Croissants are a staple in any good bakery, and Sydney can't get enough of their buttery and flaky goodness. Infamously time-consuming and technically daunting, many bakeries in Sydney/Eora will stake their reputations solely on the quality of their croissants and French pastries—and it’s not hard to see why. A good croissant is a thing of beauty and can take any morning from blah to brilliant.
Whether you like them plain or filled, sweet or savoury, here's Urban List's take on where to find the best croissants in Sydney—almond croissants, pain au chocolat, ham and cheese croissants, and even gluten-free croissants included.
Coming Soon: Lune Croissanterie
60 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst | Sydney Metro Martin Place, Sydney CBD
Image credit: Lune | Instagram
After years of rumours and speculation, Melbourne's ultra-famous croissanterie Lune has confirmed it will open a Sydney location in Darlinghurst in the new Oxford & Foley dining precinct. Lune is also due to open a second Sydney store in the CBD's Martin Place precinct in 2024.
If you're somehow not across the hype, Lune croissants have earned international stardom, even the title of "world's best croissant" from a New York Times critic. Wielding her engineering background, Reid has magicked the mechanics of the croissant, creating a heavenly butter-to-crunch ratio. Alongside a classic French croissant, the Lune team whips up delectable monthly and seasonal specials like peanut butter and jelly croissants.
Both Lune locations are due to open in 2024. Stay tuned for more details.
Lode Pies & Pastries
487 Crown Street, Surry Hills | 5 Sai Ying Lane, Sydney CBD
Image credit: Lode Pies & Pastries | Instagram
Headlined by fine dining chefs, Lode Pies & Pastries is a cult favourite in Sydney. One of their artful signatures is the Crown on 487—a crown-shaped croissant filled with white chocolate, drizzled in strawberry glaze, and dusted in pistachio and rose petals. If you're keen to try Lode's famous crowning glory, you'll need to arrive early: only 15 are made each day.
The neat menu also includes a pain au chocolat, a spiral-shaped almond croissant, a yuzu curd-filled croissant, and a swish ham and cheese variation made with ham, mustard, jalapeños, and Fontina cheese.
Crescent Croissanterie
134 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest
Image credit: Crescent Croissanterie | Instagram
Beneath the glow of a croissant-shaped neon sign in Crows Nest, Crescent Croissanterie has been scoring lengthy weekend queues since it opened back in 2022. And it's not too hard to see why.
Get in early to witness owner-baker Elly Kim's spectacular universe of croissant creations—from plain to salted pretzel, eggplant parmigiana, chorizo twist, yuzu, and so much more, you'll need to visit more than a few times to work your way through the menu.
Shadow Baking
243 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst
Image credit: Shadow Baking | Instagram
The brainchild of three Gelato Messina head chefs—Tom Mitchell, Florian Fritsch and Remi Talbot—Shadow Baking sees the trio craft creative and technical viennoiserie. Another bakery on this list with a loyal following, it pays to get in early to get your pick of the day's treats.
Croissant-wise, you'll find crunchy classics like plain and almond croissants, alongside sell-out signatures like the mortadella and scarmorza croissant. a mandarin and macadamia twice-baked croissant, and a lemon meringue croissant made with lemon curd, almond frangipane and candied lemon.
Loulou
61 Lavender Street, Milsons Point
Part boulangerie, bistro, and traiteur, a lot is going on at this triple-act all-day eatery and it's well worth visiting for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
However, if you're simply after some of Sydney's best croissants, you'll want to begin your day at Loulou's boulangerie, led by head baker Brendon Woodward (ex-Chouquette Boulangerie, Bread Ahead Bakery London). Here, the team bakes four times a day, which means your croissant will be ultra-fresh no matter when you drop in.
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Home Croissanterie
Shop 1/418 Darling Street, Balmain
Image credit: Home Croissanterie | Instagram
Home Croissanterie's owner Ben Lai, whose experience includes Noma and Quay, found a winning formula by selling his croissants online, before opening the Home Croissanterie flagship in March 2023.
In the calming and pared-back bakery space, the lineup includes a textbook croissant to pair with Single O coffee, an endlessly layered bacon and maple scroll, sugary kouign amann, and pain au chocolat filled with luxe Veliche Belgian chocolate.
