Tokyo’s Croquant Chou Zakuzaku Opens At Ion Orchard & The Best Thing Here Is Not Its Creamy Pastry

The demand for cheese tarts is well and truly over — Japanese import Bake Cheese Tart has quietly left the Singapore market after a brief, but memorable, three-year stint which spawned insane three-hour queues at its Ion Orchard store.

But its parent company, Bake Inc, has something new to offer Singaporeans: its popular Tokyo brand Croquant Chou Zakuzaku, which is known for its craggy eclair-like choux pastries piped with custard cream or Hokkaido milk soft serve. Unlike fellow Japanese patisserie Beard Papa’s plump, airy cream puffs, Zakuzaku (the Japanese slang word for ‘crispy’) specialises in croquant puffs, which sport a distinctive, brittle-like textured crust made with coarsely-chopped almonds and caramelised sugar.