KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 – Say hello to the sexy round shaped croissant filled with over-the-top créme patisserie and garnishes!
Called croons, The Suprême or even schwirls it's the latest crave-worthy croissant hybrid and it has been in the Klang Valley since mid September.
The hype trickled down from New York where it started at Lafayette Grand Cafe and Bakery in April this year. Known as The Suprême – flaky round discs jazzed up with fillings like doughnuts – are the hottest must-eat.
Snaking queues reminiscent of those for Dominique Ansel's cronuts back in 2013 are a testament of this pastry's popularity.
Who can resist flaky pastry torn apart to reveal oozing filling played out on a loop on TikTok or Instagram reels?
In the Klang Valley, a number of bakeries and cafes have jumped on to the hype. At KLCG Bakery and Confectionery, it's simply called The Suprême – a nod to Lafayette's version.
BlackBixon Cafe & Restaurant and Take A Bow call it a croon. Over at Subang Jaya, TBX or The Baking Xperiment, label their version as schwirls.
Lafayette Pastry Chef Scott Cioe who created this hybrid pastry told US Fox News that it takes three days to produce The Suprême, as you need to make the dough, laminate it, proof, bake and cool it down before it is filled and glazed for consumption.
For those who have tried it, they like how easy it is to eat. Cioe explained that it is placed upright to showcase the lamination as "it's a lot of hard work so you want to make sure people see that."
Even within the baking circle, the pastry is getting attention. Cookbook author and popular Instagram baker Chuah Chiew See generously shared on her Instagram @autumn.kitchen how to recreate the pastries at home. She came up with the recipe after experimenting with different methods.
We're no strangers to croissant spin-offs here. Previously it was the cronut, then came cruffins. This time it's the love child of croissant and doughnut – where flaky pastry is filled like doughnuts.
In Indonesia, they're calling it cromboloni as it's envisioned as a cross between a croissant and bomboloni.
As the pastries are lavishly filled with créme patisserie, they are prepared in small batches to ensure the pastry retains the desired crispy texture. On KLCG's delivery website, they recommend that the pastries be consumed within two hours.
Most places serve it upright on a plate – anchored in place with some créme patisserie – to create a showstopping effect for your social media. Some eateries prefer to just lay it flat on the plate.
Here are places around the Klang Valley where you can get your flaky, decadent fix to feed your stomach, TikTok and Instagram:
BlackBixon Cafe & Restaurant
The all-day cafe housed in a bungalow at Imbi opened its doors in July. The brand traces its origins to healthy coffee beverages offered in capsules.
The cafe offers a range of pastries baked in-house. Headlining their daily baked offerings are their salted egg croissant, cruffins and even a salted caramel cube with nuts.
If you prefer plated meals, the cafe also offers breakfast, brunch, pasta, burger and schnitzel.
On October 1, they debuted their Taro-Fic Croon. Filled with purple taro cream sprinkled with dessicated coconut, the croon is a nod to more local flavours. You get crunchy flaky pastry paired with a generous filling of not overly sweet thick taro créme patisserie.
So far, the flavours rotate on a monthly basis. For November, to coincide with Halloween, it's the Spooky-Kaya Croon with charcoal black pastry topped with pandan kaya and googly chocolate eyes.
The thick kaya pairs well with the crunchier charcoal pastry layers. Both croons were served flat on a plate. The croons are priced at RM15 each.
17, Jalan Inai, Off Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur. Open daily: 8am to 10pm. Instagram: @blackbixoncafe
KLCG Bakery & Confectionery
Taking a cue from Lafayette, their version is also known as The Suprême, which they launched on October 1. There's four flavours available at the moment, namely pistachio, chocolate, raspberry and salted egg. The pastries have also become a social media phenomenon on TikTok.
The bakery located at the KL City Gallery is run by the Lee family who have been in business since 1957.
Even though it's tucked inside the gallery, there's a constant stream of diners and tourists pouring in to enjoy their large spread of baked goods. Just join the line to select cruffins, cronuts or other pastries to enjoy.
You can also order the pastries on their website (https://www.klcg.online/) which is handled by the Beepit platform.
