In this informal vlog, host Julia (Speaker A) and her friend Noah, a Victoria local, set out to discover the best croissant in Victoria, BC. They begin by sharing how they met at a Shabbat dinner and decide to turn their friendship into a foodâtasting adventure. The duo outlines a sixâpoint rating systemâappearance, size, texture, interior, taste, and priceâand explains that they will evaluate each croissant against these criteria. Starting at Crust Bakery, they note a goldenâbrown exterior but a lack of buttery flavor, assigning a combined score of 2.5. Throughout the day they encounter supply problems: many bakeries are sold out because they began late on a Sunday, limiting the number of samples. They continue to Oak Bay, where they sample a flaky, buttery croissant (rated around 3.5) and discuss the importance of the threeâcolor crust as a quality cue. At COBS, they find a cheap, breadâlike croissant (rated 1.5) and comment on its suitability for sandwiches. A brief stop at Tim Hortons yields a lowâcost croissant that scores high on value for money. Along the way they learn that some shops bake inâhouse while others import preâmade croissants, affecting freshness and taste. The vlog concludes with reflections on the challenges of a Sunday search, a recommendation to try Goodside Bakery (which they missed due to sellâout), and a summary of their overall journey, emphasizing that timing and local knowledge are key to finding quality pastries in Victoria.
Chapters
How do we meet type of thing.
We're really judgmental. There were no croissants. We went everywhere.
It's not that buttery. Would this be a 1?
Oh no, there's worse croissants out there.
Yeah.
If this is the best, we're going to have a very sad day. French would be mad. We're local, super, um, terrible.
I'm doing this. Okay.
Are we live?
We're live. We are live. Hi everyone, so I'm here with my my friend Noah. Hi! And we're gonna be going on a journey and trying to find the best croissants in Victoria. But before we start, a little kind of like, how do we meet type of thing? Because do you want to go?
I'll go. Yeah, yeah, we wentâ we met at a, uh, Shabbat dinner. Um, I don't think either of us are Jewish, but we hadâ I had friends there, and I think she just saw it and was like, I want to make friends with them.
Yes, well, because I was a part of the Jewish community back at my university, and also my, myâ on my mom's side, my mom's grandpa is Jewish. Oh, like, so I'm like 12%, but still, like, I'm more of an ally to like the Jewish community, right? Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, apparently I am now too becauseâ yeah, but yeah, so we met there, which is hilarious.
And it's nice because like it really only takes one social gathering to find likeâ find a friend, like find someone you can spend time with. It doesn't really take lots ofâ
no, you just have to talk to people.
And talking with people through like food and eating tasting is just the best way.
And wine, and really good wine.
Oh my God, I think like, I genuinely think I got like kind of drunk. I don't know, I felt like I, like I drank a little bit more.
You had, she had like 2 glasses of wine. I did.
Did I? I think so.
But you don't drink, do you?
I don't drink.
Oh my gosh.
But yeah, and like it was like, oh my God, like let's just definitely hang out. And I thought this is like a super great idea to do a little food tasting video because I'm sure you also love food.
I do love food, and I'm a Victoria local, so I can help out, right?
Exactly, he's a Victoria local. And do you also like croissants? Would you say?
I love croissants. I have a problem with croissants.
Oh my gosh, okay. I feel like I haven't had too many croissants, soâ what? Yeah, like, back at my, like, hometown, I would never go to a bakery to get, like, croissants. Like, that was never something I thought of doing. It's such a shame. I know, like, I have never explored any, like, bakeries in my hometown, so I'm doing it now here. So let's start with, um, we have a few we want to go to. But the thing is though, I know Noah, you said that it's a Sunday and it's like 1:20 right now, so a lot of places could be sold out. So hopefullyâ
hopefully they're not.
What do you think? Do you think like there's a chance?
I think it's like a 50/50 shot.
Okay, okay, we're gonna try to walk around to a few. And then also, it's nice you have a car, so I do.
I'll drive us.
So good.
Yeah, we're not showing my car on here though, it's ugly.
Okay. We're censoring the car. We're blurring the car.
Oh my God.
