Exciting reason hundreds are lining up down Sydney street right now

December 09, 2024
Iconic Melbourne bakery Lune that sells 35,000 croissants a day has finally brought its world-famous pastries to Sydney, with hundreds of foodies lining up to get a taste of the action

With hundreds of foodies waiting to sample the world-famous pastries, Sydney has finally welcomed the iconic Melbourne bakery Lune, which sells 35,000 croissants a day.

The 'ideal' croissant, as the New York Times puts it, is the creation of Melbourne-born baker Kate Reid.

After five years of waiting, the croissanterie's Sydney location finally opened for business on Saturday, December 7, in Rosebery's Engine Yards Precinct.

A Sydney branch was due to launch in August 2021, but problems on the construction site slapped the brakes on its interstate expansion.

Now, the bakery is located in a 400-square-metre warehouse where customers can see chefs crafting the croissants in real time.

A surprise second Lune location is also open inside the Martin Place metro station - with Sydneysiders already braving the stormy weather to get a taste of the croissants.

'I've never tasted a better pastry - and I've been on food tours around Europe,' a fan raved online.

'Getting to eat a Lune croissant is the only reason I wake up in the morning,' another joked.
The Rosebery location has a six-by-six metre glass cube which is temperature-controlled to the perfect temperature for baking croissants. 

The cube also ensures a constant supply of fresh croissants throughout the day. 

Lune's Sydney menu includes popular classics like a traditional croissant, pain au chocolat, and kouign-amann.

Customers will also find a festive December menu featuring a gingerbread croissant with pecan frangipane and molasses caramel, a creamy, rum-soaked eggnog cruffin, and a stuffed turkey croissant with cranberry sauce and crispy chicken skin. 

Lune has seven locations across Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. 

Ms Reid co-owns the chain with her brother, Cam.

The baker had previously worked as a Formula 1 engineer but soon found that the industry full of men coupled with 16-18 hour work days simply wasn't for her.

'My mental health was severely deteriorating, the job wasn't what I hoped it would be,' she previously told The Project.

'The depression turned into an eating disorder and it was my way to control areas of my life when I felt like other parts - like my career - were out of order.'

Kate's father brought her back to her hometown, Melbourne, when her eating disorder kept getting worse and she began working the front counter of a bakery.

She said it felt like a battle with her willpower to surround herself with the one thing she could not let herself have.

But Kate's hardship would soon turn over a new leaf - because her job allowed her to find the beautiful silver lining of baking.

The aerospace engineer found inspiration in 'Cuisine et Patisserie au Gaz' by Paul Roinat - a book on French patisseries.

Kate was soon an apprentice at one of the best French bakeries in Paris, and claimed that she had never felt more stimulated.

'I spent all of my days off travelling around Melbourne hoping to find the croissant that would take me back to the Parisian experience,' she said once she moved back to Australia.

But after experiencing disappointment time and again, the engineer-turned-baker decided that she was going to pull her socks up and start her own business.

'I was so focused on creating the perfect croissant - I obsessively recipe tested for three months straight,' she said to The Project. 'I truly found that baking was the thing that healed me - there wasn't room for the eating disorder anymore.'