My friend Teena has been telling me about Ganache many times over. You see she is a friend of the owner’s wife and as a croissant fan or fiend, she adores the croissants here. So after a lunch together one day we make our way over to Ganache in Castlecrag. Having undergone a recent renovation earlier this year it looks oh so French in an understated way.
I meet the chef and owner Didier Sockeel who has been feeding the families of the North Shore for almost 8 years now. Formerly from La Renaissance in the Rocks, he has built his own following and on weekends, the lines stretch out onto the street. This Tuesday afternoon it’s hard to find a gap in the crowd to take pictures of the cakes. He tells me that croissants sell out by noon (and the empty croissant case is evidence of this). Almond croissants are usually made from the unsold croissants from the day before but Sockeel has to ensure that some are put away every day in order to make them.
We get an assortment of small cakes to eat in, a Carambar caramel (like the French version of Fantales with jokes instead of trivia printed on the wrapper).
Concord $4.50
The Concord is a delicious, unexpected surprise. With curls of meringue on the outside and a layered carmael and chocolate inside, the mousse filling is light and very smooth on the tongue which contrasts well with the dry meringue curls on the outside.
Charlotte $4.50
The Raspberry Charlotte cake has a raspberry mousse inside and an icing sugar dusted sponge on the outside. The top is particularly good with a strong raspberry taste.
Le insides
The Black and White cake I am told by Teena is one of Didier’s own creations. With a rich chocolate sponge base and a white chocolate mousse layer it is draped in white chocolate.
Carambar 70c
We open the Carambar and it is similar to a baton shaped version of a Fantale chocolate sans the chocolate. It even has a little joke inside (although the Carambar jokes are said to be bad at best) and you get points which you can exchange for Carambar products.
Other purchases by Teena are the pies below.
Beef burgundy pie and chicken pie
My original visit was some time before but I felt that I couldn’t publish this story without trying some of their famous croissants and pain au chocolat. I rang that morning at 11:15am and they had 4 of the original croissants left and 6 of the others so I quickly put some aside for me and came in that afternoon at 1pm to pick them up.
Nicuraguan coffee
Mr NQN enjoys his Nicuraguan Coffee very much.
Almond Croissant
The Almond croissant is deliciously crisp with the syrup providing a little crunch on the outside and the almond cream inside giving it a gooey texture among the crisp, flakey pastry.
Pain au Chocolat
The pain au chocolat is so multilayered and you can see each distinct layer. It’s quite good although I still have a hankering for more of that Almond croissant.
Croissants
We took the croissants home and plied them with the vanilla and cherry jam and ham and cheese and they were buttery, flakey and layered. Worth the trip? Absolutely. But remember to ring and reserve some to avoid disappointment.
So tell me Dear Reader, which is your favourite French pastry? The Croissant, Pain au Chocolate, Eclair or something else entirely?
Ganache Patisserie
85 Edinburgh Rd, Castlecrag, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 9967 2882
Tuesday-Friday, 7.30am-5.30pm; Saturday, 7am-3pm; Sunday, 7.30am-2.30pm
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40 Comments | Add your own
How many nice desserts! delicious!
Especially the caramel meringue one
Ooooh. That’s closeby. That pain au chocolat looks to die for!! Carambars – I haven’t had one for ages, 70c though? Are they still skinny little sticks?
Oh definitely my favourite is pain au chocolat – simple, delicious and not too sweet…
I have a slight obssesion with Croissants. Look at all those beautiful layers. The Almond Croissant would have been my pick.
So now I’m sitting here having my Sunday morning cuppa and wondering if I can get one of those croissants home-delivered right now. That genie who delivers the tim tams should be able to arrange something, no?
I love a good croissant, but the Charlotte would be my pick!
Great story! Though I don’t think I should’ve read it before breakfast – because I’m having massive croissant craving. My favourite pastry has to be the almond croissant – I get mine from my fave patisserie…Pastry Perfection
Definitely pain au chocolate.
I love Ganache – it is wonderful. I am usually one of the people in the weekend queue -which starts from about 7am.
I’d it would have to be the croissant for its simple diversity and it is something so many places get completely wrong in the lack of flaky layers. But, then again, it’s hard to go past a good cream éclair…hehe!
If possible, may we have the cupcakes with purple flowers on top as a wallpaper picture please!