So in terms of how to rate croissant, so there's going to be 5 different things we're going to be looking for. The first thing we're going to be judging the croissant on is of course appearance, so how golden brown it is. And then we're going to be looking at size, so how big of a croissant it is. And then texture, so the croissant should be flaky and crumbly, and then the interior should be soft and airy. And then taste, How good does it taste? And it should kind of have a buttery taste as well. And then lastly is the price. So is it worth the price we're paying? Keeping in mind the prices in Victoria are pretty high, so it's going to be on the more expensive side. But yeah, these are all the ratings. Let's do this, guys. Bye! Okay everyone, hopefully you can hear us. We just bought our first croissant from a bakery called Crust Bakery. Yes, but it was really busy inside and like the seating there is like there's pretty much no seating.
It's a bar seating, but the bar is about this thin, so there.
Yeah, so we just decided to come outside first. Noah was so kind to buy us London fogs, which is a new treat I discovered here in New York.
You didn't know about that?
I've never heard of London fogs before.
No? Yeah. Okay, wow.
Let's take a sip.
Mm, what do we think? Oh my God, it's good, right?
So milky, so amazing. And now for the croissant, you guys. Wow, let's talk about the appearance first. It's golden brown.
Yeah, it is, it is. I do think you get the, like, you get the brown, you got the kind of golden color, but I don't really see any, like, sheen. Size?
Yeah, size is likeâ I think it's big. Oh my God, it's likeâ
that looks good.
Like, yeah.
Oh, are we doing this together?
Yeah.
Okay, look at it.
That was a good break. That was like right in the middle.
Go team!
Okay, so it's Flaky.
It's a little denser than I thought it would be. Yeah, like normally it's a little bit likeâ I don't know how to explain, like it's kind of doesn't have the smoothâ
it doesn't have, yeah, like the pulling apart.
Oh my gosh, yeah, kind of doughy.
Kind of doughy.
Yeah, we're really judgmental. Hmm, this is very Victoria croissant. French would be mad.
Really?
Like, I don't think that this is like a French croissant, but I think that it's pretty good for like a Victoria. No, would you buy it again?
No, no, I wouldn't. It's not that buttery.
Mm-mm.
Like, you want to know, you want to like, you want it to rip apart.
Yeah, it's bread. Like, it's good bread. I wouldn't be upset if I bought this because I was craving a croissant. I definitely recommend the sweet stuff. Maybe not the croissant. So in terms of the croissant rating, I would give this a 2.5 or a 3, to be honest.
Yeah, I would give it like a 2.
Oh. Okay, so maybe a 2.5 combined rating.
2.5. Okay, our combined rating is a 2.5, guys.
We are the most judgmental people in Victoria today. If this is the best, we're going to have a very sad day. Yeah, yeah.
Let's go to our next one.
See you later.
Yay, we found croissants!
Finally! Finally, guys! 2 hours later.
Literally 2 hours later. So like Noah mentions in the next clip, We went to around like 5 cafes, bakeries in total, and there were zero croissants available because again, we started very late in the day. Everything was sold out. So if you are watching this to find the best croissant in Victoria, then it's probably not the best video to get all this info from because we did not go to the best places. I do recommend Goodside Bakery. I heard a lot of good things about it, and some people said the croissants there are amazing, so good side of year-round. We didn't go there because again sold out, but yeah.
So we've been to about 5 cafes. Um, unfortunately we forgot to take photos. There were no croissants. We went everywhere.
Luckily you had a great idea to come to more of the elderly, quiet, quiet part of town. It's called Oak Bay. It's definitely a lot more quieter. It's inâ so if you're in Victoria on a Saturday or Sunday and you want to find baked goods at like 3 PM.
3 PM, Dry Hawk Tavios in Oak Bay, I think. And the whole strip down here, I mean, pretty much everything closes at like 4 in Oak Bay, which is a downside.
But feel it, it's like, oh my God, it's likeâ
oh yeah, this is like what I wasâ this is kind of like the ones at Duo that I was telling you about. Okay, we went to another cafe, it was no croissants, but this is like as it should be, I think.
That should be okay.
All right, should we split it? Yeah, you can just see like how itâ this is what we wanted from the other place.
Yes. Awesome.
Like, this is the actual flaky.
