Never knew that. The buttery, flaky, viennoiserie pastry of croissant is said to be of Austrian origin, though is mostly associated with France.
Through a process called laminating, the technique results in a layered texture similar to puff pastry.
The crescent-shaped French pastry is a savoury and occasionally sweet delight, with varieties from almond, chocolate, green tea, to even salted egg in Singapore’s context.
Here are the 18 places in Singapore to fulfill your croissants cravings in Singapore: (Note: while some other cafes may serve up tasty croissant, I have tried to include those who bake their own here rather than from a supplier.)
Petit Pain
315 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427566
Opening Hours: 11am – 5pm (Wed – Fri), 10am – 4pm (Sat – Sun), Closed Mon, Tues
The small, humble bakery has made wave with the Katong community, with several of their bakes sold out every day.
Petit Pain’s breads and pastries are only available in small batches, free of improvers, preservatives and artificial flavours.
The Classic Croissant ($3) requires a 3-day process to produce.
I decided to have it fresh because the buttery fragrance was just too alluring. And there was that ”wow” moment upon taking that first bite.
Some customers may prefer a more buttery, fluffy take, but I find this croissant very delicious and charming, especially the ability to maintain this level of crisp is tough in a humid country like this.
Reservations recommended, otherwise you may have to queue for a while, say about 30 minutes at least?
Their reservation opens once a week on Saturday at 4:00pm sharp via Petit Pain’s Facebook / Instagram messenger. Petit Pain (Joo Chiat)
Le Matin Patisserie
10, Block B Raeburn Park, #01-25, Singapore 088702
Opening Hours: 8am – 5pm (Wed, Fri – Sun), Closed Mon, Tues, Thurs
Singaporean Chef Mohamed Al-Matin trained at Le Cordon Bleu Sydney, and worked at some of the renowed patisseries there including Adriano Zumbo Patisserie and Black Star Pastry.
He was also previously the Head Pastry Chef of Restaurant Andre, and was also Pastry Sous Chef at one of the best restaurants in the world – Noma. An impressive resume.
To try his croissants, you can either head to the test kitchen on specific days, or get a Matin Pastry Box which comes with 5 or 6 pastries baked fresh daily.
For example, the The Le Matin Basics: Grand Matin contains 5 pastries of Croissant, Almond Croissant, Kouign Amann, Pain Au Choc, and Pistachio Escargot.
The classic Croissant is the traditional plain croissant laminated with French AOP butter. Though the more impressionable one would be the Pain Au Chocolat stuffed with luscious Valrhona dark chocolate and finished with a shiny Dark chocolate belt.
Sourbombe Bakery
UBS at 9 Penang Road, #02-03, Singapore 238459
Opening Hours: 10am – 3pm (Tues – Sat), Closed Sun, Mon
Genevieve Lee, runner-up of MasterChef Singapore’s first season, first started her online business Sourbombe in August 2020, focusing on sourdough Bomboloni – Italian doughnuts piped with various fillings.
The brand has finally shifted from an online business to a brick-and-mortar shop on the 2nd level of UBS Singapore Business Hub at 9 Penang Road.
Using homegrown sourdough starters for all her bakes, also available are Sourdough Croissants in very limited quantities.
You can have their plain OG Sourdough Croissant to experience the buttery tangy goodness with honeycomb layering.
For more exciting choices, there are those filled with specialty ingredients, from Passionfruit Meringue, Kaya with Soy Caramel, Black Sesame Mochi, Pistachio Mango, to Isphahan. Sourbombe (Penang Road)
The Bakehaus
130 Owen Road, Singapore 218934
Opening Hours: 8am – 5pm (Mon, Wed – Sun), Closed Tues
The Bakehaus is well-loved among those in the Farrer Park community for its Handmade Croissant ($3.50) made with Lescure Butter that gives that buttery and flaky texture.
They also have choices of Almond Croissant ($4.50), Almond Pain Au Chocolat ($5), Chocolate Varlhona Strawberry Croissant ($6.50), to Pain Au Chocolat ($4).
They pride themselves of not using any chemicals, preservatives and additive in all their bakes.
