It’s a good croissant. Very good. Golden, crispy and flaky.
When you break it, the laminated, crusty outside sort of explodes, and I twist apart the buttery, greasy, pleasantly elastic interior. Tres bon. This is a croissant d’excellence.
Premiere classe . Beside it, I have a small cup of dense, smooth coffee in a tiny white cup and still water in a glass. This is a very good start to the day.
And this is a very good start to this story. Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion. For I have given my mission of bringing you the best in French pastries — not just as a buyers’ guide, but because pastries, more than many things, give us an entree into French culture.
Over centuries, French pastry has been refined into an art form. The pastries in this story are as French as Edith Piaf, Coco Chanel, the Eiffel Tower and the Citroen 2CV. And be sure, the French are very different to us Australians.
They are saturated and shaped by their complex historical and political past and present, with customs and behaviours that configure and contort them, with hubris that’s sometimes mistaken for being haughty. Opinionated, perhaps sometimes pompous. A bit uppity, even pretentious.
But the French have a sweet tooth and respect decadence. Give them a petit noir coffee, a glass of tepid water and a good pastry, and a true personne Francaise is a happy personne. Why are pastries so important in France? + I think part of the reason is undoubt.