Sant Croi by Albert Roca

The bakery Sant Croi by Albert Roca was awarded the top prize in the IX Best Butter Croissant in Spain competition for 2018. This is no small feat: organised by the Gremi de Pastisseria de Barcelona (Barcelona Pastry Guild), the competition looks at some 70 of the best bakeries in the country, and they all  put their best croissant forward. In winning the prestigious award, Albert Roca also became the first pastry chef to hold the title twice, having first won in 2009. All the recognition is well-deserved: his butter croissant is a wonder of airy nooks and crannies and the perfect balance between sweet and salty, and his chocolate croissant, made with strong dark chocolate and just as airy and flaky as the butter, is perhaps the best I've ever tasted. Roca has changed his pastry shop from Badia Roca to San Croi, and the change has also meant a wider selection of baked goods available, but the spirit is the same: innovation with one foot in tradition.

San Croi is a fantastic signature pastry shop, where Albert Roca gives free rein to his creativity. He follows the theory of Ferran Adrià, and says, 'For me, innovating is a dogma of personal faith – innovating is not copying.' In his case, innovation takes shape in solid recipes, and is applied as much to his cakes, where fact and fantasy become blurred, as to his everyday pastries.