September 30, 2016; Friday
A month or so ago, as I was browsing through Instagram, I came across Dominique Ansel’s post about how he was currently opening a bakery here in Victoria, London (just a bus ride away from where I’m currently living at) which got me so excited of course! Now, let me tell you, I’m not aiming to be a Patisserie chef… (Well, technically, I actually want to be both- pastry and culinary chef but I’m more in love with culinary though.. HMMMMMM)
ANYWAYS, I first knew about Chef Dominique Ansel probably about 3 years ago when I was still on my internship back in Texas and I knew that he’s famous in America for being the creator of THE CRONUT® (half croissant, half doughnut) and COOKIE SHOT (cookies in the shape of shot glasses with chocolate coating inside and milk.. need I say more?) and I’ve been a fan of him and his work ever since.
So where were we? Oh right. Well, the day finally came and knowing myself, I wanted to be there! And because I’m one of those people who would wait in queue for hours and hours for famous food, roller coasters and my favourite bands. So bloody hell yes I was there.
Opening time was at 8 AM and luckily I was able to convince a friend to come and wait with me in the queue, my Filipino friend Ate (or what we call “big sister” to people older than us as a sign of respect in the Philippines) Olive Lopez! Though we were actually late because we arrived at 9:30 AM but you know how things just fall into place sometimes when you least expect it? That was one of those times. 10 minutes into lining up, she was about to get coffee and when I saw the bakery staff giving out free madeleines to people on the queue, I pulled her hand and said: “Oh wait, somebody’s giving out free food” (Shout out to my friends who know me well enough to know that I live for free stuff).
So there we were, waiting for our turn to receive some madeleines when 2 people (1 with a microphone and 1 with a camera) went up to us and asked as if it would be okay for them to ask some questions and they said they were from “BuzzFeed” so we said alright and also to kill time waiting in the queue. They were just asking normal questions like, “What time did you start queuing?” “How did you know about this?” & “Do you think it’ll live up to the hype?” Little did we know it was actually BuzzFeed. Good golly. I could’ve been more gracious or something, I really wasn’t expecting that but anyhow, it was so overwhelming to be included, even if it was just for about 2 seconds!! Who knew, we got to be in a known company’s video. So so grateful.
Thanks a bunch for featuring us, BuzzFeed UK!!! Here’s the clip if you guys want to see; courtesy of BUZZFEED UK P.S. I’m the one with the green hair and the green beanie *laughing with tears* with my friend Olive beside me at 0:22 here
After 3 hours of waiting in line and catching a glimpse of Chef Dominique Ansel himself, we finally got ourselves some Cronuts® !! Though the rules say there’s only a maximum of 2 per person, so I got 2 because I am like that. Haha. I’m just kidding, I panicked when I was on the teller; you know how sometimes you’re just so overwhelmed and confused at the same time that you had 3 hours to think and prepare on what to order but when you’re there already being asked what would you like, you panic!!! No? Just me??! Well, so I had 2 and a Cannele (thanks to the guy who shared the last one- since he wanted 2). Just so you know, I didn’t eat them all at once and obviously had tonsillitis the very next day. No regrets.
Unfortunately, it was raining hard outside and we were late for a lunch date with our other friend, Swathi so we were rushing and weren’t able to eat The Cronut® immediately- which as they say is at it’s best when eaten straight away, but nevertheless it was still awesome. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. The flavour varies every month and the first London flavour is the Salted Butterscotch and Cocoa Nib which was amazing because I love butterscotch!!!! Although I really regret not eating it immediately to taste that crunchiness of the flaky texture of the half croissant - half doughnut masterpiece but still, I found it such a sensation on my taste buds that made all the 3-hour wait worth it.
So basically The Cronut® queue starts at 8 AM and the cookie shot one starts at 3 PM. We missed it on an opening day but of course, I just had to have it so we came back the very next day at 3 PM. I was queuing up for an hour or so because they decided to have one queue for everything which was not the best idea, in my opinion, but gladly, I founded new friends in the queue which was great!
This time, I got a cookie shot and a DKA ( “Dominique’s Kouign Amann”- croissant-like dough with a caramelized crunchy crust )
This was my ultimate favourite (more than the Cronut, to be honest!) The flakiness of the caramelized crust was pure perfection with the softness and chewiness of the dough’s inner layer. It was one of the best things ever, I’m not even kidding.
The cookie shot was amazing. I don’t know if it’s gonna be too sweet for you but it was just right for me. PERFECT in every way. Probably the only thing is that I left the milk for some time and it made a small hole on the cookie shot thus making it very messy to eat because it was leaking but other than that I absolutely freaking fantastically loved it so much.
Here’s a preview of the bakery inside and some of the other pastries I still have yet to try!!
Fortunately, this time, I got to see Chef Dominique in action!!! I was waiting for my cookie shot (which is baked to order) when he came down from the stairs and started working on some madeleines which made me star-struck because when I saw him, he glanced at the queue and I just stood there.. and waved awkwardly!!! I can’t even. I was just so nervous, who, ironically also had the guts to take a photo of myself “with him in it” LOL.
AND OH. LASTLY. HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY BESIDES EATING ALL THESE AWESOMELY BLOODY DELICIOUS NUGGETS OF GOLD, *THE* CHEF DOMINIQUE ANSEL LIKED OUR PHOTO ON INSTAGRAM!!! WOHOOO!!!!
As much as I would love to spend my free days there just eating and getting fat with all these excellent pastries and (which I still have yet to try) savoury items!!! I’m just an international student with a budget and for me, the items were a bit pricey. Overall, the experience was incredible! I didn’t mind the queuing at all! Waved and saw The Cronut® creator himself in action, got interviewed by BuzzFeed, spent some time with my friend and ate some delicious pastries. I’d say that was one hell of a pretty good weekend.
Cheerio for now!
P.S. A little (Day 1 & Day 2) OOTDs for you. Which I know you don’t really wanna see but heck, I’m putting it here.
Me loving denim is an understatement.
xx Mary
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