Coffee and Cronuts at Duck and Waffle in London

Launched in May, cronuts are made fresh daily with a preparation that requires up to three days. Only 200 cronuts go on sale every morning and, while queues are about two-hour long, getting there before 7:15am gives you a good chance to (eventually) get one.

Dominique Ansel trademarked the name and kept the recipe secret, but he was certainly not the first to fry dough nor did he claim to. Cronuts are the “most viral dessert item to date” and of course it was only a matter of time before the cronut-mania reached the rest of the world. The “Cronut Imposters” – as Eater.com calls them – are all over the US and go as far as Australia and Philippines.

Chef Dominique Ansel’s creation is not to be mistaken as simply croissant dough that has been fried. Made with a laminated dough similar to a croissant (but not exactly), the Cronut™ is first proofed and then fried in grapeseed oil at a specific temperature. Once cooked, each Cronut™ is flavored in three ways: 1. rolled in sugar; 2. filled with cream; and 3. topped with glaze. [DAB]

Desperate to try one, I was hoping someone in London would start to sell cronuts. So I was very excited when Dan Doherty, the Chef at Duck and Waffle, announced on Twitter that he would sell them at the restaurant. Steering away from the original round Ansel cronut, Dan Doherty called the Duck & Waffle fried croissant a dosant. He spent last week experimenting with recipes and shapes, testing it out to staff and friends.

I tasted one of the first dosants at Duck & Waffle last Monday. Unlike the round cronut, this was shaped like a croissant, fried and glazed with cinnamon sugar, without a filling.

As of yesterday, dosants are served every Sunday at Duck & Waffle, and are made with a generous filling of Chantilly Cream and Chocolate Chips. They are available in limited numbers (about 30) from 11am. They are not on the menu, but are part of the breakfast selection, so just ask your waiter.

Of course I wanted to have breakfast with the dosant, so yesterday morning I went back to Duck & Waffle. The restaurant was fully booked, so I sat at the bar (the view of the Gherkin is still pretty good) and ordered a cappuccino and dosants for me and my friend Serena who joined me later.

It was a glorious sunny day, so it was such a treat to be having breakfast at the top of the Heron Tower! The view from Duck & Waffle was breath-taking, the service top notch and the coffee was good.

As for the dosant, it’s certainly very tasty (and maybe equally unhealthy). It’s flaky and soft, so overflowing with Chantilly Cream, you won’t be able to eat it with your hands! I liked the addition of chocolate chips, as they added a good amount of crunchiness to the soft pastry and cream. It’s greasy, but the cream overpowers the saltiness of fried pastry and leaves you with a very sweet taste.

I am still curious to try the original cronut, but at least for now my cravings are satisfied!