Masa Byron Bay — Restaurant in Byron Bay

I had heard rave reviews about this bakery/patisserie. I finally visit the place the other day and ordered a berry crumble pastry and a croissant. Visual all the items on display looked faultless. You can see the laminated layers of pastry in each baked item. The pastries smelt good and had the right textual outside feel. Thats until you bite into and start chewing the pastry. Straight away it seems to butter heavy with greese layering inside your mouth. Then there is a strange rancid butter taste and a slightly burnt taste coating your mouth. Also the pastries I purchased were definitely stale. I would say that they were baked to early in the morning and allowed to sit in the open air drying out. A lot of patisseries in France and in Melbourne Australia have a continuous baking of fresh pastry products throughout the morning. Ensuring the freshest and highest quality products for the customer to consume. I asked the staff member about the countrys origin of the butter that they use. I said is it from Australia or France. Hoping they wouldn't say New Zealand. When the staff member turn to walk back to the counter after asking one of the bakers we both said together New Zealand. As for being a chef who was trained by my father who was rated one of the best pastry chefs on the east coast of America. We both tended not to use New Zealand butter. Due to flavour and butter manufacturing style. Compared with the high quality of Australian, French and Irish butters. I know that with high produce prices and supply chain shortages. Bulk food delivery companies seem to always stock New Zealand butter at a lower price compared to other butters. Meaning that many businesses are stuck with using this quality of product. Definitely try and change to a different butter and you'll see huge improvements to your products. Especially with the taste...

The set up is nice, the coffee is great and the staff are friendly. However only 2 stars because I was disappointed by their croissants. I love croissants and always like trying new places for them so was excited to try this place based on its high reviews. We got there at about 9am and usually for bakeries if you get in early, the croissants are fresh. We had the plain butter croissant and matcha blueberry croissant - both were soft and not crispy. I always get a plain croissant when trying out a bakery that’s meant to be well known for their croissants as it’s their foundation. The plain croissant is not good, I highly recommend against getting it. My friend said it tasted like a Woolies croissant. I’ve never actually had a croissant in Byron yet so I’m comparing it to ones I’ve tried in elsewhere e.g. Sydney. There are not as many layers inside, not as airy, flaky or buttery and like mentioned before not crispy at all. The matcha blueberry had nice flavours but was let down by the soft pastry. We told the staff and we both agreed it’s likely due to the humidity (it sucks for bakers). However Byron is usually quite humid in summer so I thought they’d have ways to deal with it in their baking. The staff said their croissants are normally crispy. Maybe we came...

Where do I start!

We always go here when we go to Byron as they never disapoint in quality and in service!

Place itself is modern industrial that still goves you a spacious feel. A clean open plan bakery/workshop always works!

Fast service- been here whennit’s slow or busy and we never waited for long!

Pastry- 5 stars. They’ve perfected the art and craft of flaky pastry. We love our croissants and we would rate this one of the best (no need to cue for looong lines haha)

Our favorite is their double chocolate croissant, Eggplant Croissant and Pork Scroll (I think).

Double chocolate Croissant- why not.

Eggplant Croissant- personal fave! I mean the savory earthiness of eggplant , that sauce and that pastry ( perfect combos)

Pork Scroll- i think the winner was the sauce on the side. Not sure if it was a smoky tomato cream sauce, or chipotle or both but it the flavors are umami at its finest!

Will always...