It’s that time of the year when the first drop of rain sends Mumbaikars racing to slice onions and dunk them in sizzling oil. In Malad, however, residents are snacking on traditional Italian bomboloni, thanks to first-year law student Samridhi Elantholy. La Joie, the 18-year-old’s new home kitchen has caught eyeballs aplenty — 21 million, if you were to judge it by its viral success on Instagram. We decided to order a batch of the Italian favourite anonymously for a taste test.

By the time the bombolonis arrive at our doorstep after placing an order one day earlier, the sweet aroma of fried goodness is already wafting out of the neatly packaged takeaway boxes. Inside are four bombolonis, and inside each one of them, sweet fillings — tiramisu, blueberry, caramel and creme brulee. Spacious tall bento cake boxes ensure there’s no cream smudged on the lids. It also means we’ll have to give the usual lick-of-the-lid ritual a miss, but can we really complain?

(From left) The blueberry cream filling packs a fruity punch; crème brûlée bomboloni and blueberry cream bomboloni