The Bread Rack
9, Yio Chu Kang Road, #01-55, Space@Kovan, Singapore 545523
Opening Hours: 9am – 5pm (Mon, Thurs – Sun), Closed Tues, Wed
Located near Hougang and Serangoon, The Bread Rack is at Yio Chu Kang Road is one of the newest bakery cafe opened in that area and has become quite popular.
Diners can choose between Baguette ($3.80), Country Loaf ($9), Seeded Sourdough ($10) and Honey Wholewheat ($10) from one rack and Butter Croissant ($4), Almond Croissant ($5), Pain Au Chocolate ($4.50) and Raisins Scroll ($4.80) on the other rack for either dine-in or takeaway.
My favourite was the Almond Croissant ($5) came with sliced almond and icing sugar as toppings, with smooth, velvety almond cream filling on the inside.
The outer layer of the croissant was crispy and flaky, whereas the inner layers and moist and creamy, giving it a good textural contrast. Pictured above is the seasonal special of Strawberry Maple Croissant with creamy centre of Japanese maple cream. The Bread Rack (Yio Chu Kang)
Nuage Patisserie & Boulangerie
47 Kampong Bahru Road, Singapore 169361
Opening Hours: 11am – 6pm (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri), 8:30am – 5pm (Sat – Sun), Closed Wed
Nuage, pronounced as “nu-age”, means “cloud” in French and is a representation of the owners ideology in being carefree without restrictions in their bakes and pastries.
It joins the stretch of recent openings within the shophouses at Kampong Bahru, near Outram MRT Station.
Nuage Patisserie & Boulangerie is opened by three friends, two of them were home-bakers whereas the other has experiences as a Head Pastry Chef at a local Five-stars hotel.
Classic French pastries can be found here, namely Croissant ($4 Kouign Amann ($5.50), Plain Bagel ($3.50) and Bacon Onion Cheese Focaccia ($8.90).
Their Croissant ($4) which is deliciously crispy and fluffy, is made with French flour, Levain and AOP butter.
Also look out for their aethetic-looking Pain Au Chocolat ($4.50), Almond Croissant ($5.50), Ham & Cheese Croissant ($6.90), and seasonal specials. Nuage Patisserie & Boulangerie (Kampong Bahru)
Mother Dough Bakery
3 Jln Kledek, Singapore 199259
Tel: +65 6909 6604
Opening Hours: 11am – 5pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon
The term “Mother Dough” or pre-ferment, refers to the fermentation starter or sourdough culture used in bread making.
Owner and baker Naadhira started her bread education at The International Culinary Institute in NYC, and spent four years working in various bakeries in the Big Apple.
That includes Runner & Stone in Brooklyn, where she honed her skills in making baguettes and croissants.
The bakery serves up a variety of Croissant, Brioche, Baguettes, and Quiches, alongside a selection of Lemon Cake, Banana Walnut Cake, Dark Chocolate Cake, and Fruit & Nut Cake.
I managed to get my hands on the best-selling Almond Croissant – crispy and fragrant, well-worth for its popularly.
However, recently I thought that the quality may not be that consistent as I saw some on display were slightly on the burnt side. Mother Dough Bakery (Jalan Kledek)
Bakery Brera & Fine Foods
8 Empress Road #01-05 Singapore 260008
Tel: +65 6492 5428
Opening Hours: 7am – 6pm (Tues – Sat), 7:30am – 4pm (Sun, Mon)
Bakery Brera & Fine Foods is a humble bakery café found opposite Empress Road Food Centre. There are a number of reasons why the croissants taste good.
The making uses a combination of two types of wheat flour – French and Japanese; plus the additional of French butter.
As for the doughs, they are fermented overnight and laminated with proper temperature each step.
Strict observance and precision control are applied, from temperature control, fermentation, proofing and baking to bring out the best of wheat aroma and butter flavour (so as not to over-caramelise the butter and the pastry.)
Therefore, you would find their Croissants to be golden crispy and fragrant buttery flavour. Bakery Brera & Fine Foods (Empress Road)
LR Boulangerie
491 River Valley Road, Valley Point #01-02, Singapore 248371
Opening Hours: 8:30am – 6pm (Mon – Sun)
Besides serving their own coffee beans that are roasted in-house by Coffee Plus, LR Boulangerie offers a selection of bakes, mainly French-style breads and pastries, including cute and Instagram-worthy ones.
