I remember when I first heard about the Cronut…as the name suggests it is a hybrid between a donut and a croissant  (it is shaped like a doughnut, but if you bite into it you’ll see it has layers like a croissant which have been piped with cream and other fillings) that has been created and trademarked by pastry chef Dominique Ansel and sold in his bakery Dominique Ansel Bakery which opened in Manhattan in 2011. 

Skip forward 3 years and I managed to get my hands on one while I was on a trip to New York after pre-ordering 2 weeks in advance and queueing for over an hour.  When I heard the team were opening up a bakery in London I couldn’t wait to repeat the experience!

For those with a sweet tooth, it’s divine.  Not sure if it’s actually possible to eat a whole one in a single sitting without feeling sick, but each Cronut comes in its own yellow takeaway box so you can just nibble on it throughout the day.  Waiting in the queue isn’t that bad as the staff come out every 15 minutes to chat to those in the queue and hand out treats of hot chocolate and fresh out of the oven mini madeleines which in itself is worth the trip (if you wait until summer the hot chocolate is replaced with iced tea).

Now it’s not all about sugar – there is also a range of savoury options like the iconic Dominique Ansel Croque Monsieur (aka ham and gruyere cheese toastie with béchamel sauce) and the Welsh Rarebit Croissant (Guinness Worcestershire cheddar béchamel with whole grain mustard and fontina which is exclusive to London).  We opted to eat in to give us a chance to sample the hot goodies, and then took a bag of takeaway sugary treats home to share with those that didn’t want to queue which included another London exclusive – the Eton Mess Lunchbox – which is made of strawberries made of mousse and jam, mini meringues, fromage blanc (white cheese) balsamic and basil – a quirky take on the English classic.

Go here for: a foodie adventure; a serious sugar rush!

Menu highlights: the Cronut – today is the last day for the current flavour (Salted Butterscotch and Cocoa Nib) and for November the flavour is Sour Cherry with White Almond Ganache and Vanilla Sugar; the Croque Monsieur – Chef Dominique has been making this for over 20 years when he started out in Paris and has it down to a fine art; Welsh Rarebit Croissant; Frozen S’mores (vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate wafer crisps and wrapped in honey flavoured marshmallow and blow torched before your very eyes!); the Eton Mess Lunchbox

Top tips: today (Halloween) is the last day for the “jack-o-lantern” (see pic of the cute orange Halloween treat – which is a double decker cream puff with milk chocolate orange ganache in the pumpkin and blueberry ganache in the wee bat on top); if you don’t want to queue (or you can’t be late for work) the best time to go is first thing in the morning – doors open at 8am Monday – Saturday and 9am on Sundays and stays open till 8pm every day; the Cronut only has a shelf life of 8 hours so best to eat it immediately; if you are going to save it for later, the team recommends keeping the Cronut at room temperate as the humidity from the fridge causes them to go stale and soggy and due to the cream heating them up is not an option; you can pre-order a Cronut online 2 weeks in advance, which means you get to skip the queue when you arrive at the bakery; for those after an additional treat in the afternoon the Cooke Shot (a chocolate chip cookie shaped like a cup which is cleverly filled with milk) is available from 3pm daily, but you’ll also have to queue for that one; there’s a 2 Cronut per person limit but if you want more you can just line up again

Price: takeaway – the Cronut will set you back £4, the DKA £3.75, Welsh Rarebit Croissant £3.75, Croque Monsieur £10.50, Frozen S’mores £6.00 – or eat in just add VAT

#october2016