Truffle Donut 香川高松店 (Takamatsu, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

I knew I had to act fast when I have two stops to make in half an hour ahead of dinner. After a quick stop at Grand Maison Lowe, I headed straight over to Truffle Donut, one of my favorite Japanese doughnut chain for my second sweet treat. Thankfully, they were only 180 metres apart.

Truffle Donut is best known for its “nama” style dough, which makes for an exceptionally light, fluffy texture that practically melts in your mouth. The dough is infused with premium, aromatic truffle oil and/or truffle salt, giving it a distinct depth of flavor.

This particular branch of Truffle Donut was located on the basement level, so I had to walk roughly 10 steps down to reach the counter area.

Compared to the choices available at their Oita (大分市) outpost that I last visited during Christmas, this outlet offers far more options. 

There were the usual truffle-infused nama donut series, a separate chocolate series, and a “Flaky Donut” line which is essentially their take on cronuts (remember those?).

Unfortunately, all the chocolate series options featuring chocolate choux dough were already sold out. I’ll have to try those next time.

Matcha Nama donut (444 yen) — The Uji matcha cream was noticeably thicker with this one.

Very tasty, with the ultra-rich matcha custard working beautifully with the pillowy pumpkin-blended dough.

Salted vanilla Nama donut (398 yen) — Like most of their donuts, the cream filling was on the lighter side, and it worked surprisingly well with the truffle-infused dough. The extra saltiness from the truffle salt added an interesting twist to every bite.

Creme brulee Flaky Donut (417 yen) — I haven't had a cronut for quite some time, so this was extra special.

I really like the texture: crispy on the outside, but flaky throughout the interior. The crème brûlée flavor was also front and center — perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth.

Truffle Donut currently has 27 locations across Japan, as well as international branches in Taiwan, Thailand, and Canada, with a new opening in Hong Kong just two days ago! Overall, it now has more than 30 locations worldwide.

Food Rating: 7.2/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: B1F Motoya Building, 4-12 Marugamemachi, Takamatsu, Kagawa, 760-0029, Japan

Closest Train Station: Kawaramachi

Tel: +81 (0)87-897-5030

Website: https://truffledonut.com/

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 6:00pm daily

Baker by LUBUDS (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

LUBUDS, the local F&B giant behind culinary delights such as Mián (紅棉) at The Murray and Pano at West Kowloon Art Park is the latest to join the artisan bakery party with its latest venture Baker by LUBUDS.

The first Baker by LUBUDS soft-opened in CityPlaza (太古城中心) a few weeks ago and I was on hand to check out their boutique which specializes in premium Western-style pastries and baked goods with a Japanese twist. The elevated classics including croissants, egg tarts and brioche buns to trendy New York Rolls and cruffins provide us with a great alternative to the local favorites in the light of Bakehouse and Beans Bakery Cafe.

I ended up taking four of these sourdough egg tarts ($12 each) home.

This was seriously tasty. I thought the crust was less flaky than the one from Bakehouse but the egg custard was equally eggy and custardy. A real classic in the making. I won’t mind having another one next time I visit CityPlaza.

Food Rating: 6.3/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 307, 3/F, Cityplaza, 18 Taikoo Shing Road, Tai Koo, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tai Koo

Tel: +852 2326-8832

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 8:30pm daily

The Roastery by Nozy Coffee (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

Instead of shopping at the outlets, we all chose to spend a quiet day in Harajuku, Omotesando and Shibuya. It's not what we expected from Day One when we were drawing up our plan but everyone seemed to be a little fatigued following the week-long vacation.



Upon our arrival in Omotesando, Jelloman and others immediately went to check out Kiddyland leaving yours truly with a few minutes of Me Time which I decided to spend wisely. After stopping by a few shops on Cat Street, next up for me was The Roastery by Nozy Coffee, a coffee shop known for its freshly brewed coffee and doughnuts. Yes, doughnuts! 



I'm actually here for their New York rings.

NY Rings (470yen) – The cronut-like creation seemed to have shrunk a bit after a few hours.

But the exterior remained very flaky like a typical croissant. Not bad.

Time flies when you're having a good time. Didn't realize more than a few minutes have passed and I am starting to get messages left and right on my whereabouts. It's time to meet up with the gang again for our next destination.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 1/F Reveur Jingumae, 5-17-13 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Meiji-jingumae Harajuku

Tel: +81 3-6450-5755

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 8:00pm daily

Emina Donuts Shimbashi (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

We are taking a short trip to Shimbashi Station (新橋駅) for our transit onto the Tōkaidō Line (東海道本線) en route to Yokohama. Everyone was only paying attention to the signage pointing to Tōkaidō Line but my sixth sense told me to stay alert for other things important in life, such as sweetness in round shape.
 