A.P Bakery
Various Locations
Image credit: A.P Bakery | Instagram
Brought to you by Mat Lindsay (of Ester and Poly), Reuben Hills’ Russell Beard, and Ping Jin Ng (of Paramount House Hotel and Paramount Coffee Project), A.P Bakery isn’t your average inner-city bakery cafe.
From prioritising sustainable and local sources of seed and grain to keeping the through-line between grower, maker, and customer crystal clear and rock solid, A.P Bakery is churning out some of Sydney’s tastiest, freshest bread and perfectly structured croissants.
Rollers Bakehouse
9 Rialto Lane, Manly
Image credit: Rollers Bakehouse | Instagram
Do you love loaded croissants, twice-baked and dressed up in toppings and trimmings galore? Rollers Bakehouse has an edgy, cool-kid feel to its design that matches its kooky croissant creations.
Baker James Sideris focuses on boundary-pushing flavours—think the likes of a truffle ham croissant that fuses a truffle goat’s cheese spread with ham, comté cheese, and caramelised onion, and seasonal creations like an Anzac croissant or Christmas stuffing-filled croissants.
Wholegreen Bakery
25 McCauley Street, Alexandria | 257 Clarence Street, Sydney | 24 Arden Street, Waverley
Image credit: Wholegreen | Supplied
If you’re coeliac or just prefer gluten-free goods, Wholegreen Bakery is your mecca. Headed up by Cherie Lyden and a team of expert bakers, Wholegreen works tirelessly to perfect their GF croissant recipe, updating and adapting it to imitate the real deal.
It would be difficult for even the most discerning wheat devotees to fault the delicious offerings at this bakery and cafe, which offers everything gluten-free eaters usually avoid, including chocolate croissants, almond croissants, and perfectly flakey, buttery classic croissants.
Bar Mammoni
Shop/3 Loftus Lane, Sydney CBD
Image credit: Bar Mammoni | Instagram
On the ground level of the historic Hinchcliff House at Circular Quay, Grana serves lunch and dinner, but it also mills grain on-site for use in its pasta, and the baked goodies available at sibling venue Bar Mammoni on Loftus Lane.
There are four house-made croissant varieties on offer: plain, pain au chocolat, ham and cheese, and almond, plus cruffins and special flavours in the mix. Pull up a seat in the laneway, it's the perfect spot to pause a while and appreciate that perfectly crunchy croissant.
Flour And Stone
53 Riley Street, Woolloomooloo
Image credit: Flour and Stone | Instagram
Quality, control, and a whole lotta love and care make Flour and Stone’s croissants some of Sydney’s absolute best.
From maintaining the perfect fermentation environment for full-flavoured dough to making sure those many layers of butter and dough stay consistent, Flour and Stone has the science of the humble croissant down pat. Plus, the team use cultured butter from the mighty Pepe Saya, meaning maximum flavour and those all-important crunchy, flaky layers.
Iggy's
131 Macpherson Street, Bronte
Image credit: Iggy's | Instagram
Yugoslavian-born Igor Ivanovic’s now-famous bakery, Iggy’s is all about the bread—and the no-frills shop front with queues for days will make you believe it. In a city obsessed with aesthetics, Iggy’s defies convention by keeping the interiors basic and the bread consistently above par. And the bread is good—great in fact.
But while you're out on your weekly bread run, it'd be rude not to pick up a bagful of Iggy's croissants. There are plain and almond croissants, and pain au chocolates, but our favourite is the sweet-and-salty honey and feta croissant.
Humble Bakery
50 Holt Street, Surry Hills | 16-20 Loftus Lane, Sydney CBD
Brought to you by the crew behind Porteño, Humble Bakery takes Sydneysiders to carb heaven with its selection of pastries, among them some of the best croissants in Sydney.
The plain croissant is anything but humble—it's gorgeously golden with an airy honeycomb textured inside. Find it in the drool-inducing cabinet alongside stripy chocolate, oozy ham and cheese, and almond varieties, along with legendary cruffins in flavours like banana old-fashioned and choc hazelnut.