It is worthy to wait for their freshly-baked Croissants, who would probably be snapped out not long after they are out from the oven.
Compared to some others which are generally either fluffy or dense, these were light and crisp, of buttery layers and remarkably flaky texture. (However, online reviews seem to be fairly mixed, though I did have good ones after a couple of anonymous visits.) LR Boulangerie (River Valley)
Maison Sucree
63B Lengkok Bahru, #01-362, Singapore 152063
Opening Hours: 11am – 8:30pm (Sun – Fri), 11am – 7pm (Sat)
The Muslim-owned bakery Maison Sucreé is quite striking with its dark blue frontage and buttery aroma, and has gained quite a positive reputation via word-of-mouth.
I thought that the Original Butter Croissant ($3.50) was delightfully crisp (crispier than many of the famous brands out there) with good amount of fluffiness and buttery aroma. (However, standard may not be that consistent after they expanded.)
All the baked goods are rolled, baked and crafted by the Head Baker Tommy Lim, who was previously from Jones The Grocer and has a heapful experience of 10 years in the bread and pastry industry.
Every croissant baked from Maison Sucreé are prepared at least 3 days prior, using ingredients such as natural homegrown levain and premium quality butter from Brittany France. Maison Sucreé (Lengkok Bahru)
Artisan Boulangerie Co.
#01-01, 118 Killiney Road Singapore 239555 (Somerset MRT)
Tel: +65 6444 8130
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 8pm (Mon – Sun)
As all pastries and bread at Artisan Boulangerie Co. are handmade daily, the bakers are in the kitchen wee early in the morning to churn out fresh bakes.
The bakery uses French flour imported from a traditional flour mill in Chartres, allows for at least 12 hours of fermentation of the breads.
ABC’s Croissant has a delicate crust which cracks with a crisp when it is broken apart, revealing an airy and soft inside, with circular twirls.
The flaky crust may leave some crumbs on the tray or plate, but some find that all the more delightful.
Tiong Bahru Bakery
56 Eng Hoon Street, #01-70, Singapore 160056
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 8pm (Mon – Sun)
You know there are some places you instantly feel connected to, and home-growth brand Tiong Bahru Bakery managed to achieve that for many customers, especially the expat crowd.
Other than their Kouign Amann, their Croissant is generally well loved, with choices of classic Croissant, Almond Chocolate, Almond, Green Tea Almond, and Pain Au Chocolat (my personal favourite is the Green Tea Almond.)
The Croissants are handmade, never frozen, and baked fresh every two hours with French flour and French butter – the butter itself is made from Normandy cow milk which gives the pastry more layered richness. Tiong Bahru Bakery Foothills (Fort Canning)
Bread & Hearth
18 Keong Saik Road Singapore 089125 (10-15 walk from Outram Park MRT)
Tel: +65 65347800
Opening Hours: 7am – 8pm (Mon – Sun)
Their Le Croissant is evidently their signature, made with unbleached flour from France to produce the croissant dough (detrempe) used to laminate the fats (beurrage).
Emphasis was placed on the lamination and folding technique to achieve the best honeycomb pockets within the croissant, in order to be “as European as possible”.
My verdict: There but not quite there yet. Definitely better the average brands, but without the oomph and flakiness of the buttery crust, that to me, defines a good croissant.
Others may like an airy fluffy pastry, and Bread & Hearth’s version goes somewhere in the middle.
Baker & Cook
77 Hillcrest Road Hillcrest Park, Singapore 288951, Singapore
Tel: +65 6469 8834
Opening Hours: 7am – 8pm (Sun – Thurs), 7am – 10pm (Fri – Sat)
Delve into hearty European breakfast and colorful pastries at Baker & Cook.
The best-selling pastry is the Butter Croissant, and founder Dean Brettschneider insists on using Anchor butter from New Zealand.
The butter is said to be made from cows that are raised on lush green pastures and left to wander free-range, which gives the golden churn a richer taste.
Therefore, the Croissants feature delicate layers, and is typically crisp and flaky with light and soft centre.
