Location: 215 Madison Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://shop.morocochocolat.com/

People: this is not a drill.  The chocolate hazelnut croissant at MoRoCo Chocolat is mind-blowing.  It’s the best pastry I’ve had in a long, long time, and yes — I’m including my recent ten-day trip to Paris.  It’s an all-timer.

Everything about it is amazing: you’ve got the croissant itself, which is buttery and flaky and delicious.  There’s the perfectly crispy sweet hazelnut topping, which is basically like the topping of an almond croissant, only with hazelnuts, and which goes perfectly with the rich, chocolately filling.

And the icing on the metaphorical cake?  The absolutely astonishing custard, which might have been the best custard I’ve ever had.

And I mean, who expects custard in a croissant like this?  It’s weird, right?  But good weird.  The best weird.  It’s what pushed this over the top and made it one of the best damn things I’ve eaten in such a long time.  It was creamy and rich, with a flavour that I can only describe as the platonic ideal of custards.  It’s the kind of custard that makes all other custards taste like garbage, because it’s so damn perfect.

It took something that was already delicious and made it crazy delicious.

I’m not sure why you’re even still reading this when you should clearly be driving/walking/sprinting to MoRoCo to buy one.  Just be warned: after taking a couple of bites and realizing that this was the best thing ever, I promptly went back into the store so I could buy another one or two (or three).  But that was it.  Apparently they only make one or two a day.  So get there early.  It’s worth it.