Hazukido

I have the same feeling across their products. Ordinary croissant. Their USP is the funky flavours. This is topped with chestnut purée and roasted chestnut.

I have the same feeling across their products. Ordinary croissant. Their USP is the funky flavours. This has a stick of choc inside, so that helped.

I have the same feeling across their products. Ordinary croissant. Their USP is the funky flavours.

I have the same feeling across their products. Ordinary croissant. Their USP is the funky flavours.

Hazukido is probably a brand that does not need much of an introduction by now; these folks have recently opened their very first store in Singapore. Most Singaporeans might have actually heard about Hazukido during their trips to Johor Bahru, Malaysia — the brand actually does have a few outlets there which includes one in Mid Valley Southkey, as well as one in Paradigm Mall; their very first location in Singapore is however situated within the basement of Ngee Ann City, taking over the former premises of the now-defunct outlet of Beyond Fruit there. Despite its Japanese name, Hazukido is in fact a Taiwanese brand; that being said, they pride themselves over how they embrace the “Shokunin sprit of Japan” — broadly referring to the artisanal nature of their creations. Their store at Ngee Ann City is a strictly takeaway operation — no dine-in seatings can be found within the store, and the store does have a pretty tight space to walk around as well. Being an establishment well-known for their croissant offerings, Hazukido offers a line-up of both sweet and savoury croissants that are displayed prominently at the counter where patrons can have a good view of what they have to offer.

Truth to be told, we aren’t quite impressed with both of the croissants which we ended up with, though if there is a crowd pleaser between the two, it was clear that the Premium Durian Custard one was likely to get more votes. Not sure if it was due to us grabbing our croissants from Hazukido quite late on a weekday evening, but the texture of the croissants here failed to impress overall with both croissants being rather chewy and limp — nothing like the crisp and flaky ones that we had come across from some cafes that primarily serves up specialty coffee that do not specialise in their croissants despite making them from scratch as well. The dollop of durian-infused pastry cream over the top of the croissant was mildly disappointing as well — this came with a rather distinct note of fresh cream that lacked the pungency of durian, though thankfully the croissant wasn’t filled up with the same pastry cream within. Rather, the croissant was filled with actual durian mousse; one that gave a buttery sweetness with that pungent note that the King of Fruits is known to carry — this on its own would likely gel well with durian lovers.

The Cod Roe variant is the other croissant that we had went for; a savoury croissant that some might misinterpret as one that involves the use of Mentaiko Mayo. Rather than Mentaiko Mayo, the Cod Roe uses purely Mentaiko, and is a croissant that would likely be a hit in terms of flavour to those whom love savoury / umami notes. Whilst some would likely mention that the Cod Roe croissant is a little too salty, we enjoyed the savoury, briny notes that the Cod Roe spread at the bottom of the croissant carried. The texture of the croissant was still rather far from ideal; much like what we experienced with the Premium Durian Custard. Considering how Hazukido was one of those openings that came with much hype before its official launch, crowds had seem to have since dissipated rather quickly after their official opening — one could easily walk in to the store to grab some croissants without a queue; this does seem to be rather telling about the quality of the croissants that they are serving, especially considering the many better options in town that do offer a dine-in experience with beverages to accompany their offerings. With the factors above, it is difficult to see how one would choose to have the croissants from Hazukido over the other ones from other establishments in town — perhaps something that the Hazukido team in Singapore should look into if they intend to stay in the local F&B scene in the long run.