Maison Kayser
Scotts Square #B1-09, Singapore 228209
Tel: +65 6636 3672
Opening Hours: 8:30am – 7pm (Mon – Fri), 8am – 7pm (Sat – Sun)
Frenchman Eric Kayser from the original Parisian bakery belongs to a 4-generation family of bakers.
Perhaps some do not know the origins of this bakery, which is a joint venture of the two pioneers in bread-making – the original Parisian bakery with the Japanese Kimura family.
Together, they created a croissant which was named the best by Paris’s Figaro newspaper.
Here you will find handmade bread baked in-house daily, early in the morning. What makes the bread special is the use of natural leaven and selected flours.
The dough patiently undergoes a long fermentation process, resting for 12 hours before baking. It is this technique that keeps the bread in buttery and soft.
Swish Rolls
Cluny Court, 501 Bukit Timah Rd, #01-02B, Singapore 259760
Opening Hours: 9:30am – 6pm (Mon – Sun)
Located along the stretch of shophouses at Cluny Court, Swish Rolls shares the same space as hole-in-the-wall Ollella with a striking yellow and pink shopfront.
4 different mini croissants are available: Chocolate Ganache ($3.50), Sea Salt Butter ($1.80), Turkey Ham & Cheese ($3.50) and Almond Frangipane ($3.50).
These are also available in Bags of 5 Sea Salt Butter Croissants ($8) or Premium Mix ($16) with all other flavours.
The Ham & Cheese Croissant ($3.50) is my favourite, using turkey ham, gruyere béchamel sauce within the flaky crust, topped with melted mozzarella & cheddar cheese.
There is a good balance of savoury gruyere béchamel sauce which complements well with the sweet, buttery taste of the croissant.
Chocolate lovers can look forward to the Chocolate Ganache Croissant ($3.50), with molten Valrhona dark chocolate ganache and a tinge of sea salt with cocoa powder for extra indulgence. Swish Rolls (Cluny Court)
Brotherbird Coffeehouse
32 Bali Lane Singapore 189868
Opening Hours: 10am – 4pm (Mon – Tues), 10am – 6pm (Wed – Sun)
Brotherbird Coffeehouse’s Croissant has a texture quite different from all the rest – some love it, some not as much.
There are basically four different groups you can expect from this revamped café – twice-baked croissant, the regular croissants (some pumped with fillings), chocolate series, and Danish pastries.
The more adventurous should try the twice-baked croissant series to experience the lightly-crisp exterior which contrasts with the slightly sticky and chewy mochi slab in the middle.
The inside is made with a glutinous rice flour mix, while the pastry takes a long process of 12 layer folding to create a more flaky texture.
I wished it was overall more fluffy in the middle for a better contrast. Brotherbird Coffeehouse (Bali Lane)
Mr. Holmes Bakehouse Singapore
9 Scotts Rd, Pacific Plaza Level 1 #01-01/02/03, Singapore 228210
Opening Hours: 8am – 8pm (Mon – Sun)
Founded by co-owner and pastry chef Aaron Caddel, Mr. Holmes Bakehouse was first established in 2014 as a humble wholesale bakery along the bustling Tenderhill district in San Francisco, before it catapulted to fame on social media over its cruffins.
The other interesting fact: this Singapore outpost is the only Mr Holmes Bakehouse left in the world (The previous popular SF and Seoul’s outlets have closed.)
Croissant choices include Butter, Matcha, Chocolate, Ham & Cheese, Churro, to more interesting ones of Lemon Meringue Pie, Yellowpink and California. They are priced slightly on the higher side, from $4 to $7.50 for the fanciful fillings.
They seemed to get it right with the flakiness, fluffy inner texture and smooth creamy filling yet not artificial tasting.
Okay. My main qualm about pastries and cakes from America is the sweetness level, but this didn’t go overboard at all. Mr. Holmes Bakehouse Singapore (Pacific Plaza)
Other Related Entries
10 Bolo Bun 菠蘿包 In Singapore
10 Luscious Chocolate Cakes In Singapore
10 Traditional Dessert Shops In Singapore
10 Wonderful Chicken Waffles In Singapore
22 Best Burgers In Singapore
* Follow @DanielFoodDiary on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube for more food news, food videos and travel highlights. DFD paid for food reviewed unless otherwise stated.
