Cro — Viennese viral croissants done right
Cro, right in the heart of Vienna, is a ‘croissant café’ that has quickly established itself as one of the stops for a pastry in the Austrian capital. Opened just two months ago by an owner classically trained in French pastry, the goal with this cafe was to bring croissants that both looked sensational as well as being authentic and tasting brilliant. They have certainly achieved that and the joys of the TikTok algorithm propelled them to internet fame almost instantly. Indeed, when we visited just an hour after opening on Saturday morning the crowd was already starting to grow.
Cro has one bakery off the site of the main café and distributes its bakes daily from there to both a takeaway-only location and its larger establishment that we visited. The interior, as you might expect, is primed for social media with catchphrases on the wall and beautifully presented displays complete with Barbie-adjacent pink croissants. Pleasingly though, it remains refined and tasteful where so many other places fall down. Even more importantly, the quality of the product comes first.
I’ve had A LOT of croissants in my time and these are by no means the best. Even though they are baked fresh every morning the pastry isn’t quite as flaky as some and the dough itself doesn’t have the distinctive taste of French butter. More than that, it’s a shame that pastries are kept from the previous day. It might well be that 24 hours later they still do a job but the difference in quality really is noticeable.
I’ve got to say that more than anything the flavour combinations make the offerings here. As is so often the case, pistachio shines — filled with raspberry coulis and then coated in pistachio creme it builds a really intriguing mix of flavours that manages to not be disgustingly oversewed. The vanilla might look the most impressive and there was no skimping on the filling here either to combine with the crunchy meringue top — one of these is very much a breakfast on its own.
Now I know that that’s a lot but I thought I better try one more thing and the Napoleon Cake came highly recommended by our delightful server. This is layer upon layer on intricately constructed sponge cake and cream that is then coated in a nutty biscuit exterior. It wasn’t the best thing we had but the sheer amount of cream means that it avoids the trap that so many Austrian ‘Konditiorei’ fall into of looking stunning but tasting shockingly dry.
Napoleon Cake
Coffee, as you might expect, also plays a huge role at Cro with a carefully picked house blend of arabica and robusta resulting in a well rounded espresso. I love to see an espresso tonic on the menu so couldn’t help but go for one of those — unfortunately though as great as the espresso blend is for espresso, it is too harsh to pair with a sweet tonic. Unusually for the continent, there is cold brew too and it strikes the balance between being refreshing but not too sweet. Other morning tipples include a selection of homemade lemonade and juices made fresh every morning.
Espresso tonic
Perhaps most surprisingly, Cro is actually most popular in the evenings so a wide selection of cocktails and fizz are on hand to create countless classy croissant pairings.
All in all, Cro was a really pleasant surprise. I’ve been to a lot of ‘social media sensations’ in my time and left feeling ripped off and let down. This doesn’t do either of those things. The service was superb, the food delicious, and the coffee genuinely of the highest quality.
