CRODO: Singapore’s Cronut Delight from Da Paolo Gastronomia
The second quarter of 2013 marked the Cronut™ craze. Now albeit for someone who would not scope out for bakeries just to brave the barbarous queues, I finally found the time (Chinese New Year to be exact) to try cronut/crodos. Seriously when I first heard of cronut, what’s that? It sounded like a prehistoric artifact of some sort to me. I’ll say that the cronut or crodo craze tail has begun to die down. Thanks to Krispy Kreme who has stolen the limelight and all that jazz. You see, the dessert fad is a carousel; from the fancy bubble tea to flirty cupcakes to crazy cronuts to back-to-the-basics-doughnuts.
The Crodo
Turns out to be that a cronut? Marrying doughnut and croissant altogether. That’s what you get from innovative food genius named Chef Dominique Ansel of the SoHo Bakery & Cafe NY. After snoopin’ around, I seriously waltz my way in to Da Paolo Gastronomia, one of the best bakery shops in Singapore that is known to serve good cronuts. Da Paolo called their cronut, Crodos. Did any bakery shop try to use dossants at some point ?
Anyway, these little paws of mine managed to get hold of what was left when I got there, apparently I got that “SOLD OUT” trying-to-convince-me look from the staff who assisted me. The dessert pickings in their display cases were indeed slim at 1500H , isn’t it supposed to be filled up since it’s afternoon tea time? The Chocolate Crodos and a Limited Edition called Golden Coin went home with me then. Crodos or Cronuts has swept Singapore last year, (if not the entire nation) and visibly mad long lines greeted every bakery shops with people who wanted to get hold of this baked bliss.
Cronut is a croissant-doughnut hybrid created by French Pastry Chef Dominique Ansel of Dominique Ansel Bakery of Manhattan, New York. If you have heard of the mayhem in Manhattan, this was it. The eponymous bakery of Chef Ansel was flocked by tons of sweet cavity inducing people wanting to have a taste of this ground-breaking dessert. It became so famous that even the word cronut was trademarked.
A cronut is an elusive type of pastry of which the recipe has taken several months before achieving perfection. Fret not as I won’t aim to insult your knowledge by dissecting how a perfect cronut is made. In my own simplest description: a perfect cronut is supposed to have that pillowy appeal of a doughnut and the crisp flaky multi-layered attitude of a croissant.
While Da Paolo Gastronomia called it Crodos instead of the Cronuts that other bakeries and cafes have settled, they are actually one and the same: a croissant with the aesthetics of a doughnut. A deep-fried croissant pastry, rolled in sugar and filled with cream aka sinful indulgence, period. With a slightly elevated price of (SGD4.90) a piece.
The Chocolate crodo was crispy at first bite followed by an expectance of more chewiness to it. The interior dough was delightfully tender and soft albeit a tad oily. The chocolate topping/glaze was similar to what you’d get from an éclair. The filling tucked away in that flaky blanket was mildly sweet; kudos for they went easy on the sugar coat as well. I can say it’s worth of a second round. Why I said so? The flakes. It surrenders to the bite.
I also happened to purchase and taste their Golden Coin Crodo – A Chinese New Year Edition.
It resembled a festive golden coin, gold dusted and filled with creamy egg custard. For SGD5.80 a piece I almost fainted as I forked out that much for a golden hole. But you see, tears welled up in my eyes when I took my first bite. Holy mad cow, the egg custard was so decadent! I was pretty floored by the egg custard filling. It’s tasty, much fluffier and has that rich bitch of punch! It’s simply glorious, wish they make this permanent.
I will still make my way down to town to get another piece of the crodos when the weather picks up. Rain, haze, sun..it’s a crazy mix up here in Singapore! Don’t blame me, after the Golden Coin ? I need more of that cronut crawl.
Da Paolo Gastronomia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaPaolo.Ristorante.ClubStreet
