Review: The Jeepney Cafe Cronuts

This time, I'll be sharing some information about The Jeepney Cafe's cronuts. The cafe is located at the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati and they have been drawing positive attention for the cronuts that they make. While there were still many cronuts available when I got there, the best sellers were almost gone.

There are 5 available flavors to choose from, from top left going clockwise: Cinnamon Sugar, Red Velvet,  Dark Chocolate, Cheesecake, and White Chocolate. All flavors are topped with a thick circle of icing as you can see. Though not as crispy as the Wildflour Cafe versions, I really like the flaky outside and the light chewy insides of these cronuts. These are also a little bit bigger than Wildflour Cafe's cronuts and looks better with the different garnishing used for each flavor.

The first time me and my wife tasted The Jeepney Cafe's cronuts, we did not notice any oily taste at all and this is one factor why we really enjoyed eating them. These cronuts that we picked up for review unfortunately tastes oily. I am not sure if we got lucky with the non-oily batch or maybe got bad luck with this oily tasting batch, so there seems to be some inconsistency somewhere.

Starting with the not so popular flavors, the White Chocolate cronut has a light coating of white chocolate and is walled with crushed bits of pistachio nuts. Inside, we've got a good amount if custard in a couple of parts. While this flavor looks pretty, the white chocolate doesn't stand out much and I could barely taste the pistachio. This simply tasted sweet for me.

Cinnamon Sugar at the foreground and White Chocolate at the background

Another not so popular flavor is the Cinnamon Sugar cronut. Unlike the other cronuts that's available, we did not find any filling in it. Generously walled with cinnamon sugar, circled with the standard thick sugar glaze on top, and sprinkled with a little bit more cinnamon sugar - this one is the least complicated of the bunch. If you love cinnamon sugar, you will surely love this cronut. The taste really is quite straightforward and it was nice that it wasn't too sweet. It tastes great, but the other flavors (except the White Chocolate one) just taste better.

After tasting those two, people probably leave them on the display because there are better flavors available like the Dark Chocolate flavor. Although these are probably on the lower scale of popularity since there were still a few left on the shelves. These babies are coated with dark chocolate and walled with almond shard slices and custard strategically positioned inside. This tastes as good as it looks with the light dark chocolate flavor coming out at first bite. The light bitterness compliments really well with the creamy filling. However, I found that the thinly sliced almond shards were hard to taste.

Dark Chocolate at the back, Cheesecake at the front.

The next popular pick is the Cheesecake flavored cronut, and just like the Dark Chocolate cronut, there were also some of these left on the shelves when I picked up my order. These cronuts are coated with what looks like chocolate cake crumbs...not really sure. Then inside we've got a different filling...and yes, as you might have guessed, it's cream cheese! The cream cheese used here is probably made to taste lighter than normal so as not to make the flavor too rich. The cream cheese partners nicely with the light pastry, and I like cream cheese so it's a no brainier for me.

Last but not least is the Red Velvet variation. This was almost sold out with six pieces left by the time I reached The Jeepney Cafe. According to the clerk, sometimes they run out of the flavor by midday so you'll have to call them to make a reservation if you plan on dropping by later in the afternoon. It is safe to say that this is the best seller out of all the other flavors.

So, does it taste like red velvet cake? Yes it does...but probably a lighter version of the red velvet cake. All the elements were there: the white chocolate walling, the signature red colored crumbs stuck on the white chocolate, the cream cheese inside, and even the red drizzle on top found on some red velvet cakes. What differs this from a red velvet cake is the pastry that's used as the base instead of a cake. Similar to the Cheesecake flavored cronut, the cream cheese in the pastry combo is just really good, but the hint of white chocolate makes this taste like red velvet.

Of the 5 flavors, my first pick would be the Dark Chocolate cronut while my second pick would be the Red Velvet cronut. I simply prefer a hint of bitterness over sweetness. I mentioned that these cronuts are better than Wildflour Cafe's version and here are 3 reasons why: they taste better, they look better, and for 10 pesos more The Jeepney Cafe's cronuts have better value. Yes, for just 10 pesos more at PHP130 each you get to have these wonderful cronuts.