Maison des Lys is New Zealand's first plant-based French patisserie, founded on a simple mission: to show that classic French pastries can be made completely vegan without any compromise on taste or quality. The Mt Eden branch at 403 Mount Eden Road carries that idea into one of Auckland's most loved neighbourhoods, offering handcrafted croissants and pastries made the traditional way — just without the animal products.
Everything is made by hand using carefully chosen ingredients, with an emphasis on traditional techniques, high-quality local ingredients and a strong sustainability focus. The pastries have earned a devoted following: customers describe “perfect lamination”, “super buttery” layers with “delicious fillings”, and, in one reviewer's words, “the best croissant I have eaten in New Zealand”. Even non-vegans rave, with one choosing the vegan ham and cheese croissant “anytime”.
Behind the counter is owner and pastry chef Drissilla, who grew up in France — where the bakery was a daily ritual — and taught herself vegan pastry craft after moving to New Zealand in 2015. Alongside the cafe offer, croissants and pastries can be ordered online, and the business also welcomes wholesale and catering enquiries.
Some bakeries ask you to choose between indulgence and your principles. Maison des Lys was founded precisely so no one has to. Billed as New Zealand's first plant-based French patisserie, it exists to prove one point: that French pastries can be made entirely without animal ingredients, with absolutely no compromise on taste or quality. The Mt Eden branch at 403 Mount Eden Road brings that mission to one of Auckland's most charming village high streets.
The offering is deceptively simple: handcrafted croissants and French pastries, made with carefully chosen ingredients and a high-quality plant-based approach. The pâtisserie's promise is that its “coveted and buttery pastries will transport you to the streets of Paris” — a bold claim for a vegan bakery, and exactly the one customers say it delivers on.
Behind the laminated layers is Drissilla, the owner and pastry chef, who grew up in France, where a trip to the bakery for bread and pastry was a daily ritual. When she moved to New Zealand in 2015 — shortly after embracing a vegan lifestyle — she found herself missing the pastries of home and began experimenting with ways to replace animal products in baking.
She is refreshingly honest about her path: no formal pastry training, just hours spent searching the internet and the library to learn techniques and the properties of ingredients, plus countless failed (and successful) recipe trials. For her, making and sharing food is a love language — there is nothing better, she says, than “a fresh, soft yet flakey croissant dipped in coffee to bring a smile to anyone”.
The courage to turn that passion into a business arrived in 2020, while she was on maternity leave with her daughter Hazel. Going back to work, she says, was scarier than starting a business — so Maison des Lys was born, under the motto “Honestly. Good”.
If there is a single thing to know about Maison des Lys, it is the croissants. Visitors describe “perfect lamination”, “amazing balanced flavors and textures”, and — from one reviewer — “the best croissant I have eaten in New Zealand”. Another fan who has worked through the whole range calls them “super buttery” with “amazing layers and delicious fillings”, naming them the best vegan treats she has ever had — “but you wouldn't know it”.
The item that earns the most rapturous praise is the vegan ham and cheese croissant. One customer who had not eaten a ham and cheese croissant since going vegan three years earlier called trying it “life changing”. Another, a self-described non-vegan, says it deserves special praise and that they would choose it “anytime” — high praise indeed for a pastry made without a gram of dairy.
Beyond the counter, the philosophy stays consistent: traditional techniques, high-quality local ingredients and a strong sustainability focus, all in service of a high-quality plant-based product. Pastries can be ordered online through the website, and the business also welcomes wholesale and catering enquiries — so those croissants can turn up at an office or an event as well as in your own hands.
One practical note: the Maison des Lys website currently publishes opening hours for its Grey Lynn store (Thursday–Friday 8am–1pm, Saturday–Sunday 8am–2pm), while hours for the Mt Eden branch are not listed online — worth confirming before you set out.
For vegans, Maison des Lys is a small miracle: a place to eat a ham and cheese croissant again after years without. For everyone else, it is simply a very good French patisserie, full stop — the kind where the lamination is perfect and the fact that everything is plant-based is the room's best-kept secret. That combination of French roots, self-taught craft and quiet stubbornness is what has made this little pâtisserie one of Auckland's most talked-about bakeries.