Three To Try: New Patisseries Twisting French Classics

There’s nothing wrong with a classic croissant or a simple entremet. They often hit the spot perfectly.

But getting creative with flavour combinations and technique is part of what makes pastry so exciting. Here are three new spots that play with the classics. There’s a Spotswood patisserie with knafeh croissants, Biscoff brioche from a tiny pastry window and French pastries with Asian flavours from a Masterchef Australia fan favourite.

Amann Patisserie

At the end of June, Amann Patisserie opened its first brick-and-mortar venue, in a former commercial kitchen, and the storefront window offers a front-row view to watch pastry chef and co-owner Yohann Godrec at work.

The permanent menu pays homage to French breakfast staples including plain croissants, lemon madeleines and pain au chocolat made with Belgian chocolate. But there are also Biscoff brioche loaves and a decadent maple bacon danish made with shaved parmesan; caramelised onions in bechamel, maple syrup and mustard; and bacon from North Carlton Quality Meats just down the road.

Crème de la Crème

Married couple pastry chef Jazmin Jammal Ladkani and Samih Ladkani started their bakery by making mixed boxes of cakes from their home kitchen. They opened their first dedicated shop in Spotswood in June where they’ve become known for the signature knafeh croissant. It’s a play on the knafeh (an Arabic dessert made by layering white brine cheese and shredded filo or kataifi pastry) recipe Samih’s family gave Jazmin when he proposed. A traditional croissant is filled with knafeh and infused with an orange blossom and rosewater syrup and topped with pistachios, rose petals and orange blossom-infused cream.

The shop’s other standout is a riff on a traditional croissant, inspired by a croquembouche (a cone-shaped tower made with filled cream puffs held together with caramel). The King Julian, as the team has named it, is made by proofing three miniature croissants in a ring-shaped mould and baking them together. They’re then filled with vanilla crème diplomat and dipped in a caramel glaze.

Koi Dessert Bar

“We always keep our constant, French foundational pastries like entremets in different flavours – a lot of Southeast Asian flavours, a lot of East Asian flavours because that’s what we love to eat,” co-owner Reynold Poernomo told Broadsheet when he opened the first Melbourne outpost of his Sydney dessert bar last month.

At the new store on Queen Street, you’ll find a combination of 150 different cakes for sale daily. There’s the strawberry pillow, a bright pink pill-shaped cake with fresh lychees, almond sablé (a French shortbread), raspberry jelly and a strawberry and lychee mousse; the nomtella with hazelnuts, an espresso mousse, a salted caramel ganache and a dark chocolate brownie; and a white peach cake with rose jelly, almond sablé, raspberry Chantilly, white peach mousse, lychee and berry consommé, and French Earl Grey ganache.

Additional reporting by Ella Ferris and Haymun Win