The croissant is an indispensable part of any breakfast, n’est-ce pas? But trying to track one down in Kyiv is a real battle! I am talking about a real croissant, a little calorific bomb made from 100 percent pure butter, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Totally incognito, it hides out in back street bakeries. Some of these bakeries are so secret that you can only find out about them by word of mouth. This is the case for ‘Coquelicot’ a bakery with no visible signs outside, in a basement, a stone’s throw from the French Lycee. The croissants here are the ‘madeleine’ of the French community, a little bit of France which instantly heal their homesickness. The bakery also offers a savoury ham and cheese croissant served with a green salad, which is great for lunch on the go.
Moving on to another area, this time not far from Saint-Nicolas’s Cathedral, the bakery ‘Gregoire’ has excellent pastries which you can either eat-in (with a freshly squeezed juice), or take-away. In Podil, at Picnic, they have a sublime almond croissant with marzipan filling and nuts on top.
At ‘La Fabrique’, a tea-room and bakery, the croissants are very tasty and if you get lucky, sometimes ones can even get their hands on a sugar topped brioche, a veritable delight, which even the tiniest children go mad for. In this place, like at Wolkonsky’s, you can find a ‘palmier’, a heart shaped crispy croissant-like biscuit sprinkled with caramelized sugar.
Luckily you’ll soon have your bulky winter coats on again, so a few extra kilos can be easily hidden. So no need to hold back on discovering the delights of a good croissant!
Coquelicot: Olesia Honchara street 50/1
Gregoire: Velyka Vasylkivska 67/7
Picnic: Kyrylivska street 15/1A
La Fabrique: Bulvarno-Kudriavska street 19
Wolkonsky: several places in Kyiv http://wolkonsky.com/
