The Cronuts Showdown, Who Does It Better?

I was amused by Huffpost's new article called "The World's First Interactive Cronut-Finding Map", which basically displays the locations of Cronuts and Cronut-wannabes from around the globe. This phenomenal pastry has created such a hype that inspired so many bakeries around the world to replicate, if not create something similar to it. In Asia, besides Japan, Thailand and the Philippines, they actually listed Gastronomia's Crodos, which I had the chance to try at my trip just last week. Just for the fun of it and to show a bit nationalism pride (Indonesia's Independence Day is just around the corner!), I'm comparing the two versions of Cronuts from both countries

Oh, just fyi...

Cronuts (noun): a new type of pastry created by a French Pastry Chef Dominique Ansel at his eponymous bakery in New York. This hybrid pastry can be described as a crossover between the pillowy donut and the flaky, multi-layered croissant, a perfect marriage of French and American culture. I won't bore you with stories about how globally phenomenal this hole-y rings have become within a short period, because all that can be read from a reliable source, Huffington Post Taste (one of my favourite news portal online). For all news about cronuts, click here.

So, Indonesia versus Singapore, who does Cronuts better?
From Indonesia, we have the Cronuts from the Cake Shop at Mandarin Oriental Jakarta, as for Singapore, Gastronomia's Crodos will be the contending candidate.

Without further ado, let me introduce you: Cronut vs. Crodo!

Cronut by The Cake Shop at Mandarin Oriental (Jakarta, Indonesia)	Versus	Crodo by Gastronomia da Paolo (Singapore)
Photo by Mandarin Oriental Jakarta	Photos	Photo by Annabel Lee (Pinterest)
Cream, crushed almond, cinnamon powder and sugar	Topping	-     Sugar -     Chunky chocolate ring -     Lemon meringue
1.       Original 2.    Cookies & Cream / Raspberry (coming soon)	Flavours	1. Original 2. Chunky chocolate ring 3. Lemon Meringue 4. Coconut Creme
IDR 25,000+/piece	Price	SGD 4.80/piece (twice as expensive)
Prepared (fried and piped) to order Pre-order	Availability	On display Anytime, walk-in customers
Smaller	Size	Bigger
Light and moist, taste doughy like donuts, except with many layers	Tasting Note	Light, quite dry, like croissant, but rather chewy
Yes, visible	Multi Layers	Yes, visible
Light, pale and creamy	Filling	Light, golden-coloured, custard-like
Only 1 outlet in Indonesia	Location	Various outlets around Singapore

Verdict:
From the cross-section look, Gastronomia's Crodo looks close enough to DA's Cronut (don't you think?)

Middle picture by Getty Images

Even living in New York does not guarantee that you will be able to eat it, granted the queue outside his bakery is constantly a winding caterpillar of people, and on top of that, each person is only entitled to a maximum of 2 pieces of the $5 Cronut™, what are my chances?

So, since I've never had DA's Cronut™ (yet), I'm using the tasting notes by Serious Eats' team about DA's Cronut™. They say:

"The experience of eating a cronut is very different from eating a traditional doughnut. For one thing, the cream is evenly distributed among the dozens of pasty layers, so you never get hit with a giant burst of filing as with say, a creme brulee doughnut from the Doughnut Plant. The extra layers also mean more oil-dough contact, so it's a more oily pastry similar to a fritter—a deep-fried dessert lover's dream."

That is exactly what I experience when eating MO's Cronuts.

With MO's, I couldn't stop at one piece, whereas with the Crodos, after just a few bites I kinda felt, "okay, I get it, that's enough for me". Sounds irrational, huh? But I believe my foodie friends out there like Umay, Imel and Aline who had tried and written a post about Cronuts would agree that MO's Cronuts are awesome. Given the price versus taste, I'd still lean towards MO's more affordable and foodgasmic Cronuts. 

So, the winner is...MO Jakarta's Cronut from Indonesia! Yayyyy! That being said, Gastronomia's effort to create Crodos and even receiving international attention (refer to the "The World's First Interactive Cronut-Finding Map"), IS something noteworthy. So yeah...good on them too! After all, I am always a fan of Gastronomia, and I have professed my love in a post I dedicated for Gastronomia sometime ago.

Where else to get Cronuts in Jakarta?

Besides from the Cake Shop at Mandarin Oriental Jakarta, you can have a go at Union Brasserie (called Flaky Donut) and Publico. I have not tried the latter two (yet), hopefully sometime soon.

Cake Shop at Mandarin Oriental Jakarta
JL. MH. Thamrin
Central Jakarta
Ph: +6221 29938888

Gastronomia da Paolo (Holland Village)
43 Jalan Merah Saga #01-74
Ph: +65 6475 1323
For other store locations, click here.