We dragged ourselves out of bed for YIN on a Saturday! Woke up at 8, left the house at 8:30, standing outside the shop at 8:50. About four groups ahead of us, queued roughly ten minutes, and there was easy street parking nearby, which we did not expect at all.
Is YIN Viennoiserie worth the early start
Yes, and the lemon tart is most of the reason. It’s a small bakery at Shop 13, 131-145 Glebe Point Road, Glebe (address on Apple Maps), and everything sells out, so early is safer than late. One local guide says the two owners make everything from scratch daily, which would explain why things vanish, and that weekend mornings are the risky time to turn up. Recent posts list the shop as open Wednesday to Sunday, with the lemon tart and persimmon danish around $12.80 each, but hours and prices change so check their Instagram before you go.
The lemon tart
Honestly it’s the best thing we ate! Crisp tart shell, a thin lemon shell on top that cracks if you look at it funny (carry it carefully), and inside a lemon cream with a frozen sorbet-like bit in the middle. Sweet and sour sit right in the middle, so it never gets sickly. Looks cute too, bright yellow, and it holds up against any French patisserie in Sydney.
The chestnut croissant
We tried the chestnut Mont Blanc style one last year and it was way too rich for us, so we weren’t sure. This year’s is a real step up! There’s a layer of chestnut ice cream on top and blueberry jam underneath, and that cuts through the heavy chestnut cream properly. Big improvement, we’d order it again.
The persimmon danish
Pretty much the same as last year, and it doesn’t need changing. Runny persimmon centre on top, chunks of persimmon fruit inside, flaky pastry underneath. It’s my mum’s favourite, and that tells you it’s not very sweet, haha.
The ones we didn’t expect to love
The Earl Grey pudding danish! Filled with banana and dark chocolate, which sounded weird, worked so well. Earl Grey aroma, sweet banana, slightly bitter chocolate, and not too sweet overall, wanted another bite straight away.
Then the cherry danish, hardly anyone seems to talk about this one. Strong cherry flavour with a chocolate cream that’s a bit bitter, so it doesn’t get sickly. My husband thought it beat the lemon tart. Hmm, I’ll leave that argument alone.
And the cherry tart, my favourite of the fruit-shaped ones! Sour black cherry jam and cherry mousse, with a sweet crunchy biscuit-crumb base, so you get sour, sweet and crunchy in one go. A bit sweet if you keep eating the base, but it all works together.
What the counter looks like
The persimmon danishes line up in a row, chestnut ones next to them, and there’s a blueberry tart piled with big sweet blueberries. Everything’s autumn-season stuff, so the persimmon and chestnut won’t be there all year, worth checking what’s on before you set your heart on something.
Tips if you’re going
Get there early, especially on a weekend. We got in with a ten minute queue at 8:50 and still got everything we wanted. Seating is limited, so plan to take it away or squeeze onto one of the tiny outside tables like we did. Order more than you think, we ended up trying nearly everything and nobody felt sick by the end.
Going in the school holidays
It’s not a kid-friendly kind of place, small shop, a queue, not many seats, so it’s more of a treat run for the adults. If you’re around Sydney for the NSW spring school holidays, which run 28 September to 9 October this year, a weekday morning is the easier time to go. For something the kids will enjoy afterwards, have a look through our things to do with kids list.