as someone who dated and then married a self-proclaimed croissant enthusiast, I have tried quite a few croissants from around the world. this post serves as a constantly evolving list of the croissants I have tried, broken out by country.
what makes a good croissant? according to my croissant enthusiast husband clay, “it’s gotta have a crisp, flaky golden brown crust. inside it needs to have many buttery layers. it has to be able to hold it’s shape – after you bite into it, it needs to spring back to its original shape. it should also be straight and not curved. it needs to smell like butter and be a mess when you eat it.”. each croissant in this post will be rated according to these expert guidelines!
Australia
Project Zero Coffee – Melbourne, Australia.
an amazing find in Melb. per clay, this croissant was “the best outside of france”. perfectly crisp and flaky on the outside, tons of buttery layers, and extremely messy. 9.6/10. for what it’s worth, their chocolate scroll was also incredible!!
Pieno di grazia – South Melbourne Market, Melbourne, Australia.
These looked amazing, but were too soggy and heavy. We didn’t finish either of them. Pistachio was a 5.5/10 and almond was a 6/10.
Agathé Pâtisserie – South Melbourne Market, Melbourne, Australia.
another perfectly crisp, fluffy, buttery croissant in Melbourne. wasn’t quite as flaky as the project zero croissant, but still a good bit messy. 9.2/10.
Commonplace Coffee Brewers – Melbourne, Australia.
Chocolate Hazelnut croissant was a solid 8.2. Flaky with many layers!
Code Black Coffee – Melbourne, Australia.
8.3 almond croissant! a bit untraditional in that the filling also had a bit of lemon in it? so good though.
france
Cafes richard – paris, france.
pretty good croissant, but a little too dry. expect more from paris. 8/10.
Les Cinq Marches – paris, france.
phenomenal. the perfect french croissant. straight, crispy on the outside, buttery layers on the inside. 9.7/10.
New Zealand
Daily Bread – Auckland, New Zealand.
ok so we have multiple ratings on their plain croissant from months apart!
First time trying: truly gorgeous plain croissant – golden brown outside and straight. inside was super buttery. However, while the outside was crispy, it wasn’t flaky or messy enough. 8.2/10.
second time trying: 9.5/10 according to the croissant king! it was actually one of the best plain croissants we’ve ever had. super buttery and flaky and had tons of layers. you can see the difference between the insides of the two croissants in the pics below!
Ham and cheese croissant: dare i say best I’ve ever had? buttery, salty, just the right amount of ham. order it toasted. 8.8/10! more about Daily Bread on my mission to find Auckland’s best cafes.
Luna bakehouse – Auckland, New Zealand.
Their “supreme” cafe latte croissant def wins in terms of looks… but its taste was unfortunately sub-par. the croissant flavor was fine, but it’s texture was Way too soggy – maybe because I got it later in the day though? and maybe I just don’t like heavy filled croissants? I’d give luna another shot though and would just order one of their other options next time (like their raspberry almond croissant…need). anyways… 6.1/10 for this one. Also tried their raspberry almond croissant and it was better, but still not amazing. 7.8. more about luna bakehouse on my mission to find Auckland’s best cafes.
arcadia – Waiheke Island, New zealand.
this almond croissant was beyond disappointing. super dense, soggy, not at all flaky. The almond filling was decent, but you couldn’t really appreciate it because of how bad the rest of the croissant was. 3/10.
amano – auckland, new zealand.
we’ve been to Amano for dinner and loved it, so when we heard they also had amazing croissants, we had to give it a try.
- The plain croissant had a ton of buttery, light layers, was shaped perfectly, and had a crisp outer shell (but slightly too crispy on the ends). a solid 8.8.
- The almond pain au chocolat was not something we would typically go for, but we are so glad we tried this. The almond paste was not overly sweet and paired well with the chocolate, and the actual croissant itself was perfectly buttery and fluffy. I honestly would have liked a little more almond flavor, but overall, loved this croissant. 8.6.
- I have the same thoughts on their normal almond croissant as well – it was very good, but would have loved additional almond paste. also a little burnt. 7.8.
- the proscuitto croissant was good, not amazing. could have used more proscuitto. 7.
more about amano on my mission to find Auckland’s best cafes.
portugal
Lazy breakfast club – porto, portugal.
Tbh, I can’t rate this one because it was so long ago and I hardly remember it. but The photo I found of it was too beautiful not to share. by the looks of it, it looks pretty good??
South Africa
Oranjezicht city farm market – Cape Town, South Africa.
sort of a let down – exterior was a little too soggy for us, but inside was fluffy and buttery. 6/10.
The bay hotel – Camps bay, South Africa.
One thing about clay is that he’s not skipping a croissant at a hotel breakfast. This one was decent for what it was. 6.5/10.
The united kingdom
Philippe conticini – London, UK.
ok maybe the prettiest croissant I’ve seen? However, it didn’t taste as good as it looked. 6.8/10.
Pret a manger – london, UK.
I had my fair share of Pret croissants while living in London, but mostly out of convenience. 6/10 – there are so many better places to go in London.
the united states
Barrett’s – coralville, IA.
never expected iowa to have such amazing croissants, but here we are. Barrett’s plain croissant is an easy 8.5/10 and was named “best croissant in the united states” by Clay. buttery, flaky, messy – it hits all the marks. I do feel like they are not always consistent though. their flavored croissants are also good – the ham and cheese is a 7.5/10 and the berries and cream is a 8.2/10.
La colombe – Chicago, IL.
a fine, mid-tier almond croissant. needed more filling. 6.4/10.
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