Earlier this month, Melbourne’s internationally famed croissanterie Lune finally expanded interstate – but to Queensland, not NSW. Sydney’s loss was Brisbane’s gain when the superstar croissant-maker opened in a gleaming new space in South Brisbane, across the river from the Queensland capital’s CBD.

“The site in Sydney requires a lot of restoration,” Lune co-owner Kate Reid told Broadsheet at the time. “And delays started happening – one month, two months, six months. Suddenly, we had this GM and all of these processes in place ready to go north and expand, but the site wasn’t available.”

It was meant to be the other way round. When Kate Reid, brother and co-owner Cam Reid, and business partner Nathan Toleman were originally shown the South Brisbane site in February 2020, they loved it. But the timeframe for the build was identical to Sydney’s.

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Then came those delays.

“In September last year we were like, ‘We’re kind of ready to go,’” Kate said. “And then we thought, ‘I wonder what’s going on with the site in Brisbane?’ So we reached out … and within two days we had a lease signed.”

But never fear, Lune is still coming to Sydney. Cam Reid confirmed to Broadsheet this morning that the intention is for the croissanterie to be open by “late 2022 or early 2023”, but he remained tight-lipped on a location.

If you know Melbourne’s food scene, you know Lune. The croissanterie has turned heads internationally, with the New York Times asking in 2016, “Is the world’s best croissant made in Australia?”

Originally opening in a tiny Elwood hole-in-the-wall in 2012, Kate Reid called upon her background, working as a Formula 1 aerodynamicist and a stint studying the meticulous art of raw pastry-making in Paris, to produce buttery, flaky croissants served fresh from the oven. She soon had people queueing for pastries before sunrise.

In 2015 Kate opened Lune Croissanterie 2.0 with Cam and Toleman, a prolific restaurant and cafe operator (Common Ground Project, Liminal and many more). This is the Lune most Sydneysiders would be familiar with, housed in an expansive converted warehouse in Fitzroy’s backstreets. It was soon joined by a satellite outlet in Melbourne’s CBD.

Lune South Brisbane opened at the beginning of August. Cam says the opening has been a success, despite an awkwardly timed snap lockdown, with (socially distanced) queues outside the Hogg & Lamb-designed shop seven days a week.