Career-and-lifestyle

The $100 Golden Ube Cristal Donut is a Really Real Thing

This sure isn’t Homer Simpson’s doughnut. Though it may sound like a plot device in an avant-garde fairy tale, the golden donut is absolutely real. Bjorn Delacruz, businessman, bakery owner, and haute-donut pioneer has evolved the plain, humble and yet ubiquitously-loved donut into a hyper-surrealist looking but very real Epicurean wonder. Delacruz is the owner of the family-run Manila Social Club restaurant which has flagship restaurants in Manila and New York City. The restaurant specializes in Filipino-centric cuisine and experimental dishes. 

The Royal Golden Ube Cristal Donut

With his culinary ingenuity, he has concocted an aggressively opulent donut that would have the very affluent, scions of royalty and heads of state questioning their own worthiness to consume such an ultra-elitist looking treat. The Golden Ube Cristal Donut is a handmade artisanal pastry dessert that sells for $100 per donut. “Ube,” is a purple yam plant indigenous to the Philippines. The donut is filled with an uber-derived mousse, a champagne-derived jelly, a tequila-derived jelly, or some mix or variation of each filling. The $100-per-donut Golden Ube Cristal Donut is then dressed with icing derived from Cristal champagne. This donut of affluence is then generously dusted with edible, ultra-thin, 24-karat gold foil, flakes and dust.

$150-per-donut Patron Platinum Rose Margarita Donut

Not impressed? Really? Well, you can also purchase the $150-per-donut Patron Platinum Rose Margarita Donut. This donut is topped with edible dust and foil made from sparkling silver. Rose petal ashes are added to the donut mix, creating a dark-colored consistency. The donut is then piped with a rose-flavored mousse that is pink in tone. Jelly made from Gran Patron silver tequila, lime, and hints of jalapeno pepper are also mixed into the donut. The frosting is also made from Patron Platinum tequila. No, there are no donuts topped with ultra-thin, edible platinum foil flakes for sale at Manila Social Club. Yet.  The $150 Patron Platinum Rose Margarita edition donut is only on sale for limited periods of the year. All profits from the $150 donut are donated to cancer research.

Early Reservations

These rarified donuts of privilege can be reserved on Thursdays but can only be purchased on-site and only on Fridays. There is no online ordering and the highly perishable, uber-opulent treats can’t be shipped. You have to walk into a Manila Social Club restaurant to purchase one. Don’t be surprised to find out that the restaurant is sold out for a week or two due to reservations and/or the expensiveness of the crucial ingredients. About a dozen to three dozen of the artisanal luxe-donuts are handmade at the restaurant every Friday. If you are in the market to indulge in a single $100 or $150 donut or want to have a great story about elegant diversions from your latest travel jaunt, then you shouldn’t look anywhere else.

 

 

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