crisp buttery layers. I was not expecting the snow, which in Tokyo was supposed to be in the mountains mainly or at night, but not the morning. Not that there was a lot, but my smartphone glass is cracked and I want to protect it from moisture, so I might have done a different kind of run if I was sure that the clouds wouldn't keep all their moisture to themselves. I got as far out as Aobadai 4, where I now have photos confirming the sites on a little loop.

Sunday, I first went to P. Clair de Lune, where I had not confirmed ahead but was hoping to get a Chiboust. Alas, the chef was not able to source ingredients. He asked for my number and said he would call when he was at the preparation stage (so that would give me a couple day's notice). I was a little unsure whether that was good, since that means it's going to be too late to get what I wanted to pair it up with, but I would like ti have it again anyway. We'll see whether I come up with something else I want to match it against, since Jean-Paul Hévin at least is ending three items from it's line-up (not sure why they only list 2 on the web site; maybe they aren't offering the third everywhere now but don't want to be bothered with being precise about when and where it will finish it's appearance). Not sure when it will end, but not sure when it will end, so I switched to what would have been the plan of doing a third-round cake-off with JPH's Mont-Blanc. Unfortunately, now I was in the opposite direction from Jiyuugaoka and wasn't feeling excited about running another 20 km run to see whether they had what I wanted. It seemed more reasonable to go to Aigre-Douce, which was 9 km away, for the one great item that I know of in the line-up, Tarte Caramel Salé. Not that busy at JPH around 11:30, but we're going up on Valentines Day, which is peak chocolate madness, when they shut down the chocolate bar and use the space to sell cakes and the primo chocolate sets (for people willing to pay double to avoid the line for their regular stuff). I was not disappointed by either cake and I could not easily choose between them. In the end, thinking about which one I would least want to drop from the list (not that I do that to losers), I choose Mont-Blanc, which is a standard for me as a mont-blanc, though I can't think of any better format for sweet caramel than Aigre-Douce's Tarte Caramel Salé (because Sadaharu doesn't provide theirs again for me to check, though January was when last appeared, so I'm keeping an eye out).

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.

Café du Jardin: Cacao d'Or

Wednesday, I took advantage of the visiting shop at Isetan, Café du Jardin. Of Tokyo shops that I've now sampled, this is the farthest away from home. I chose the Cacao d'Or, which by taste is not that different from other chocolate cakes. It has chocolate cream and layers of chocolate sponge cake. I'm not used to this much chocolate cream, extending in a thick layer to the edge. Pretty dairy heavy for me (the whipped cream on top is overkill, in this case), but still definitely good. If they visit again, I'll try a second cake, but I think I'm not going to get back to them this time around.

My run was another neighborhood course run reviewing loops both clockwise and counterclockwise by running them from memory (no looking them up beforehand on the day). It was net loss, since I only managed to do the Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama loop counterclockwise correctly, but spotted a Starbucks in Jinguumae 1 that made me change the Jinguumae northwest loop, so I have to redo it.

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: Tarte aux Abricots et Pistaches

Still behind, because I keep fiddling with the map instead of writing. Monday, I ran down to Bien-être, where I got the Tarte aux Abricots et Pistaches. For a baked tart, this is pretty moist. I liked it more than the pistachio and strawberry one, though I'd rather have a chiboust. Anyway, excellent cake. I did some neighborhood running, around Takeshita Street in Harajuku I think, though I only got one loop correct and I've since changed it so I have to do it again. So now I've finally caught Bien-être up to my designated number of cakes for superb shops, so I just need to stop in enough to check on the chiboust. Eventually I'll want more cakes from superb shops, but I'm got a lot of excellent and quite good shops that I'm now behind on, so it's not a priority.