Ganache is one of my fav hangout place, love the pain au chocolat
I want to eat my computer screen. This post nearly brought a tear to my eye. You see 2 years ago an amazing patisserie called Le Petit Prince opened in my nyc neighborhood and I swooned over everything from this place – particularly the almond croissants. They shut down after only 6 months because the fools in my neighborhood didn’t apppreciate it (or the prices.) I was devastated. Not that I can’t make my own…but still
My favourite actor of the day is Willem Dafoe – he is craggily handsome(?) and mysterious
To be honest, before this post I had never even considered replacing my beloved pain au chocolat with any other French pastry posing as if it could ever be as delicious, but I do believe I will now have to try an almond croissant to either sway me or cement me in my decision.
This place reminds me of a patisserie I visited in Perth! Those crossiants look amazing.
my housemate worked here before, he said it was so so so busy.. I would love to try croissants.. looks so good !
I used to make the concorde cake at home! I love that cake! I must say though it is the croissants in all their shapes that titillate me the most! I am dying for a good French bakery here in Dallas. I guess I am gonna have to move!
Wow at all the layers in the croissants! And those cakes look delish too
I don’t think it qualifies as a pastry, but the macarons from La Maison du Chocolat are to die for! Perfectly crispy on the outside, soft and gooey in the centre.
Pastry wise, can’t go past a buttery croissant.
The charlotte looked amazing. I had a delicious quince croissant last week which was very tasty – and not as sweet as the chocolate.
can i buy those carambar lollies if i live in uncivilised part of nsw xx
The different textures on these desserts are just so inviting!
Mmm all of those croissants sound delicious! I love them all, depending on my mood. But a pain au chocolate is always a winner!
Can I live with you for awhile so I can visit such wonderful places? I am just going to have to do some more exploring in my city!
Hugs, Carrie
You have the best job! Eating pastries and lots of other delish things…for a LIVING! Top of my list: pain aux raisin, and I do love palmiers and of course madeleines.
Um…can I say…YUM!!! If only it wasn’t so far away from me (North Shore is a bit too far for a gal from the Western Suburbs – who can’t drive – to travel!)…but..I’m adding it to my ever-growing list of places I want to visit, thanks to you, Lorraine!
I like the sound of the Concord, and I’ve never seen one before. The croissants look amazingly layered – they’re something to cry about on a gluten free diet!
I’m not a big fan of pastry, but those do look amazing…it’s rare to see one properly made like that with all that cool layering!
Ooooh, it has to be the croissant, eaten sweet with even more butter and jam or savoury with ham and cheese or just nibbled at slowly by itself, I always eat the insides first and savour the crunchy flakey outside last!
hi lorraine
if you lke french food come to France !!!
Pierre
I love almond croissants, and everything you chose looked fantastic, I wouldn’t be able to choose which one to try!
that concord looks like a heap of deliciousness and i’ve never seen anything like it before. i’m also quite taken with the flaky layers in the pain au chocolat and croissants. nice find indeed!
hello..bringing u warm greetings from a tropical country..
looking at the shelves.. i guess i end up buying nothing, all looks perfect to me and i will not be able to decide at all.. hahaha..
Oh no, not so early in the morning – I am not allowed to crave this stuff when I am chomping on my chaff (bran cereal). It all looks delightful, especially the cakes. Any French pastry filled with pastry cream wins my vote.
Everything looks incredible, especially that almond croissant! Your description has me wishing I had one in front of me! My fav French pastries are Napoleans…oooh, I wish I had one of those in front of me too!
When we were in France last year I ordered what I thought was an almond croissant and it had chocolate and almond. Surely the work of the devil it was delicious. My 14 month old son got addicted to pain au chocolat. Gamin de Paris in Mosman used to do those beautiful mini ones before they changed hands. sigh
Considering it’s tea time here right now, your post is making me crave croissants of all sorts! Plus that charlotte and the black-and-white-cake…
Quite obviously, I’m a girl who loves her pains au chocolat and almond croissants. :p
Oh i love Ganache Patisserie! So happy you’ve now been there. Didier catered for my engagement and did a fantastic job. Worth the 30min trip for me
I have yet to try their croissants, which look pretty darn good, judging by your pictures. Loved the concord though.
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