Hailed from Hokkaidō Prefecture (北海道), Emina Donuts is a doughnut shop chain focused on using some of the best ingredients from Hokkaido. 

They have a lot of different flavors, some with dark and white chocolate glaze.

And cronuts as well, with different fillings in the middle!

Cronut – I am a purist when it comes to the original cronut so I decided to go with this one without any custard filling. 

I took too long to start working on my cronut and as a result, most of the sugar has already melted on top. But texture-wise, it did have the best of both worlds. That flaky, layered texture of a croissant. Not bad.

Pistachio donut – This came with a white chocolate glaze and crushed pistachio on top. I thought the pistachio flavors didn't really register in the custard cream and the doughnut itself was a little too moist (more like a bread). I won't mind not having this one at all. 

Food Rating: 4.9/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: Shimbashi Station Kiosk, 2-17 Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0004, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Shimbashi

Vission Bakery (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After our Father's Day celebration at The Peninsula, little nugget took off for a birthday party in Kwun Tong leaving old daddy with some much-needed Me Time. Since I have not taken a stroll in Soho Central for the longest time, I decided to venture over to Sheung Wan and start off from there.

The food scene in Soho has really undergone some major changes since COVID-19. A lot of the long-standing restaurants, cafes and shops were long gone but that also gave rise to some newcomers including Vission Bakery near the famous Central-Mid-Levels escalators.

When I first heard of Vission, they were primarily a cookie shop but what a difference a year or two made. They are now one of the most sought-after bakery shops in Soho, right behind Bakehouse. And that's quite an accomplishment I think.

After getting myself some sweet treats, I guess I am heading straight home.

Pistachio Cruffin – This has to be the best cruffin I've seen in the city recently.

The choux pastry was really crisp and flaky with a soft and buttery interior. The decadent filling of pistachio custard cream reminded me a bit of the deliciously rich pistachio gelato from Michelin-starred Estro, which was just terrific. Certainly won't mind having one of these again in the near future.

Tiramisu – By looking at its presentation, I thought there was no way this would taste like tiramisu (except for the mascarpone cream and cocoa dust on top) but I couldn't be more wrong.

While its texture would never be like a traditional "lift me up", the flavors were all there. In fact, I looked at this as an elevated version of the traditional tiramisu with an exciting mix of brioche feuilletée, coffee ganache, espresso marsala, ladyfingers, mascarpone cream and cocoa dust. There was the crispiness from the caramelized crust and its flaky, buttery texture to go with the coffee, marsala, ladyfingers, mascarpone and cocoa. That was a very lovely match!

Food Rating: 7.3/10

Price: $$$$

Address: LG/F, Chui Man House, 7 Staunton Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central

Website: www.vissionbakery.com

Opening Hours: 7:30am - 9:00pm (Mon - Fri), 9:00am - 9:00pm (Sat - Sun)

Gontran Cherrier at K11 Musea (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After leaving Regent Hotel, I took a few steps towards the MTR station before realizing that I still had about half an hour to spare prior to my proposed basketball session with little nugget. As there were a few places in K11 Musea that I haven't paid a visit for a while, I decided to put that 30 minutes into good use. Gontran Cherrier was front and center during my short stroll.



I know Gontran Cherrier is touted for their croissants but didn't realize they have cruffins these days.

Almond croissant – My experience with Gontran Cherrier went way back when they first opened in Tokyo. Too bad last time I checked, they were already out of the Japanese market.

I love the almond and matcha croissant here. They are so flaky and buttery. And this one with almond chips on top offered that extra crunchiness. Very addictive.

Vanilla cream cruffin – Cruffin in a cup. Interesting idea.

I have to admit, the puff pastry was nicely done. Very nice, flaky texture and a little chewy at the same time, reminiscing of a hybrid between a croissant and muffin.

The vanilla cream was right on the money too. It wasn't light like whipped cream yet it wasn't thick like a custard. Little one seemed to enjoy it.

It's so hard to find a good cruffin in Hong Kong these days and now that Gontran Cherrier has it in store, perhaps it's worth stopping by a little more often.  

Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop B205-B207, B2/F, K11 Musea, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui / Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 3468-2430
Opening Hours: 9:00am - 9:00pm (Mon - Fri), 10:00am - 9:00pm (Sat - Sun)

Orerak Bakery 오르랔 베이커리 (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA) ★★☆☆☆

After a quick visit to Under Stand Avenue and Seoul Forest Park, we took the metro back to Apgujeong Rodeo Station. There was a decision to be made on whether we hop over to Anguk (安國) as planned but Jelloman had another idea in mind. She wanted a fast and furious couple of hours in Sinsa to make up for the missed opportunity last night (with little nugget falling ill). She then made a head-scratching move by insisting that we walk all the way from Apgujeong Rodeo to Sinsa (instead of say, taking a cab). I didn't want to spoil her good mood for a long walk so I opted to go along with the master plan. By the time we actually arrived in Sinsa, it was almost an hour later (we made a few stops in the middle) leaving us with just an hour before dinner time.

At this point, we all decided that we should spend our limited time in Sinsa wisely so we split up into two teams. Those who wanted to do shopping followed Jelloman and for me, I got all the time in the world just for myself.

My first stop was Orerak Bakery (오르랔 베이커리), a small bakery shop across the street from the legendary b. Patisserie, best known for their different flavors of cruffin.

Apart from their cruffins, they also have a small selection of cup cakes, muffins and danish available. But of course, I was only interested in their hybrid pastry of muffin and croissant. The only question remained, should I grab one and have it at this dine-in area here?

Orerak's cruffin flavors included their signature earl grey (sold out), choco, lemon and strawberry but I ended up getting this custard cream flavored one.

They have meat pies here too. Perhaps next time.

My server asked if I'll be having my custard cream cruffin soon. When I nodded, he promptly gave me this cup to put my cruffin on top. Smart....

I finally found a place to enjoy my cruffin. Looks more like muffin from this angle.

I thought the puff pastry wasn't at its best. It didn't have that perfectly layered, flaky texture to it. And that's not really custard cream in the middle. It tasted more like a light whipped cream which wasn't a very good match with the pastry.

My server didn't speak very good English; that added to the trouble a bit. But all and all, not a very good-looking cruffin and it didn't taste right. End of story.

Food Rating: 4/10

Price: ₩₩₩

Address: 39 Apgujeong-ro 14-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Closest Metro Station: Sinsa

Tel: +82 0507-1397-8227

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 8:00pm (Tue - Sun)

Lune Croissanterie CBD City (Brisbane, AUSTRALIA) ★★★★☆

We have a pretty tight schedule this afternoon so rather than sleeping in (like Jelloman did!), I ventured out for some take-away breakfast early in the morning. And I know exactly where to get them. Lune Croissanterie has been on my radar for quite some time thanks to their decadent cruffin but they turned out to be so much more.



I was immediately greeted with a beautiful smile! Good morning! 😊

The menu is already sitting on the counter and you could actually reach out and touch them (not recommended!). 

I know what I wanted for breakfast today and......

Apart from the freshly baked croissants and cruffins, I absolutely love the industrial chic décor here as well. Too bad I didn't have the time to sit down for a cup of coffee this morning.

Ham and cheese croissant – This looks gorgeous!

Underneath the perfectly crispy crust, there were layers after layers of dough in the middle, with a good taste of butter, ham and cheese.

It's time to sit back, relax and enjoy our croissant with the river view from our room in the backdrop.

Coconut and pandan croissant – Did I ever tell you how much I prefer sweet stuff over savory? And yes, even for breakfast.

I really love the roasted coconut on top, giving the croissant some additional texture to work with. And without a doubt, coconut and pandan are a match made in heaven!

Crispy on the outside and chewy (in a good way) inside with subtle pandan flavor. Love it~!

Lemon curd cruffin – Of course, I had to check this off my list too.

I wasn't a fan of lemon curd (or anything with lemon in it) but this looked really too good to turn down.

This was how a perfect cruffin should be, a hybrid of croissant and muffin with the brilliantly crispy crust of a croissant and incredibly soft, fluffy centre of a muffin. The mildly flavored lemon curd custard provided the quintessential finishing touch. 

Food Rating: 7.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop 10/79 Adelaide St, Brisbane City QLD 4000, Australia

Website: www.lunecroissanterie.com

Opening Hours: 7:30am - 3:00pm/Sold-out (Mon - Fri), 8:00am - 3:00pm/Sold-out (Sat - Sun)