What's cooking this week: find the perfect croissants in Cape Town

The well-respected, American-based epicurean publication Food & Wine isn't wrong in listing Cape Town's Coco Safar among chefs’ favourite croissant makers in the world — I can vouch for the perfection of their pastries. 

This upmarket bakery in Sea Point was mentioned in a recent article titled “Lamination: The Art of the Perfect Croissant”, along with establishments in Tokyo, Australia and Paris, of course.

While visiting Coco Safar I felt like a child in a sweet shop trying to choose between their seven different varieties of croissant — from classic butter to raspberry lychee rose — each as tempting as the next.

My favourite? A chocolate hazelnut croissant. Golden-brown on the outside, it was cloaked in generous chocolate studded with hazelnuts. Inside were feather-light, crispy, flaky pastry layers — lots of them — made with real butter that just melted in my mouth.

Coco Safar is based in the Artem Centre (277 Main Road). For more details visit their website.

• This article was updated on October 16 to make it clear that Coco Safar was only one of several bakeries listed by Food & Wine magazine as those producing amazing croissants.