Meet the newest Japanese convenience store find that’s soon to flood your feed.

If you’ve been scrolling through social media looking for the latest convenience store food find, there’s a good chance you might soon see an unusual-looking pastry from 7-Eleven taking over your feed.

The pastry goes by the Japanese name “Karikku Juwassan”, combining the word karikku, which refers to something crisp and crunchy, juwa, which can be used to describe something dripping in butter, and wassan, a shortening of kurowassan, the Japanese pronunciation of croissant. That might seem like an odd set of adjectives for something that’s traditionally flaky, but when it first debuted in May this year, it became the best-selling product in the Seven Cafe Bakery category during its launch week, based on sales for the week of 18 May.

▼ 7-Eleven described the combination of textures as “sinfully delicious”.

The Karikku Juwassan wasn’t around for long, as it was only designed to be a limited-time item, but when it was available, social media lit up with glowing reviews and praise for the flavour and look of the pastry. After sales ended, 7-Eleven received numerous requests for the product to be resold, and now the chain is bowing to those requests by releasing it again for a limited time from 19 August.

Unlike a traditional croissant, this one is flat, moist, and round like a disc, all characteristics that’ll have purists clutching their pearls. With a look that’s closer to a pastry scroll than a croissant, it’s easy to see why it caught the attention of so many people online when it first appeared, but that wasn’t the only draw, as it was said to taste as good as it looked.

Made using pastry sheets containing fermented butter, which are folded into 16 layers, these croissants are baked in a dedicated oven inside the store, giving them a fresh-baked taste and texture. Sugar is sprinkled over the surface before baking, creating a crispy, caramelised exterior, while the interior remains buttery, pairing nicely with the satisfyingly chewy dough for three different textures in one pastry.

The croissant costs 230 yen (US$1.55), with sales beginning on 19 August and rolling out across participating Seven Cafe Bakery stores around the country. 7-Eleven’s fresh-baked pastries are slightly harder to find than other convenience store treats, as they’re only available at participating stores, and only in limited numbers. So if you do come across this unusual croissant, count yourself lucky and don’t resist the urge to pick one up – it’s not every day you get to try a convenience store pastry that lights up social media like this one, and you might even find the popular melon pan cookie while you’re there.

Related: Participating stores
Source, images: PR Times
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