A ‘Lune’ Adventure, Elwood

Lune Croissanterie
http://www.lunecroissanterie.com/
29-31 Scott St Elwood
03 9077 6463

Your alarm rings. You manage to roll over, pick up the phone, check the time. 6:45? What follows is a moment of confusion. It’s a weekend. Turning the alarm off, you roll straight back over to embrace a sleep-in before sitting bolt upright. The sheets are thrown off and you’ve never got dressed so fast in your life. In fact, you are already salivating at the very thought.

You pile into the car bleary eyed but excitable and pull out the map. You don’t even know where Elwood is let alone how to get there and especially not how to navigate its residential back streets. The sun is still rising and the roads empty; the rest of the world were smarter and took up that sleep-in offer. But then you arrive in Scott St, Elwood and realize that no, everyone is not sleeping in. It appears that the rest of Melbourne had the same idea.

The tiny hole-in-the-wall storefront won’t open until 8 yet the line already snakes itself around the corner at 7:30. You join at the back and size up the competition. How many will each order? Will the lovely Lune sell out before I even make it to the front? The smell of baking and fresh butter waft down the road. It is a very real truth that arriving from 8:15 onwards will have you scraping the barrel with the leftovers or missing out altogether. She’s a popular lady.

Without speaking a word to them, you come to know the others in the line well. What are they ordering? What coffee do they drink? Which members of their family are gluten or lactose intolerant and therefore miss out on the morning’s treasure? Around 7:45, the door opens, breaths are held and a young, long-haired man emerges carrying empty coffee cups. May I take your coffee order in the line as you wait? I nearly give him a hug as I request my long black and within minutes it is delivered. Steaming and refreshing, within minutes my mood has improved and the hour long wait no longer seems so unmanageable as coffee has me entertained.

The doors officially open at 8 and eager customers start placing their requests. As you wait far down the line, people wander past carrying that elusive brown paper wrapped box with looks of triumph on their face. We made it. Due to the nature of the service, the line does not move fast. Only a one man window operates and the experience is personal, careful and welcoming. Despite the popularity, there is no sense of rush or panic. You have been given a menu to peruse as you wait but nothing will prepare you for the spoils you see and the adrenaline you feel as you reach the front of that line. The options feel endless even though there are fewer than ten. The choice is made, the delicacies paid for and you walk away bearing that same grin as your predecessors.

Lune is not the place to sit for hours gossiping over endless frothy cappuccinos. A lack of space and seats honours the kiss and run approach but also reveals the arduous task that is making it home without ruining the treasure. If you’re not driving, you prepare yourself for the most important balancing act you’ll ever experience, complete with anticipating corners and red lights. Your cargo is precious.

Finally, you’re home. Plates are drawn, the kettle is boiled and finally you pull that brown paper bag so carefully from the box. The early morning, the freezing cold, the hour long wait and the stressful drive home all amount to this moment; and suddenly it all feels worth it.

Lune Croissants have blown out of the water. I don’t know how she does it but a combination of engineering precision (not surprising as, in a past life, the mastermind Kate Reid was an aeronautical engineer), creativity and passion deliver crisp, buttery pastries that crumble to nothing on your tongue. Her own invention, the cruffin (croissan-muffin) plays with combinations like silky, tangy yuzu and lime or the ‘bomber’ with choc mousse and raspberry jam. The flavours change up weekly but the quality remains stellar. Memories of patisseries in France flood back and my heart, tongue and stomach melt at first bite.

Making the trek down to Lune is a great adventure, with emotional highs, lows and a great sense of fun and achievement. When you finally have your pastries in your hot little hands, you most definitely deserved them. I’m just worried now that this is going to become a habit: goodbye Saturday morning sleep-ins!