Saturday, September 7, 2013

Cronuts Mandarin Oriental Jakarta: Going NUTS for CRONUTS!

Cronuts are probably the hippest culinary venture at the moment! A lot of people have been talking about this so I decided to give them my try.

Since I am such a culinary hipster (and yeah I labeled myself that way), I have been stalking about this cake for a while and apparently I found some valuable informations worth to share to you all, including the fact that is cake is such a hype in J-town that some restaurants have been publishing and selling their own version of cronuts. Excited to give them each one of more try.

A little history of cronuts. It's called "cronuts" because it's a pastry in the form of donut, but the main physique is the croissant dough, it's simply a CROissant doNUTS. Thank God for Dominique Ansel, a pastry chef and the owner of Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City, who is the master behind this phenomenon in the culinary world. It's first released in May 2013 and ever since, it has been an unstoppable vibe! Hundreds of people are willing to queue (even) outside his store just to get this brilliant $5 pastry.
Dominique Ansel, photo courtesy of Google

Well, the existence of cronuts are definitely bringing a touch of freshness and such a breakthrough for the culinary world, forget about the overrated Red Velvet Cakes and Rainbow Cakes and let yourself blend it to the hype of the moment: Cronuts! Trust me, it's more than just a simple fried croissant garnished with sugar and cinnamon. The cooking method is slightly not as easy as you think, there is a challenge in the process to make sure that the layers stick together, less gross and greasy.

The one that I am about to review is from Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop. they apparently declaring to be the first to introduce cronuts in Jakarta. Bravo!!! Each cronut is sold for IDR 28k after tax, half than Ansel's retail price. Looking at the Jakarta market, and as a costumer, I think it's still on the affordable state, in the end, I might have to think twice if I have to keep on spending $5 for each cronut </3. Anyway, in the Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop, the cronut is spelled as 'KRONUT' with the "K".

TO REMEMBER
The cronuts sold in the Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop won't be available the moment you step inside and there will be NO DISPLAY, the best thing you can see is on the brochures or probably here in the blog (LOL!), so therefore you need to call the cake shop (number below) and place your order, sometimes the orders get super exploding that you need to call two days before! yes, two days!!! Also, the cronuts are only ready on 2-6 PM! Such a freaking commitment to enjoy cronuts. I don't know if they worth the wait for some. Probably these rules applied because cronuts MUST BE enjoyed fresh fried, to get the lovely fresh original crispy textures of it.

But luckily, it was my lucky day!!! I did not call and I didn't do anything before, just bring myself to the hotel around 4 PM and order two cronuts for myself only! Luckily, I only need to wait for 10 minutes before the fresh fried cronuts served on my table.

I did some tests, first, the smell, well it clearly smells like a fresh fried dough with a little hint of cinnamon and almond. Good start, such an invited scent to the nose and quickly, the brain.

Second, the texture test! I might had done mistake because Dominique Ansel doesn't recommend cronuts to be cut by the knife, because it will ruin the beauty of it and those displayed on the advertorials, but whatever I can't wait to rape the cronuts so I used the knife instead. SUCH A CRISPY LAYER ON TOP and it gets moister down to the bottom, and another crispy hit on the bottom. The glazed sugar is also crispy!

Vanilla cream is used on top of the cronuts as a garnish and also inside the cronut as the additional filling, which definitely leads us to the last test: FLAVOR! From the first bite, I must say that I am kinda into this right now! As I am typing at the moment, I freakin want this right now, especially remembering how crispy but in the same time very chewy and moist it is! The idea of having the vanilla cream filled inside is just genius, the almond, the sugar, the cinnamon, GOSH just such a burst and explosion of flavors in the mouth! Promise me, one is not enough! NOT!!!



The cronuts in this cake shop are made by the talented Chef Wita Girawati. Next time I meet this person, I am going to give her a hug (OK it gets creepy).

I am so recommending this cake, but please keep in mind that this is not over yet, I am still going to surf the cake shops in Jakarta in my search for the yummiest cronuts! I am ready to be impressed or disappointed, just part of the journey but let's just be fair.

PS: Keep in mind that cronuts are not recommended to be served over 6 hours before your cronuts got saggy like stretch marks.

Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop || WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Jakarta
Jalan M.H. Thamrin PO BOX 3392
Jakarta Pusat 10310
021 - 2993 8820 (ORDER)
Cronuts only available on 2-6 PM everyday.

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