12 May 2014

San Churro Has Arrived

| Mark Parton MLA
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sanchurro-3

A loud roar could be heard right across Canberra when the Ikea announcement was finally made.

I don’t really get Ikea, but a lot of Canberrans do. Indeed, David Lord from Ikea told me that over 5% of Sydney sales of Ikea are from little old Canberra.

As a city, we’re excited by their impending arrival as well we should be. It is a massive vote of confidence in Canberra’s economy that Ikea is coming, albeit not till late 2015.

There was another collective roar of approval that rang out over the suburbs earlier this month. It wasn’t’ quite as loud but it was just as passionate. It heralded the opening of Canberra’s first San Churro outlet in Woden.

At the Parton household, we’d been waiting and hoping for this day for quite some time…and now it’s here.

So what is San Churro ?

It’s another chocolataria, but it’s different than the rest. San Churro is an Australian franchise of a Spanish concept.

They’re key menu ingredient is ‘churros con chocolate’, Spanish donuts with chocolate and they are to die for. Churros are long, lightly deep-fried pastries made from a light flour and water batter. They’re dusted with cinnamon sugar and the idea is that you dip them in warm chocolate and stuff them in your face until you feel sick.

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The Canberra San Churro outlet is in the Bonner Court area of Woden Town Centre and it’s been ‘goin’ off’ since late April. There were some teething problems early on. San Churro had a lot of staff to train in a short period of time and I know there were some complaints about incorrect orders and the disjointed serving of food and drink items, but once you take a bite of a chocolate soaked churro, everything is forgiven.

If you like Max Brenner, I’m sure you’ll like San Churro, but there’s a vastly different mood and vibe to this new outlet.

San Churro first came to Australia in 2006 with the opening of the first outlet in Brunswick in Melbourne. Within a month there was a second one opened in Knox City and within a year the San Churro empire included 3 outlets in NSW.

It’s been a rough old week for Canberra, but if you want to drown in chocolate with only a long Spanish donut for a liferaft then head to San Churro.

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justin heywood3:54 pm 14 May 14

neanderthalsis said :

…..Good churros and real hot chocolate is of greater public interest than poor quality, badly designed flat pack furniture.

Really?

IKEA expertly markets well designed and relatively good quality furniture and household items. THAT is why it is something of worldwide success story. The fact that one of these huge stores is coming to Canberra is definitely of interest.

Churros are (to me) just a more sickly doughnut. Fat Americans love them. Zero public interest.

neanderthalsis2:12 pm 14 May 14

Masquara said :

Is this paid advertising?

No more than the public circle jerk that was the Ikea announcement in every news broadcast in the ACT was paid advertising. Good churros and real hot chocolate is of greater public interest than poor quality, badly designed flat pack furniture.

Masquara said :

Is this paid advertising?

This is not paid advertising. We will be sure to let you know if any content goes up that is ‘paid for’.

Is this paid advertising?

Great article / info – makes me wanna go there. yum.

MsCheeky said :

I love the description that they are ‘lightly’ deep-fried. How do you heavily deep fry something? And made from a ‘light’ flour and water batter. Methinks they ‘lighten’ too much, and they’re not fooling me.

I think it refers to how long they were in the oil. One would imagine less time would make them fluffier and more time would make them crispier.

Devil_n_Disquiz3:29 pm 13 May 14

Smackbang said :

Eighth para: their, not they’re.

Apart from that little bid of pedantry, thanks for the tip. I look forward to trying this out.

I think I like ‘they’re’ better. 🙂

I love the description that they are ‘lightly’ deep-fried. How do you heavily deep fry something? And made from a ‘light’ flour and water batter. Methinks they ‘lighten’ too much, and they’re not fooling me.

Mark Parton said :

dungfungus said :

Madam Cholet said :

Churros have been available at Fyshwick markets for years in the winter.
Personally I don’t have a sweet-tooth so don’t normally gravitate to anything remotely sweet.
Sometimes I wish I did so I could get excited about this stuff, but then again, no thanks.

Whilst all very nice occasionally, it’s a shame that the population in general gets excited about eating donuts, albeit in this instance euro-style ones dipped in choclate. I recall the same reaction with the other US mob who sell heart attacks in a paper bag. I once ate half a small one of one of those and thought I was going to keel over there was so much sugar in it.

