The trick to making a perfectly flaky, buttery croissant is to prepare it in the right temperature. At least, that’s what the chef who recently earned the title of having the best croissants in Toronto says.
The Best Croissant and Best Baguette in Toronto competition, held by French Morning Media Group on Oct. 4, bestowed Tangssant Viennoiserie the Grand Prix prize for croissants. The bakery competed against 11 other finalists and a panel of four judges, which included chefs and food writers, determined the winner of the top prize.
Zhaofeng Huang, the head chef of Tangssant Viennoiserie, said he was surprised to have won the competition as he had never competed in an event like that before. His bakery only opened in Toronto in September of last year.
“When I walk by, there are so many amazing bakeries (in Toronto). So, I never think about (how I could) get this prize,” Huang told CTV News Toronto.
Huang didn’t always know he wanted to become a pastry chef. It was hard finding steady work after he graduated from university, Huang said, so instead of working on a lab or sitting in an office, he found part-time work at a bakery.
“I prefer making products by hand,” Huang said.
He says he spent three years working at Mings Bakery in Winnipeg before returning to China to further his skills. Huang then moved to Toronto to attend George Brown, graduating from the baking and pastry arts management program in 2024 before opening Tangssant Viennoiserie in 2025.
The bakery focuses on laminated pastries like croissants and Danishes, and Huang says the name is an amalgamation of the Tang Dynasty, paying homage to his home, and, of course, the croissant.
The 30-year-old says their butter croissants, pain au chocolates and vanilla flans are their most popular menu items.
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“I changed the recipe of our vanilla flan,” he said. “It’s more like a Chinese egg tart, but custard, and our shell of the tarts, we use lamination on it so it’s super flaky.”
Huang says it hasn’t been a fast-growing business, pointing to factors like the store’s location and lack of social marketing as key factors.
“We just … let our product run ourselves,” Huang said. “Many people, they walk by maybe the first time and then they keep coming back. That is how we got (through) our first year.”
It’s why he decided to take part in the competition, Huang says, so he could show Torontonians how good their croissants can be.
The secret to a perfect croissant
Huang says it comes down to preparing croissants in a low temperature. He says he keeps the bakery cooler—partly because of their open kitchen, and partly because the butter needs to be kept at around 20 C.
This is to help keep hand temperatures cooler, Huang says, which run a lot warmer than that temperature.
“We need to control, measure, the temperature of the dough (and) of the butter, so we can make it more perfect,” Huang said.
Tangssant Viennoiserie can be found at 193 Church St., a couple of blocks east of the Toronto Eaton Centre.