As their kitchen is an open space, you can even watch how they pipe each one of The Suprême when you're in the queue. They only fill a small number of the pastries to ensure it is not kept out for too long.
On Beepit, the pistachio and raspberry are labelled as their bestsellers. Both flavours are also incredibly eye-catching with the green and pink colours that pop out.
Tear them apart and you will find a generous filling of pistachio ganache inside that is thick and not overly sweet. It's garnished with more pistachio ganache and a sprinkle of pistachio crumbs to complete its look.
For those who prefer a tangier taste, the raspberry flavour will fit the bill. They use a pink raspberry curd piped into the pastry folds. On top, it's a raspberry ganache, candied raspberries and gold leaf for sprinkles.
Their chocolate version is said to be inspired by the classic chocolate mousse cake. Hence you have pastry layers filled with a light, fluffy chocolate mousse. More chocolate ganache is added on top with chocolate shavings. There's also a touch of luxury with gold flakes. Here the chocolate leans towards the sweeter side.
The salted egg version uses a golden yellow salted egg curd which is garnished with cinnamon crumbs. The Suprême is priced at RM14.90 each.
KL City Gallery, 27, Jalan Raja, Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. Open: 9am to 6pm. Closed on Tuesday. Instagram: @klcgconfectionerybakery
Take A Bow
The cafe, located at Bangsar South, quietly launched their range of croons on the last weekend of October. As they bake various pastries, bread and cookies in-house for the dishes served at the cafe, they decided to experiment with the croons.
Here, the pastries are reimagined as plated desserts for you to indulge after your meal. There's a finesse with their version as they use silky, airy crème mousseline to fill the flaky layers. You also have more adult versions, infused with alcohol that make it a decadent treat.
For those who prefer their pastries alcohol-free, there's the Croon Pandan Kaya Banjir (RM18) which pairs an ultra fragrant pandan kaya with an unfilled croon garnished with toasted almond flakes.
You have the luxury of adding as much kaya as you like with the flaky pastry to suit your taste buds. Also joining the sweet line-up is a Lotus Biscoff Caramel Croon. These are available throughout the week at the cafe after 10am.
The alcoholic croons are only available on weekends from 10.30am onwards. Expect to fork out RM25 for these desserts.
The Marsala Tiramisu Croon is a contrast of crunchy pastry layers with a cloud-like coffee-infused crème mousseline. You also have coffee mascarpone drizzled with Marsala coffee caramel. For an extra flavour boost, squeeze out the Marsala espresso shot on the pastry.
Hands up if you love the classic combination of rum and raisin as Take A Bow's Rum & Raisin Croon has all those vibes. It's packed with multiple layers of rum flavour from the silky créme mousseline piped inside the pastry to rum-soaked raisins as a topping.
There's also an extra rum shot to further enhance the taste. The topping also has chocolate shards with cacao nibs.
UG-5, The Sphere, Jalan Kerinchi, Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur. Open:8am to 10pm (Monday to Friday), 9.30am to 10pm (Saturday and Sunday). Instagram @takeabowpls
TBX – The Baking Xperiment
Morphing from a home-grown bakery that sold brownies, TBX opened their cafe this year. In addition to the brownies that launched their business, the cafe also bakes up various pastries, scones and cakes.
TBX was the first to debut their schwirls to celebrate Malaysia Day. Two flavours were launched, namely Dark Chocolate Earl Grey and Matcha Goodness. In October, Biscoff Cookie Butter and Milo Dinosaur joined the line-up – a nod towards crowd-favourite flavours.
We sampled the Dark Chocolate Earl Grey which is filled with a more liquid Earl Grey tea flavoured créme patisserie. There's just a hint of the bergamot tea with a more dominant chocolate taste from the ganache topping and cacao nibs.
For the Milo Dinosaur, the pastries get a nostalgic touch with a topping of Milo nuggets. However, the taste of the Milo in the créme patisserie is rather mild.
These are served to you flat on a plate allowing you to get creative in playing with them for your social media post. The schwirls are RM20 and if you buy a box of four pieces, it's RM72.
5-GF, Wisma Dicor, Jalan SS17/1A, Subang Jaya. Open: 10am to 7pm (Note the schwirls are only available after 12pm). Closed on Monday. Instagram @thebakingxperiment
