Luque : San Sebastián, Spain
If you know me at all you know I am way too demanding when it comes to pastries and baked goods. I consider this both a curse and a blessing. My cross to bear. Almost nothing really gets me excited in this dessert desert I call home. So, when something does, I have to share!
This is Luque, a bakery that opened in 2020 right in my neighborhood of Gros. Their specialty is puff pastry, which I am actually usually pretty blasé about, but theirs is so good and always so fresh that it gets me out of the house!
This is Dani Luque’s first solo project. He’s a pastry chef from Malaga, with a long, laundry list of fine dining experience in the pastry world. He first came to San Sebastián to serve as pastry chef of the Hotel Maria Cristina, where I originally met him and tried his rendition of afternoon tea (it was lovely).
Now, he mans the small pastry shop with a limited but lovely selection.
Luque basically deals in three categories: puff pastry, tea cookies, and fancy tarts and mini cakes. This means you can find a selection of croissant-ish items, stuffed with everything from pistachio cream to chocolate to cinnamon to praliné cream. This isn’t usually the kind of thing that gets me empassioned, but the puff pastry is just so good, it really is worth stopping by and grabbing some to go with breakfast.
It could very well be one of the best in the city, and is what I always get. My favorite is the caracol, the swirly one with raisins and cinnamon.
They also have an amazing-looking selection of cookies, from homemade speculoos to white chocolate dipped pistachio bites to homemade marshmallows. They are pricey, so I am waiting for my birthday to treat myself, but my experienced eye can tell they’ll be amazing.
They also have some of the city’s prettiest fancy little tarts. It’s a great spot for a special occasion sweet. Dani is still innovating all over town—he usually makes limited edition flavors for important dates, and also continues to provide the Hotel María Cristina, as well as restaurants about town. This is a great neighborhoo spot to grab a breakfast to go.
