Arab News Japan

After many variations of the French croissant went viral on social media, such as the flat croissant and the croissant cubes, chefs all over the world have put a Japanese twist on the French pastry by joining it with onigiri in a new creation named cronigiri.

Onigiri is a Japanese rice ball made from triangular-shaped white rice wrapped in dried edible seaweed, called nori, and filled with sour or sweet fillings.

The cronigiri, on the other hand, is shaped like an onigiri but is made with flaky French pastry. It is wrapped with a tiny nori at the bottom to give it a Japanese finish. 

@udahcobabelum

Ini viral banget di Korea dan sekarang udah ada di Jakarta! Tapi apakah bisa seviral cromboloni? Btw ini di Kintaro Sushi PI yaaa #onigiri #cronigiri #croissant

♬ Hatachi no koi sped up – ;; Roger 🪐!

The pastry was first spotted in Singapore in a cafe called La Levain Bakery in late 2023. They started selling savory and sweet cronigiri on their website and in stores.

Some of the cronigiri flavors that La Levain Bakery offers include Japanese Mentaiko cream cheese, scallion sour cream, and Sicilian pistachio. They are sold for ¥1,136 ($7.20) each. 

Shortly after it was introduced, videos of people trying cronigiri went viral on Instagram and TikTok, making the fusion pastry gain more recognition.

A Korean cafe in New York called Cafe W found major success after selling two flavors of the cronigiri; bacon, chive, and cream cheese, as well as pollack and mayo. 

The pastry was invented by Indonesian baker Aston Ahsani Adiwijaya, who posted the first cronigiri on Instagram in 2019. 

“My latest original creation, inspired by the shape of onigiri,” he said on the social media platform. “This croissant in onigiri shape is filled with Tuna Roasted Sesame Mayo, decor with nori, roasted sesame dressing, and sesame seeds.

Many cafes around the world are now incorporating the cronigiri to add a fusion twist to their menus. In Japan, the Japanese-French invention can be found in Osaka in a restaurant called Madang. 

@nomukto

Croissant-Onigiri (Cronigiri?) 🥐🍙🇯🇵 . . 📍Madang In: LINKS UMEDA 1-1 Ofukacho, Kita Ward, Osaka, 530-0011 (1st floor) . These Cronigiris are a fusion of croissants and onigiri 🥐🍙 – crunchy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside and filled with mouthwatering flavors 🤤 The ones we had are melon cream soda and mentaiko cream cheese – each for ¥600 With ‘novelty’ food the taste sometimes isn’t the best in my experience, but these were a delightful surprise 🫶🏼 . . #japantravel #osaka #オニワッサン #croissantonigiri #onigiricroissant

♬ Mori no chiisana restaurant – 手嶌　葵