The chef who created the Cronut, Dominique Ansel, talks about his new London bakery and his favourite dessert
Thomas SchauerChef Dominique Ansel, the creator of the world-famous Cronut pastry, is opening a London bakery later this year. When chef Dominique Ansel invented the Cronut in 2013, the fried doughnut-shaped treat made with a croissant-like dough became the most talked-about dessert on the planet.
Since then, the French chef - who has a bakery and kitchen in New York City - has expanded his franchise with a bakery in Tokyo, and he's now gearing up to open a new bakery in the British capital.
Dominique Ansel London is due to open at 17-21 Elizabeth Street in Belgravia in the late summer or autumn, and will sell the chef's world-famous Cronuts and other sweet treats.
"We're hoping for a late September opening at the moment, and keeping all our fingers and toes crossed," Ansel, who recently visited London to work on the bakery, told Business Insider over email.
The chef chose London as the location for his next store because, he said, the city has "such a true blend of cultures, even more so than New York."
Being in the EU also appeals to Ansel, who was born in the city of Beauvais, just north of Paris. "There's all of Europe available to us for ingredients," he said. "And we have quite a few surprises planned on the menu, including about 30% of it being items that are exclusive only to London."
The chef, who is working on a series of new desserts for the London bakery, won't reveal details of these offerings just yet, though.
"We are constantly creating new pastries. The Cronut was just one of them," Ansel said of the pastry that made him famous.
The London bakery will also offer cookie shots (an edible cup formed out of a cookie, filled with vanilla-flavoured milk), frozen s'mores (vanilla ice cream and chocolate wafers tucked inside a giant toasted marshmallow), and Ansel's favourite pastry: the DKA (Dominique's Kouign Amann).
The chef describes the latter as his "version of the Kouign Amann - a caramelized 'croissant' of sorts with tender layers and a soft gooey core," similar to "a perfectly baked cannele." It looks like this:
While the store will serve many of the same treats available at Ansel's other bakeries, it will have a different feel. "Compared to the New York and Japan shop, we're looking for a sense of timelessness and nostalgic romance in the London store," he said.
Whenever Ansel is in London, the chef spends 98% of his time working on the new bakery. "The other 2% I save for exploring the breadth of restaurants the city has to offer," he said. "I try not to sleep and to see as much as I can."
As for the city's bakeries, Ansel said he tries to visit them all. "I've only started exploring British desserts. Today, I had my second eccles cake and my first ever crumpet," he said. "It's a constant education."
Ansel and his team are currently in the process of "tweaking" the bakery to make it "comfortable and fresh" for customers.
Londoners eager to get their hands on a Cronut can sign up for an email newsletter on the bakery's website for updates.