Lune Croissanterie - Best Croissants In Melbourne

1/29-31 Scott St
Elwood, VIC 3184
03 9077 6463
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Let me tell you a story, a story of how I came to find the best croissants in Melbourne. It all started in a galaxy far far away, known as the Melbourne CBD (I work and live in the 'burbs). One fashionable, funny and famous coffee addict called I-Hua frequently visits Patricia Coffee Brewers for her daily caffeine fix. The non-cake eating I-Hua would usually just have her coffee, but she noticed these pastries (which aren't cake as she doesn't eat cake so let's get that clear), espeically the pain au chocolat from Lune Croissanterie. She tried one, and loved it. From that point on, she tried numerous other things, so much so that she became friends with the genius behind the pastries, Kate.

Fast forward months and I-Hua, Aaron, Daisy, Ricky, Bryan and myself were going to dinner at Dainty Sichuan after our reverse dinner meal which started with dessert at http://luxbite.com.au/. Kate had joined us for the dinner part at Dainty as she loves spicy food too. By chance, I was sitting next to Kate and we talked about pastries and cakes. I asked her about some pastry I had in Paris that was like puff pastry but with a sugary outside. She told me it might be a Kouign Amann, a pastry that originated from a region in France. Then I asked if that's what the Dominique Ansel pastry I had in New York was. And she confirmed that was the case. I had absolutely loved those two pastries and the most amazing part of this story is that Kate was starting to make them. OMG. SHUT THE GATE. GET OUTTA HERE. I was beyond excited. A special meeting was setup and Daisy and I drove to Kate's shop to pick up this Kouign Amann, amongst other pastries. The Kouign Amann is mind blowingly awesome. The taste is so simple yet so perfect and just lingers on your tongue like a soft Autumn breeze on your face.....*licks lips*. Ok that's what Nigella would have said. I'll be a bit less poetic and say that the sugar on the outside works so well with the buttery pastry to give the most wonderful simple flavour. There are a number of textures too, from the sugar crunch, to the pastry crunch and the soft interior of the pastry. I've always loved simpler desserts and this is exactly my type of thing. Now I don't need to go to Paris or New York to eat one. The Kouign Amann is my favourite dessert of 2013. And if I have anything to do with it, next year in 2014, the Kouign Amann will become the next big thing as everyone should taste this amazing pastry.

Besides the Kouign Amann, Kate also makes plain croissants, almond croissants, pain au chocolate, cruffins (a croissant muffin) and special flavours of things such as pistachio croissants or anything else she feels like making. I've had the pleasure of eating all of her pastries. The plain croissants are beautiful, the best I've tried in Melbourne. They're flakey, crunchy, soft, buttery. Everything you want in a croissant. The almond croissant has also become my favourite almond croissant. Upon my very first tasting, I felt that I still preferred the Parisian Patisserie almond croissant. However, upon more tries of Kate's almond croissant, I prefer the crunchier texture (Parisian's is more like a squashed brioche and very strong in almond flavour) and the hint of orange in Kate's almond croissant. The orange is not for everyone, with a few others telling me it really puts them off it, so if you don't like orange in things, you may want to avoid the almond croissant as you'll really taste the orange. For me, the orange is what makes the almond croissant so beautiful. The pain au chocolat is also very good, but I'm strangely not a massive fan of chocolate in pastries. Be warned again that Kate puts smaller amounts of chocolate in her pain au chocolat like they make in Paris as it's "all about the pastry" and not overloading it with chocolate. So if this is not your thing, go to Noisette or Brunetti's for a more chocolate filled pain au chocolat. Lastly, we get to the cruffin. What a stroke of genius. It's croissant pastry cooked in a muffin tin. It's not just a gimmick as this method of cooking give it different textures and flavours as different parts crisp up. Kate fills the cruffins with a variety of flavours, with jam donut, nutella four ways, lemon curd and raspberry and peanut butter and jam some of the flavours she's done so far. I've tried two flavours and they're excellent.

When I first met Kate she was selling her pastries through other vendors, but now she has her own shop, so you can pop down and buy some directly from her and have a chat. At the moment, Lune Croissanterie is opened on weekends only, but check out her website and Twitter for regular updates. I urge you to get yourself to the shop and buy everything as the croissants are so good, especially that Kouign Amann.
The Lune Croissanterie serving window, with the Tin Tin poster that inspired the name.

An army of pastries, almond croissants, Kouign Amann, cruffin and pain au chocolate.

The almond croissant is really tasty, without that fake almond flavour.

Pain au chocolat, with a small amount of nice chocolate inside.

Jam donut cruffin is as awesome as it sounds.

The super amazing Kouign Amann. I can't get enough of them.

Lastly, here is an awesome super hilarious parody of the Downfall movie that is all about Lune Croissanterie. You can find out about Kate's past career as an aerospace engineer and how she gave all that up for the love of pastry.