Lune Croissanterie | CBD

The Verdict

We try not to fanboy too hard at these things, but meeting Lune founder, Kate Reid, in her new CBD croissanterie...we’re fighting an urge to bow and curtsy.

In the span of a few years, Kate has become Melbourne’s official croissant queen. Her temperature-controlled Fitzroy bakehouse produces some of the best croissants and French pastries in the world (according to a little rag known as the New York Times). There’s a reliable queue every single weekend.

Now Lune is opening its long-awaited second store in the CBD. And you can practically hear Melbourne holding its collective breath. The foodie news doesn’t get much bigger than this.

“There were four of us on the payroll when we opened Fitzroy,” Kate says. “Now there’s 52, including over 20 full-time pastry chefs.”

“We’ve learned a lot from Fitzroy. We knew we needed the resources before we opened a second store, and it took a long time to find the right space.”

The right space turned out to be an old Indian curry joint on Russell St (Lune’s CBD address is technically 161 Collins St, but the entrance is on Russell, opposite the Grand Hyatt). Kate says the build took them about two months, getting rid of the old plastic signage and installing a little Fitzroy brutalism: that classic Lune mix of brushed concrete, LED strip lighting, polished black glass and Melbourne monochrome.

Co-owner Cam Reid (Kate’s brother) handled a lot of the fit-out. The end result is part Parisian patisserie, part Death Star. Like the Fitzroy warehouse, the guys are running Bladepay to keep the crowds churning through at a steady clip. 

Lune CBD will feature a “truncated menu”, according to Kate. You’ll be able to get the smash hits: classic croissants, the legendary ham & gruyere, almond croissants, pain au chocolat and lemon curd cruffins (“Those aren’t classic French,” says Kate, “but they are classic Lune”). 

You’ll also be able to snag coffee from Small Batch (including $4 filter). The whole idea is to capture that grab-and-go CBD market—they can get a taste of the brand, then suss out the full Fitzroy range on weekends (along with half of Melbourne).

“One thing we didn’t want to do was expand at the expense of quality,” says Kate. “That was a non-negotiable.”

No danger of that here. A quick taste test confirms our suspicions: Lune hasn’t lost a single step. 

Lune CBD is open from 7am to 3pm weekdays (or until the last croissant is sold). 

Image credit: Annika Kafcaloudis