Chouquette

Overview

'Bonjour!' will be the first thing you hear as you're swept off the street and into this small slice of France. Sending your mind into a momentary panic, you rack your brain for your best French phrases before remembering teleportal is yet to be invented and (sadly) you're still in New Farm, but luckily you've found Choquette.

For those lucky enough to have travelled to France, remembering the quickly adopted daily ritual of visiting Parisian patisseries and boulangeries will have your travel bug rumbling hungry. While a travel addiction can't be cured with a nicotine patch, a good croissant here or there won't hurt.

If you manage to step past the first counter displaying a mouth-watering selection of reasonably priced petit cakes you'll find a selection of pastries, fresh baked artisan bread and the all-mighty coffee machine. We recently crowned Choquette king of Brisbane's best croissant, and rightly so. Offering a huge crispy shell and a soft buttery flesh, it's a definite winner here.

But let's not get off track. To reach a croissant you first have to wade past the likes of the Tarte au Citron ($6.40), a sweet pastry filled with lemon creme and topped with Italian meringue; the  Le Pina Corianas ($7), coconut and pineapple dacquoise, vanilla cremoux with fresh pineapple, coriander and white chocolate; or the Shades of Chocolate stack ($7), a crisp praline feuilletine base with three chocolate mousse layers. One word describes each piece of sweet edible art. Delicieux!

Opened in 2006, owner Lara Simple pulled this slice of France from her family's heritage, and after completing a short patisserie course used her contacts to recruit and convince French chefs and bakers to join her back in Brisbane. I think we owe one big 'merci beaucoup ' to Lara.