Location: 1183 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://geste-croissant.com/

I love croissants.  I mean, who doesn’t?  They’re crispy, they’re fluffy, they’re buttery, they can be sweet, they can be savoury… they’re one of the world’s perfect foods, and there are few things more delightful than eating a really great one.

Well, Geste Croissanterie specializes in the stuff, and as you’d hope, they’re great.  I tried a sweet one and a savoury one, and they were both seriously delicious.

I started with the smoked salmon sandwich, which they make with a croissant that’s been formed into a ring like a bagel.  The croissant itself is top-notch; it’s super flaky and buttery, with a great contrast between the crispy exterior and the tender interior.  But the rest of the sandwich isn’t an afterthought, with some seriously good smoked salmon that’s definitely a cut above the stuff you can buy at the supermarket.

But it was the pistachio pain au chocolat (which the man behind the counter said is their most popular item — and I can absolutely see why) that really blew me away.  I’m sure it helped that it was clearly super fresh, but oh man this was easily one of the best things I’ve eaten in a while.

It features that same outstanding croissant base, which is filled with tasty chocolate and a gooey pistachio paste (I wish I had taken a picture of the interior so you could see how glorious it is).  It’s very sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and the balance of all of the components is absolutely perfect.  It’s so good.