Toshi Yoroizuka: Mémorial

Sunday night, I ran first to Ginza, where FC was sold out of what I wanted, not sure whether I checked in at Pierre G, but they would have been closed by the time I could have gotten there under current hours, but went to Tokyo Midtown, which also was closing early, but has later base hours, so I could get a 21st cake from this quite exceptional shop. I went with Mémorial, which was memorializing probably 10 years at Tokyo Midtown. It's chocolate, yuzu, and nuts, or at least that's what I can remember, and what was obvious. It was good, but the flavor combination wasn't really working for me as anything special.

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.

Sadaharu Aoki: Feuilletée aux Pommes

Long spell without cake last week, but continued running the normal amount, if latter than normal, trying to learn new highly revised neighborhood routes, mostly with success. The lack of cake was due to shops closing early and me working late.

Saturday I had time in the morning to swing by Sadaharu Aoki before running, and I got their Feuilletée aux Pommes and ate it outside before going down and hitting the main looks in southern Sendagaya and slightly east. It was excellent, as expected. Apparently, it's apple season, which seems backward to me, but apparently it would normal end in February but is extended this year, at least that's what I heard Sunday at Viron.

Good Morning Cafe Nowadays: Homemade Cheese Cake and Angel Food Cake with Vanilla Cream

Continuing Saturday, after running, I toured the Suga Shrine area and end coming up the other side, in Daikyou-chou and stopped at some place that wasn't even on my map, Good Morning Cafe Nowadays. Their location seems terrible, so I don't know where all their customers are coming from, I suppose from the Keio teaching hospital.

 Anyway, we go cake and tea for two, I think. I went with the Homemade Cheese Cake, which was definitely good. The other is Angel Food Cake with Vanilla Cream, which is definitely too light for me: vegetable oil and baking powder? But I suppose angle food cake works as a medium for toppings, which I can understand, so I see it at buffets with ice cream. Anyway, it was also good as a support for cream, sauce, and almond slices. There's another with chocolate if we stop there to rest again, chiffon cake, but that's as far as the dessert menu goes in that direction.

Coatl, Gateau Chocoat

As a third post on Sunday:

I also stopped at a new bar/cafe/workspace called Coatl, because I felt sorry for them and because the sign they put out mentioned cake. I got the Gateau Chocolat, and it was okay. It might have qualified as good if the top hadn't been more like butterscotch. They didn't have any other cakes on the menu anyway, but I'll leave them on the revised map.

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.

Ryoura, Récif

Sunday as a big cake and running day. First, I did the run out to Ryoura. I stopped at Hikarie to check Sadaharu Aoki, but it seems to be one of the shops closed during a 1.5-month renovation. Next, I went to Viron and got their Bostock aux Pistaches, which I decided was excellent, though I'm not convinced that pistachios, much less with cherry, are an improvement.

At Ryoura, I decided that chocolate was a dependable choice (plus, I've had most of their line-up), so I went with the Récif, which I hadn't seen before. This is chocolate and whipped cream, with oat and currant sablé and cacao-scented blancmange, which sounds a little weird perhaps, but the taste was a definitely good chocolate cake, but it didn't really stand out. Maybe the interesting ingredients actually cancelled each other out. I'll included the double picture and split up the post, since I don't have enough space for all the labels.