Oooh the golden lava oozing out of a perfectly crisp croissant - you've seen it all over social media by now. Antoinette at Penhas on 1 Feb launched its Salted Egg Yolk Lava Croissant. All 300 croissants sold out within an hour, and there were queues as early as 8:30am the next few days for the decadent viennoiserie.
Chef Pang Kok Keong who is a fan of salted egg yolks and "liu sha bao" says this decadent creation was meant to come together. He's fine-tuned the recipe to feature a smooth and creamy filling.
Personally I wouldn't have minded a more gritty texture, with tiny beads of savoury egg yolk bursting in your mouth to complement the sweetness of the custard. Chef Pang himself also likes the gritty bits. But I think most folks prefer a silky smooth experience.
There are certainly no compromises here - Chef Pang uses real salted egg yolks (with milk and sugar) rather than powdered shortcuts. The filling is painstakingly hand-sieved to achieve the smooth consistency. The result is a richly satisfying but not too satiating (jelak) experience.
This is a large croissant, and we learned that three egg yolks go into the filling for each of these. We joked that each of these has to be 2,000 calories! But yum, some calories are to die for.
Chef Pang's croissant itself is exquisite. He uses traditional French methods of laminating high quality French butter and dough. The laminated dough is then shaped in a temperature controlled environment at 12 degrees Celsius, to create the crispy and flaky crust. Just look at the beautiful layering.
I am still wondering if a croissant can be made with the salted egg yolk worked into the butter and between the layers. But the layers would probably collapse or not turn out as flaky and light.
On a side note, I also had the pleasure of trying Chef Pang's homemade kaya (not a regular menu item, needs to be pre-ordered) and it is DIVINE! It's like if kaya was a fairy - it's like an ethereal whipped custard. This would be great with plain croissants too, maybe as a chilled spread, not baked within as a filling. Hmm, what else could work as a filling? Matcha latte? Cookies and cream? Sambal belachan? Ooh I'd totally buy a spicy croissant...but that's just me.
The Salted Egg Yolk Lava Croissants are available at Antoinette for S$6.50 each for dine-in or takeaway (please just eat it right away while it's still warm) at these outlets:
- Antoinette's Penhas outlet from 1st Feb 2016 at 11 am daily.
- Antoinette's Mandarin Gallery and Softel So Singapore outlets from 10th Feb 2016 at 1 pm daily.
ANTOINETTE
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Antoinette Penhas Road
30 Penhas Road (off Lavender Street)
Singapore 208188
Tel: +65 6293 3121
Open Monday to Thursday – 11am to 10pm
Friday and Eve of Public Holidays – 11am to 11pm
Saturday – 10am to 11pm
Sunday and Public Holidays – 10am to 10pm
Antoinette Mandarin Gallery
333A Orchard Road
Mandarin Gallery
#02-33/34
Singapore 238897
Tel: +65 6836 9527
Open daily 11am to 10pm daily
(No reservations)
Antoinette Softel So Singapore
Lobby Level
35 Robinson Road
Singapore 068876
Tel: +65 6701 6868
Open daily 8am to 10pm
Many thanks to Chef Pang and team for the preview of the salted egg yolk croissant!
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