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Pastry experimentation with the croissant has become a constant in the current era, leading content creators, chefs and pastry chefs to apply a wide variety of creative techniques to the French classic. Whether in the form of a ‘smash or flat’, a cronut or a croissant roll. They are all breaking the mould of conventional pastry shapes.
Now, Japan meets France to present the new trendy croissant, which goes by the name of ‘onigiri’. A hybrid that combines the triangular shape of a tasty Japanese nigiri with the texture of the croissant. It’s a trend started by Singapore’s Le Levain bakery with croissants filled with Sicilian pistachio cream, chive sour cream or a crispy Lao Gan Ma chilli, all topped with a thin slice of nori.
In most cases, ‘cronigiri’ or ‘onigiri’ creations dispense with rice altogether and are instead made of buttery, flaky viennoiserie that is formed into a triangle, with airy interiors with a savoury filling.
The so-called onioissant has also made its way to the United States through a series of bakeries such as Café W Bakery specialising in pastries that blend Asian and French influences. There, they display a flaky, buttery cultural mix with mayonnaise and haddock roe or cheese and bacon fillings.