It's flaky finally, and it smells buttery.
It does.
It has all the colors, the 3 colors.
We're looking 3 colors. Oh my gosh, you know a croissant by the ends. You gotta try the ends.
Okay, that's okay. This is crispy. Crispy on the outside, soft.
It's a tiny bit dry, but it might be because we're getting the afternoon. Yeah, not exactly perfect, but it's way better than the other one.
Let's try the tempura.
What do we think for ratings?
Okay, well, this was $6, so value for money should be lower.
Yeah, like, I wouldn'tâ would not pay $6 for for a croissant. I don't think that's like, I think it's just a little insane. Maybe it's like a 3 for value for money. Like I could see myself buying this if I really wanted a croissant.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Texture, pretty good.
Texture's like a 4.
4, yeah. Last place we rated a 3, like in total 3.5 was it?
I think last place was a 2.5. Oh yeah, 2.5. 3.5?
3.5, yeah.
This is definitely a 3.5, I think. I still think there's better out there. We might not find it.
Yeah, true. Because one thing I also just learned is that, so there's some, like, there's bakeries that make them in-house, and then there's cafes that import them.
Like, they buy them.
Yeah, they buy them. I didn't know this. So would this be in-house?
Yeah, for sure. Like, if it's not in-house, like, then they still have like an actual bakery supplying it, whereas a lot of them they just buy like the bagged stuff and then they unbag it and put it out. So this is like, definitely tastes like it was made like today or yesterday.
So, okay. Yeah, okay, this is definitely the go-to if you want to go at a busy time like a Sunday. All right, try your next one.
Next one, I hope.
Okay, so we're in Noah's car right now.
Yes, we are. We're in Oak Bay still.
We're still in Oak Bay and we went to COBS. Okay, so it's not a bakery. Wait, it's a bakery.
It's a bakery. It's like, it's like a kind of a chain, but I don't know if it's ever like outside of Victoria very much. But they do like their own baking, so it's a real bakery and they're known for their bread. Very, um, oh, there it is. Yeah, it's very light color, little, little flat, not quite as brown as the other ones. It's a croissant.
It was $3.50.
$3.50, I'm not gonna complain. Oh, this is looking almost like the first one.
And also, what was I gonna say?
Feels a little bready. Yeah, but that's okay, it's a croissant. All right, cheers.
Cheers.
That is not crisp.
It's like bread, it's not crispy.
This would be a good croissant for a sandwich.
Yes. Um, the first one, how much was the first one?
$4.50.
Okay, we can see how this is probably the cheapest we got so far.
Yeah, this is probably cheapest other than Tim's you're gonna find, but I think that I would pay the extra dollar for the first one over this one.
Yeah, can this be a 1?
Well, no, there's worse croissants out there. Yeah, you've never had a worse croissant? Oh my God. Okay, maybe we give it a 1.5.
1.5. Yeah. Yeah. We're at our last place.
Very exciting spot.
Very exciting, guys.
Don't know if you can recognize. Super local, superâ They didn't have plain croissants left, so we got a cheese one, but it's just cheese on the outside anyway. So we'll just try to ignore that in our judgment.
Yes, right? And there seem to beâ
This honestly looks better. Cheers!
Cheers!
I love Tim's croissant. I think that this is a 5 out of 5 value for money. Like, not for the other stuff, but for the value, because I think that $2.60 for this quality is fine. That is like reallyâ
the cobb spread we got, that was like the worst croissant.
This is a 2.5, all things considered. Okay, maybe, maybe we should give the downtown one a 3.
Okay, downtown a 3, and then this is a 2.7. Yes, let's do it. Let's do it. Okay.
Good luck figuring out our scores at the end of this. Editing is not going to be fun. Yeah, you can't see outside, but like, because it looks bright, but it's not. The sun's setting. It's like, what time is it right now? I think it's like 5.
What time?
Yeah, 4:20. But we started at 1. Yeah.
This was a journey, guys.
This was a journey. This would have been much more productive on like a Tuesday morning. Yeah.
Thank you so much for watching, everyone. This is so fun.
Thank you for putting up with our crazy positivity. We're so positive. Oh my gosh.
