The best croissants in Jozi (and quite possibly the world)
Happy Monday friends!
I hope you all had a great weekend. I did a restaurant review at Thunder Gun (best ribs ever, go there), lunched at Park Cafe (delish salads, my favourite part of which is the torn Italian bread served on the side), and had dinner at Wolfpack last night. Full blog posts on the first 2 will be up soon. I also did a radio interview about Jozi’s foodie scene with Pabi Maloi on Power FM last night, and then I studied in between all of that.
I’m going through tons of changes in my life at the moment – thanks to all of you who have enquired about how our plans to move are going. I’m definitely going to write a detailed post on the process and how to go about moving so look out for that in the next month or so.
Today’s post is about CROISSANTS. I’m such a sucker for a good pastry, and I’m happy to report that I’ve found the BEST (in my opinion at least) croissant in Jozi. It beats the croissants I’ve tasted in both Paris and Buenos Aires, and everywhere else for that matter. I have to thank my colleague, Chris, who introduced me to these croissants, by bringing a box into the office every week.
Where do you find this deliciousness? At Cafe De La Creme in Melville. Croissants come out of the oven at around 7am, and its best to pick up your fix soon after.
The almond croissant is the single best pastry I’ve ever had. It’s soft and buttery inside and slightly crisp on the outside, with a sugary almond paste in the centre and roasted flaked almonds + dusted icing sugar on the top. Don’t even try going after 9am on the weekends unless you’ve ordered in advance, they’ll be sold out. The chocolate and plain croissants are good but nowhere near as amazing as the almond ones.
For a mere R12, you can treat yourself to THIS: 
I haven’t tasted anything else on offer, but apparently the gingerbread men and lemon baked cheesecake are also delish.
Cafe De La Creme Contact Details:
Open Mon 7am – 5pm, Tue- Sat 7am-7pm, Sun 8am- 7pm
Address: Corner 4th Avenue and 7th Street, Melville
Contact 011 726 7716.
So try it, and let me know what you think?
xx H
March 18, 2014 @ 1:53 pm
I will mos def try them out, I am just a stones throw away from Melville.
November 24, 2014 @ 1:29 pm
I don’t think i can agree on this one. For me these croissants are slightly underdone, more doughy than flakey/crispy.
Also a there is no such thing traditionally as a “chocolate croissant”. What you should normally have is a Pain au Chocolat. The problem i have with “chocolate croissants” like these is that they drizzle cheaper chocolate on top of a regular croissant, where with Pain au chocolate you should have a cylinder of good quality darker chocolate at the centre of the croissant pastry.
Haven’t found a good one in Johannesburg yet. Best in Cape Town/SA (for me) is Jasons Bakery on Bree street followed by Jordans Bakery. Also very good ones from Il de Pain in Knysna, and Le Fornil in Plett.
You should try all these out if in the neighbourhoods and let me know your thoughts
November 25, 2014 @ 5:12 am
Hi Jared, thanks so much for the comment. I love getting recs from fellow foodies! Completely agree, a good pain au chocolate is way better than a chocolate croissant. I guess my review on de la creme was more around my personal taste and less about what a traditional croissant should taste like. I have tried Jason Bakery and think it’s superb – am yet to try the others. Thanks again for this!
November 25, 2014 @ 8:25 am
The best thing in this “sort of” field in Johannesburg is the Cronut from Juniper at Hobarts Centre.
They make 2 and both are good, chocolate and caramel. Its a ring of croissant pastry filled with Creme Patisierre, then covered by either chocolate, or caramel and roasted hazelnuts. The caramel is far superior for me at least.
Although the market for Cronuts is small still in SA this is the best. Guaranteed. And it is quality croissant pastry. Otherwise i tried Patisserie de Paris in Blairgowrie which i remember being quite good, however it wasn’t etched in my memory, so won’t say its amazing just yet. Probably worth a try if in the area though.
I see some reviews on Argentinian are good, but haven’t tried yet. Had lunch at Cafe Liege, and breads seemed very good, but food was not good at all, while pastries looked the part but were overly fatty and sugary.
I see you are at INSEAD so if you get the opportunity in Paris, try the Pain au Chocolat from Gerard Mulot and Ble Sucre, macaroons and eclairs from Laduree, the mille feuille and tart citron from Pierre Herme, and baguette from Eric Kayser. Will give you good reference point for future…..
November 25, 2014 @ 11:01 am
Wow Jared, thanks so much! I haven’t tried the cronut from Junipas. Is it better than Belle’s? Everyone loves Patisserie de Paris but I’m not such a fan.
Have not heard of Cafe Liege..
I love Laduree’s macarons and I’ve also been to Pierre Herme, but have not yet tried the others. Definitely will look into those for when I arrive in Paris in March. Thanks once more
November 25, 2014 @ 1:09 pm
Haven’t tried Belle’s yet. If you recommend it though I’ll give it a try and revert. Truthfully JHB is is lightyears behind Cape Town is most departments, so I find myself disappointed most often. Nowhere is JHB does patisserie as well as Cassis, Jason, Jordans Bakery, Cafe Milano (now closed), Lindt Studio even in CT just to mention a few.
What JHB does well though is “community” restaurants. I.e. Portuguese, italian, greek etc.
In this department when you are back in JHB try Beirut. Just a couple stores down from Thomas Maxwell. Its clean, but when you go in it is often super quiet. Might leave you thinking “i’m not in Kansas anymore”, but the food is ultra fresh, clean, lebanese. Kills me that this place is not always full! Anyway, id be interested in you doing a review on this place. Try Houmus, Baba Ganoushe, Tabouleh, Fried Kebhi, and chicken kebabs. Raw Kebhi is feeling adventurous)
P.S. Sorry for posting this here, but thought id pass it on while the chat was going….
November 27, 2014 @ 10:59 am
Hi Hasmita Nair
You have to check out and review the following places
-Neighbour goods market and surrounding venues in Braamfonteing
– Bryanston Farmers Market
– Maboneng Precinct
November 28, 2014 @ 7:10 am
Hi Ben- thanks for that. You must be new to Jozilicious because you’ll find reviews on all of those on this site