It’s just after lunch on a Thursday, and a Herald meeting room has been transformed into a fever dream of 54 croissants sourced from 27 of Sydney’s best bakeries (two from each). Every spare surface, from the filing cabinet to the chairs, is covered with carefully plated crescents of golden viennoiserie, and the scent is so overwhelmingly delicious it attracts hungry stares each time the door creaks open.
The stage is set for the first Good Food croissant taste test, and we are setting out to find Sydney’s best.
The breakfast pastries have become an obsession in Sydney, where people have been known to queue up to three hours for a croissant; run in groups through Centennial Park for a croissant; and post photo after photo of novelty croissants shaped like cubes, circles or hearts on social media.
Maybe it’s all because of the Lune effect. The Melbourne croissanterie, founded in 2012 by former aerospace engineer Kate Reid, was among the first in Australia to focus its baking efforts exclusively on croissants, and to great success. A New York Times article published in 2016 suggested Lune’s croissants “may be the finest you will find anywhere in the world”, and the brand has since expanded to seven locations nationwide, with plans to go global.
But it’s no longer the only player in the croissant game. By the time Lune landed in Sydney in December, the city was home to so many fancy bakeries we could have easily doubled the number included in this taste test – if not for the limitations of the human stomach and palate fatigue (and a desire not to induce a heart attack).
In our quest for Sydney’s best, the Good Food team spent one frantic morning travelling across the city, from west, to south, east and north, focusing on bakeries well known for making exceptional plain croissants.
So what makes a good croissant? As Reid once told us, it’s often subjective: “I don’t think Lune makes the best croissant,” she said, ahead of the Rosebery launch. “But I think Lune is my favourite because it’s the way I like to eat croissants.”
With that caveat in mind, we asked professional pastry chefs Andy Bowdy, from Surry Hills restaurant Kiln, and Charlie Hutton, from Paddington’s three-hatted Saint Peter, to assist in developing our judging criteria.
How to spot a good croissant, according to the experts
- Colour
A deep amber which “takes it right to the very last point in the oven [before it burns] to give it a deeper flavour,” says Bowdy. - Crust
Hutton says the crust should be thin and flaky, crisp but not dry: “You have to be able to tear it apart without a million pieces going everywhere.” - Shape
“A flat croissant is a no-go,” says Bowdy. “It means the croissant has sucked in a lot of moisture and it’s all just collapsed in on itself, so it either didn’t start off as a well-constructed pastry, or it could be old.” - Scent
A light, yeasty scent is ideal for those who prefer a European-style croissant, like Hutton. For Bowdy, bold is better: “You should be able to smell before you take the first bite,” he says. - Structure
“I’m not the kind of guy who cuts a croissant in half to judge it by the honeycomb,” says Bowdy. “But it does play a role in the structure, and the flakiness and lightness.” - Flavour
The most objective component. A “fresh buttery taste, maybe slightly yeasty,” says Hutton. “But no acidity, and no eggy flavour.”
For this taste test, I was joined by head of Good Food Sarah Norris, Good Food app editor Erina Starkey, social media editor Isabel Cant and Good Food Guide editor Callan Boys. Yes, it was a lot of kilojoules, but this is the kind of investigative journalism we offer Good Food and Herald subscribers.
Each croissant was taste-tested without knowing which bakery it came from and ranked – from 11 to 1 – based on a score out of 20 (five points for appearance, five points for texture, 10 points for taste). Like all Good Food taste tests, it was conducted independently (a business couldn’t pay to be included).