Going through Sydney airport last week I still saw people queuing up at the donut stand to take large boxes of them back home. And let’s not forget the school fundraisers they generated.

Costco has B-Double size churros at bargain basement prices.

I wouldn’t recommend that anyone consume that products passed off as churros at Costco. There are many things I buy at Costco, but churros are not among them.

With respect Mark, I have eaten churros all over the world and home made ones from my own kitchen using my authentic Spanish churro injector and they all taste the same. The limited ingredients used guarantee that. The oil they are cooked in can make a big difference as can the quality of the cinnamon sugar. Actually, I fancy the freshly cooked ones at Costco more than others I have tasted in Canberra.

dungfungus said :

Madam Cholet said :

Churros have been available at Fyshwick markets for years in the winter.
Personally I don’t have a sweet-tooth so don’t normally gravitate to anything remotely sweet.
Sometimes I wish I did so I could get excited about this stuff, but then again, no thanks.

Whilst all very nice occasionally, it’s a shame that the population in general gets excited about eating donuts, albeit in this instance euro-style ones dipped in choclate. I recall the same reaction with the other US mob who sell heart attacks in a paper bag. I once ate half a small one of one of those and thought I was going to keel over there was so much sugar in it.

Going through Sydney airport last week I still saw people queuing up at the donut stand to take large boxes of them back home. And let’s not forget the school fundraisers they generated.

Costco has B-Double size churros at bargain basement prices.

I wouldn’t recommend that anyone consume that products passed off as churros at Costco. There are many things I buy at Costco, but churros are not among them.

Madam Cholet said :

Churros have been available at Fyshwick markets for years in the winter.
Personally I don’t have a sweet-tooth so don’t normally gravitate to anything remotely sweet.
Sometimes I wish I did so I could get excited about this stuff, but then again, no thanks.

Whilst all very nice occasionally, it’s a shame that the population in general gets excited about eating donuts, albeit in this instance euro-style ones dipped in choclate. I recall the same reaction with the other US mob who sell heart attacks in a paper bag. I once ate half a small one of one of those and thought I was going to keel over there was so much sugar in it.

Going through Sydney airport last week I still saw people queuing up at the donut stand to take large boxes of them back home. And let’s not forget the school fundraisers they generated.

You can also get them from the Old Bus Depot Markets at Kingston on a Sunday, but these San Churro churros are divine.

I’m not typically a sweet tooth either.

Madam Cholet said :

Churros have been available at Fyshwick markets for years in the winter.
Personally I don’t have a sweet-tooth so don’t normally gravitate to anything remotely sweet.
Sometimes I wish I did so I could get excited about this stuff, but then again, no thanks.

Whilst all very nice occasionally, it’s a shame that the population in general gets excited about eating donuts, albeit in this instance euro-style ones dipped in choclate. I recall the same reaction with the other US mob who sell heart attacks in a paper bag. I once ate half a small one of one of those and thought I was going to keel over there was so much sugar in it.

Going through Sydney airport last week I still saw people queuing up at the donut stand to take large boxes of them back home. And let’s not forget the school fundraisers they generated.

Costco has B-Double size churros at bargain basement prices.

muscledude_oz10:23 am 13 May 14

Fairly ironic they are located right above the Club Lime gym. Then again, there was a pizza restaurant there previously…

Eighth para: their, not they’re.

Apart from that little bid of pedantry, thanks for the tip. I look forward to trying this out.

Madam Cholet9:28 am 13 May 14

Churros have been available at Fyshwick markets for years in the winter.
Personally I don’t have a sweet-tooth so don’t normally gravitate to anything remotely sweet.
Sometimes I wish I did so I could get excited about this stuff, but then again, no thanks.

Whilst all very nice occasionally, it’s a shame that the population in general gets excited about eating donuts, albeit in this instance euro-style ones dipped in choclate. I recall the same reaction with the other US mob who sell heart attacks in a paper bag. I once ate half a small one of one of those and thought I was going to keel over there was so much sugar in it.

Going through Sydney airport last week I still saw people queuing up at the donut stand to take large boxes of them back home. And let’s not forget the school fundraisers they generated.

Is it a noisy venue?

Heavy breathing.

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