La Bonne Bakery — Restaurant in Sydney

We dropped by La Bonne Bakery early morning (early by our standards) and were greeted warmly with a smile — always a good start. It’s a small, charming boulangerie with rustic wooden interiors that give off a cozy, inviting vibe. Ambience: 4/5

The Food: La Bonne has a solid selection of baked goods, balancing sweet and savoury. Here’s what we tried: Plain Butter Croissant – A bakery’s true test, and they did fairly well. Flaky, buttery, and light. While the honeycomb structure inside wasn’t perfect, it was still satisfying. One small gripe — the croissants seemed brushed with a slightly sweet glaze, which masked some of that rich, salty butter flavour I personally love. Still, a good croissant. Pretzel – 4.5/5 Beautiful deep colour (thanks to that lye water, presumably), great chew, and perfectly salty. One of the highlights. Canelé – 4/5 Visually spot on — dark caramelised exterior with a custardy, soft centre. Well-executed. Coffee (Skinny Cap) – 3.5/5 Decent, but slightly off-balance. Not bad, but the baked goods definitely outshone the coffee.

Overall: La Bonne is a lovely little bakery worth visiting if you’re around North Sydney. Great pastries, cozy vibe, and friendly service. A few small tweaks and it could be next...

Two months ago I wrote this: Great Walnut Tarts though quality differs from day to day. I bought one yesterday that looks like someone had been nibbling on it and the pastry was very uneven in thickness. Still, it did taste good.

EDIT (two months after the above): Today I took a friend to this cafe and the walnut tart was burnt; the crust hard as a rock and the filling tasted like charcoal. I told the waitress who said, ' I don't know anything about it; I wasn't here and I have not looked at it' and rushed away and never came back. I tried to wash the taste out of my mouth with the coffee to find that she burnt the coffee too! It was disgustingly bitter.

My friend had an almond croissant that was also disappointing - it was just an ordinary croissant with a very thin layer of almond topping with very few bits of...

Boulangerie and Viennoiserie. Serving endless variety of pastries and breads. Constantly replenished during the day. Can't name a favourite, I keep discovering new textures and flavours every week. Croissant dough is well executed and in my personal opinion, one of the best in Sydney. Taken to another level on treats like apple custard. Recently added waffles (plain, chocolate, berries) to die for. Sam and Kate provide a pleasant and perfectly looked after experience when you visit them. Currently my go to place for bread, pastry and coffee - large...