Bourke Street Bakery
Various Locations
Image credit: Bourke Street Bakery | Instagram
Bourke Street Bakery has been stealing our hearts for years one ginger brûlée tart at a time—but the bakery behemoth's plain croissants are also a solid choice, delivering on flavour and flakiness with a good shape and airy layers.
The almond croissant has cemented itself as a favourite among croissant connoisseurs with its delectable almond paste filling and crunchy crown of toasted almond flakes dusted with icing sugar.
Madame & Yves
343-345 Clovelly Road, Clovelly
Image credit: Madame & Yves | Supplied
It all starts with the perfect base, featuring twice-fermented dough and the best Belgian butter. According to founder and pastry chef extraordinaire Yves Scherrer, “a good croissant has a distinct taste of butter. It needs to be fluffy inside, flaky outside, a very light crunch and not greasy.”
Try boundary-pushing twists on the standard croissant, including Earl Grey custard, hazelnut and almond praline, truffle croque monsieur, a hazelnut-fuelled Ferrero, and a raspberry almond croissant filled with fruity, fresh raspberry marmalade, or the stunning cube-shaped crioche (a croissant-brioche creation).
Penny Fours
485A Darling Street, Balmain
Penny Fours is a delightful little patisserie in the Inner West, providing us with many a sweet treat. The hole-in-the-wall is run by ex-Tetsuya’s pastry chef Penelope Ransley, so you can bet every cake, tart and pastry is delightful, with lemon meringues, creme brûlée, and salted macadamia tarts on offer as well as some of Sydney's best croissants.
La Vie & Belle
425 Bourke Street, Surry Hills
Look no further than La Vie & Belle for proper French fare, with croissants made the traditional way, and with passion and patience. Here you’ll find no brow-raising fillings or fusion flavours—just good, honest, authentic French bread and pastries, starring everybody’s favourite flaky, buttery, crescent-shaped beauties.
Sydney has no shortage of bakeries serving up classic viennoiseries, but La Vie & Belle stands out from the crowd with its dedication to traditional French methods and ingredients for an inimitable experience.
Infinity Bakery
15a Market Lane, Manly | 274-279 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst
Infinity Bakery has been filling our bellies with organic sourdough since 1997, and you can be sure to find the same commitment to quality in its croissants.
They're everything a great croissant should be—decently sized, golden all over, with a light-as-air inside texture and flaky layers for days. Infinity only uses the freshest butter and local produce where possible, and once you’ve had the good stuff, you’ll never settle for second best again.
Black Star Pastry
Various Locations
Image credit: Black Star Pastry | Instagram
You know Black Star Pastry for the now-iconic Strawberry Watermelon cake, but if you ask us, the croissants deserve their own hashtag, too. From twice-proofed dough to meticulous lamination, no corner is cut in this laborious three-day process, but it sure is worth it when you hear the satisfying crunch of layers upon layers of flaky pastry and reach that pillowy, buttery inside.
The team includes buttermilk in their dough for a twist on your standard croissant. They also level up their lamination with Pepe Saya cultured butter which, according to executive chef Arnaud Vodounou, makes all the difference.
La Renaissance
47 Argyle Street, The Rocks | 197 Young Street, Waterloo
Image credit: La Renaissance | Instagram
A mainstay of Sydney’s pastry scene and founded by a classically trained chef and pâtissier nearly 50 years ago, La Renaissance knows a thing or two about croissants.
Its plain, almond, and chocolate croissants are made fresh on the daily, and there's a version of a cruffin with vanilla crème patisserie encased in layers of light, fluffy, laminated dough. If you’re more of a savoury person, try the favourite ham and cheese croissant, which the long-standing patisserie has levelled up with lashings of bechamel sauce on top.
Brickfields
206 Cleveland Street, Chippendale | 2 Sydney Street, Marrickville
Image credit: Brickfields | Sydney
Brickfields is an icon among Sydney’s bakery scene, with bready goods so tasty you’ll find them in cafes all over the city. And we can confirm that yes, Brickfield's croissants are just as good as the bread.
Plain croissants and pain au chocolat are a solid start, or try the almond and almond-chocolate flavours for an extra special treat. Adorned with almond flakes and filled with a brandy- and cinnamon-spiced frangipane, this one’s a favourite among locals.
For more of Sydney's best, check out:
Image credit: Shadow Baking | Instagram
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