Cronut Fever spreads to Jozi

The Cronut is the New York version

I finally made my way over to Belle's Patisserie in the nearby Bluebird Shopping Centre to see what the fuss was about this summer back in ol' New York. Little late on this, even by Jozi standards, but I've been busy. By the way if I was still in NY, even with my hectic schedule, I would have been one of the first on line. My how things have changed! Yet even further proof of my Type ZA transformation.

The Cronut was all the rage in the NY pastry world after it was introduced there in May at the Dominique Ansel Bakery in Soho (sigh, Soho.) A marriage between a sugar glazed doughnut and a buttery French croissant, need I say more? Seriously decadent and the germ responsible for the NY epidemic of Cronut Fever.

The idea went viral, quickly spreading copycat versions around the city and the country. 

The Crois-Nut is the Joburg version

Now a pandemic, the fever made it across the Atlantic and the equator to Joburg with the introduction of Belle's CroisNut in August.
 
A few copycats have sprouted up in Joburg too since August, but Belle’s Patisserie was the first and reputed to still have the best in the city so I checked theirs out first. 






I am told that Dominique Ansel presents a different flavor every month and sells only that flavor that month. Belle had a selection of four different flavors. A plain Croisnut. One that is filled with custard. A strawberry-filled and iced Croisnut. And a chocolate-iced and caramel-filled one. We bought one of each.

Once you bite into the "plain" version, you get it. Butter. Sweet sweet butter. It is what has been missing from the donut all along. You just didn't know it. In the end, the plain one is actually the one I preferred out of all of them. The buttery taste is somewhat absorbed in the others by the dominating flavors of strawberry, custard and chocolate. Even though the bigger flavors are enhanced by the butter - let's face it, butter makes everything better - I still think the croissant buttery taste is good all by its lonesome.

Don't know if the Croisnut is as good as the original Soho creation, but it was pretty darn good! Will have to wait a little longer to taste test the original. In the meantime I may have to eat a few more here to truly imprint the taste in my memory.