The 20 best croissants in Australia

Is the world’s best croissant made in Australia? In 2016, the New York Times declared Lune Croissanterie’s creations as one of the “finest you will find anywhere in the world, and alone worth a trip across the dateline.” Crafted in a climate-controlled lab over three meticulous days, Lune’s croissants are almost mathematically perfect: crisp and golden with visible layers of delicate pastry. From Melbourne to Sydney and Brisbane, eager fans queue outside their stores for a bite of their fantastically flaky plain croissants or one of their irresistible monthly specials. 

You can start or end your quest for Melbourne’s best croissant at Lumos, a lovely, light-filled bakery just 30 minutes out of the city. These guys set the bar high with their 24-hour fermented pastries, which are folded and shaped by hand and baked fresh daily from Wednesday to Sunday. What sets these croissants apart is their high water content, giving them a soft, buttery interior and a beautifully flaky crust. Lumos also makes all of its fillings and garnishes in-house, including for its crowd favourite Brownie Bomb croissant.

Growing up on a diet of buttery croissants and fresh baguettes in France, Christian Jacques knows what it takes to create the perfect pastry. The crowds milling around his bakery, tucked under Brisbane’s Story Bridge, indicate that Jacques is doing things right. Continuous baking throughout the morning means sweet and savoury croissants can be enjoyed straight out of the oven, warm and fresh. Relying on time-honoured techniques, Jacques ferments his pure butter croissants for two days to deepen the aroma and achieve the perfect balance of a flaky exterior and soft, airy centre. You’ll also find croissants filled with real almond frangipane, Nutella, custard, ham and cheese, and bacon and goat’s cheese.

For the past four years, this small, family-owned bakery has been working hard to create the perfect croissants in Perth. Their dough is crafted with precision and passion over 72 hours, resulting in a traditional marriage of buttery goodness and flaky perfection. Layers has also gained a reputation for its innovative croissant creations, which are folded into playful shapes like bow ties, cubes, fingers, shells and cylinders.

This ’50’s-style boutique patisserie on Harrington Street in central Hobart serves up croissants fit for a queen. It’s all about timing here, with fresh batches of croissants emerging from the oven at 7.30am, 8.45am and 10.30am. Flaky, buttery and warm, their croissant dough is also rolled into cruffins, twice-baked with maple custard, or stuffed with ham and cheese. But don’t be late – once they're gone, they're gone.

Iggy’s bakes the kind of croissant you’d want to savour slowly, but can’t help devouring in just a few bites. Locals line up early outside this hole-in-the-wall pastry studio in Bronte to get their hands on a naturally-leavened, sourdough croissant, only available from Friday to Sunday until sold out. Flaky yet moist with a subtle sour tang, you’ll be dreaming of Iggy’s croissants long after the last crumb disappears.

If croissants are the benchmark of an exceptional patisserie, Agathe Kerr’s clears it with ease. The French-born pastry professional leaves her dough to rest for 24 hours, giving the yeast time to ferment and the butter to develop a cultured, richly complex flavour. On weekends, her South Melbourne Market bakery and Royal Arcade hole-in-the-wall patisserie draw eager crowds lining up for a classic plain croissant or a fragrant green pandan-infused one. 

Tucked away on Little Lonsdale Street, this Japanese-inspired bakery is one of Melbourne's latest viral sensations. Though there’s often a long line, the wait is well worth it for one of their generously sized plain croissants, boasting ith light flaky layers and a glossy, golden crust. But Bakemono’s yuzu almond croissant steals the show, offering a delightful combo of sweet, sour, zesty and nutty flavours all in one bite. 

Kick off your day the Parisian way with a flaky, buttery croissant from Harvest Boulangerie. Located just steps from Scarborough Beach in Perth, this artisan French bakery is dedicated to preserving the art of traditional pastry-making. Their plain croissant boasts a crisp outer shell and delicate, buttery layers that melt into a soft, tender centre. Alongside classics like the pain au chocolat and ham and cheese croissants, Harvest bakes up Aussie riffs on French favourites, including a sausage hot dog croissant.

Prove’s croissants aren’t just a breakfast treat; they’re an experience. Each traditional plain croissant is a 72-hour labour of love, made from locally sourced ingredients, save for the butter sheets, which are imported from Normandy, France. The result? A glossy, golden exterior that’s perfectly crunchy, with a honeycomb centre that practically melts in your mouth. 

