The Ultimate Food Emporium Fake Cronut Taste Test

Following the news that Food Emporium had jumped on the Cronut bandwagon, Eater headed out to try to obtain some of the so-called "creme filled croissant donuts." The Hell's Kitchen Food Emporium apparently sold out of their supply yesterday, but at 12:30 p.m. the Union Square Food Emporium had a counter full of fake Cronuts in four different flavors and absolutely no line. Maria, the friendly woman behind the pastry counter, reported that the knockoffs were a hit, and that just today they'd already sold around 100. So how do these croissant donuts hold up to the real deal? Read on.

Grid View

• All four flavors: strawberry and chocolate on the left, vanilla and caramel on the right.
• At first glance, they sort of don't look half bad.
• Maria says the strawberry is her favorite, but that the chocolate is also good.
• But one cut completely crushes any illusions one might have had. The pastry straight up feels stale. It's cold and chewy and hard to cut. The cream that squishes out seems to be the sort of Cool Whip-type substance usually found on grocery store
• Indeed, the cream is exactly the stuff they frost cupcakes with. The chocolate tastes like Jell-O pudding. The strawberry is somewhere between a Starburst and a dose of children's Tylenol.
• The vanilla turns out to actually be almond-flavored. The caramel is covered in a thick, gooey topping and filled with extra sweet butterscotch cream.
• In the interest of filing a thorough report, Eater also tried some of the pastry sans filling. It tastes like an unglazed Dunkin' doughnut, and has the dense consistency of a day-old croissant.
• Verdict: Don't be fooled by what the receipt tells you. These are not Cronuts.