Pain au Chocolat vs Croissant
Pan Pan's two best-known laminated pastries, compared on taste, texture, and when to choose each.
On the counter at Pan Pan, two classics sit side by side every morning: the Croissant and the Pain au Chocolat (Пан чоколат). They look related, the dough is the same buttery laminated dough, but the bite is different, and it’s worth knowing why before you choose.
The Croissant is a clean expression of laminated dough craft. Layers of dough and butter, folded and rolled repeatedly, are baked until the outside turns crisp and golden while the inside stays soft and airy, with visible thin layers when you tear it open. The flavour is direct, buttery, lightly salted, with nothing masking the dough itself. That makes the Croissant a choice for anyone who wants to taste the dough on its own, without another element competing for attention.
The Pain au Chocolat starts from the same base, but before the final folds, strips of chocolate are placed inside the dough, usually running along its length, so that during baking the chocolate softens and leaves warm, slightly bitter pockets running through the pastry. The shape is elongated rather than the crescent shape of the classic Croissant, and the crust outside is just as crisp. The combination of buttery dough and chocolate makes it a heavier, sweeter bite, suited to anyone after something more than the dough alone.
So when do you pick one over the other? If you drink your coffee unsweetened and want the pastry not to compete with the coffee’s bitterness, the classic Croissant is the more natural pairing, butter and coffee sit well together. If instead you want a pastry that’s enough on its own to satisfy a craving for something sweet, the Pain au Chocolat suits better, especially alongside a Caffè Latte or Specialty Filter Coffee, where the milkiness balances the chocolate’s bitterness.
Both pastries demand the same careful process: cold dough, precise folding of butter through multiple layers, and baking at the right temperature to get the contrast between crisp crust and soft interior. Neither is “better” than the other, they simply serve a different purpose on the table.
If you’re new to Pan Pan, a good idea is to try both in the same morning, split between two people, to feel the difference directly. The team behind the counter can always tell you which pastry was baked fresh that morning.
Both pastries are available at the Pan Pan shops in Aerodrom and Kapistec.