Follow the buttery aromas wafting down Willoughby Road in Sydney’s Lower North Shore and you’ll discover the gem that is Crescent Croissanterie. Each croissant here is a 48-hour labour of love, with plain croissants baked regularly throughout the morning to ensure you can enjoy them warm out of the oven.Boasting a crisp, golden exterior and beautifully chewy interior, Crescent’s perfectly laminated pastry also encases various fillings like pistachio cream, ham and cheese, and eggplant parmigiana.

Hobart’s Pigeon Whole Bakery was founded with a humble mission: to bake fresh sourdough bread daily. With three locations, it’s become a daily haunt for both visitors and locals who love all types of baked goods. Their classic croissant, priced at $5.50 (which is very reasonable for a croissant these days), features flaky layers of buttery dough that are on the softer side in terms of texture. Top tip: Pigeon Whole offers bake-at-home croissant boxes, so you can wake up to the irresistible aroma of warm croissants wherever you are.

Despite only opening in 2023, this bite-sized bakeshop in East Perth has quickly earned a reputation for baking up some of the city’s best croissants. Picture layers upon layers of flaky perfection, with premium Lescure French butter lending a subtle, golden crispiness to the exterior. Teeter’s bakery door is only open to the public from Thursday to Saturday until sold out, with BYO plates and containers encouraged. 

Considering this sustainable and organic Blue Mountains bakery was founded by a Parisian-born chef, you can trust their croissants are the real deal. Black Cockatoo’s pastries are layered with Pepe Saye cultured butter, enhancing the flakiness and melt-in-your-mouth texture. Even their vegan croissants, made with Bu Deli plant-based butter, come remarkably close to the real thing. Visit on Thursday or Friday for a taste of Black Cockatoo’s legendary ham and gruyere croissants.

Dubbed the ‘Lune of Adelaide’, this is easily the most talked-about patisserie in South Australia. Is it worth the hype? If you don’t mind queueing and veering from the classics, the answer is an easy yes. Here’s the twist: The Sugar Man doesn’t bake plain croissants every weekend – only on occasion. Instead, self-taught baker Alex Crawford offers a rotating weekend menu featuring up to ten playful flavours, all baked into a distinctive tall scroll rather than the traditional crescent. With the exception of French butter and chocolate, all ingredients are locally sourced, resulting in nostalgic fillings like pavlova, Golden Gaytime and chocolate tiramisu. 

All good things start with butter at this sleek bakery, café and coffee bar in Launceston. Doubling as a small-batch butter factory, this spot churns perfectly salted butter from cultured cream, which is then used to laminate their croissants before they’re proofed and baked fresh on-site. Local Tassie ingredients shine in their sweet and savoury fillings, with standouts including the walnut croissant, dark chocolate, and ham and cheese.

You’ll be greeted with a bright and merry “bonjour!” at this petite bakery-patisserie in New Farm, Brisbane. Full of French names, Chouquette’s menu might require some translating, but that’s all part of the bakery’s dedication to keeping tradition alive. Their plain croissant is laminated with luxurious lightly salted French butter, boasting a gorgeous glossy finish that shimmers in the sun. The pâte d’our (teddy bear’s paw) filled with chocolate, hazelnut and almond is also worth trying, as well as the red mill (Moulin Rouge) filled with berries.

You might be judged for ordering a plain croissant at this trendy café and patisserie in the heart of Adelaide. Their pastry cabinet is a stunning display of creativity and nostalgia, featuring croissant specials like red velvet cheesecake, Biscoff, matcha and vanilla slice – each one twice-baked to perfection. That said, you can’t go wrong with a classic – whether it’s plain, almond or the crowd-favourite pistachio.

Since 2017, this sunny corner pâtisserie has been serving up a taste of France in Canberra’s unassuming suburb of Gungahlin. The pastry cabinet is a treasure trove of traditional European pastries, tarts and cakes, so you’ll likely end up walking home with a box full of treats. Make space for at least one of Le Bon Mélange’s puffy, golden-brown plain croissants, which also come in traditional flavours like chocolate, almond, and ham and cheese.

You’ll need to drive six hours north of Sydney to find some of the best croissants in New South Wales. This humble, family-owned artisan bakery in Coffs Harbour has grown a loyal following since opening in 2022. At ‘P and W’, their long-fermented croissants are layered with Pepe Saye cultured butter for extra oomph, and stuffed with seasonal fruits, smoked ham, local cheeses and organic greens. Time for a road trip? We think yes!