It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for the latest and hippest food trends. $2,500 parmesan cheese wheel? Yes. $1,000 beer pre-historic glacier beer? Obviously. So when I heard a Brooklyn, NY restaurant started selling a gold encrusted $100 donut, of course I had to find out all the details.
The pastry may look more like a Christmas ornament rather than a satisfying breakfast, but rich New Yorkers are making this New Year-themed treat a hit.
Manila Social Club, the restaurant who brings us the mythical golden donut, has made a name for itself by selling Filipino purple yam “ube" doughnuts at $40 per dozen. The golden doughnut has a helping of ube in it as well, but add icing and jelly made with Cristal champagne and cover the outside in 24-karat gold flakes and you have yourself a $1,200 a dozen price tag.
And with gold currently trading at $1,093 an ounce as of 1:00 PM EST on January 6, 2015, is that really so bad of a deal?
Björn DelaCruz, the restaurant's owner and chef told First We Feast how this idea came to fruition.
“The Golden Cristal Ube Donut came along because there is a brewery in Bushwick called Braven Brewery,” DelaCruz explained. “We had a doughnut event where I unveiled a doughnut with icing made with Braven White IPA, dusted with gold. That was the beginning of the golden doughnut [idea].”
It was only natural that with the New Year coming up that DelaCruz would add more than just a splash of Cristal.
“I wanted to add something [to the menu] for the new year to celebrate how long we have been going. I didn’t know people would go and order a dozen [of these] at a time! But then again, it is New York, and there are people willing to put down a grand for a dozen doughnuts.”
And great news to non-Brooklynites — Manila Social Club will be expanding this beyond just the holiday season due to high demand. Plenty of time to get your travel arrangements in order.
