A Q&A with Kate Reid on her infidelity (to croissants)

My parents always told me to talk to the person sitting next to me on a plane, because you never know who you might meet. Fifteen years ago, on a long-haul flight to Europe, I sat next to Kate Reid. She was heading to Paris to visit Du Pain et des Idées, the patisserie where she had done her apprenticeship, and to walk around Paris eating as many of her beloved kouign-amann as humanly possible.

To many, Kate Reid is the precision-obsessed mastermind behind Lune Croissanterie, a former Williams F1 aerodynamics engineer who traded downforce for laminated dough and builds croissants with mathematical perfection and experimental flavours like Kim Cheese⁠, filled with cheese custard, kimchi and gruyère, glazed with gochujang honey and dipped in toasted sesame seeds – and Persian Love Cake, filled with pistachio frangipane and Persian love cake, topped with crunchy baked pistachios and pearl sugar, finished with rosewater buttercream and dried rose⁠. But beneath the hyper-exact world of 27-layer croissants lies a humble passion I only recently discovered: Kate Reid is an admirer of *(a good piece of) traditional banana bread.

I caught up with Kate for a natter about the modest loaf, her go-to spots, her strict ordering rules (never ask her to split a slice), how banana bread stands up to croissants and, if you’re in the Melbourne area, you’re more than welcome to drop off a loaf to Fitzroy Lune – just be sure not to put any sultanas aka dead flies in it.

Can you recall your earliest banana bread memory?

So my mum has always had this banana bread recipe. I don't know how she makes it work. It's got like 20 grams of butter and one egg in it. Somehow it is not dry. It is delicious, and it was one of the very simple baked good treats on rotation in our kitchen when I was a little kid. Now I do recall when I was a kid having a slice of it, but never being offered butter to spread on it. So the butter spreading is an adult Kate addition to the banana bread eating experience, but yeah, I'm going to say banana bread memories go all the way back to childhood, little kid.

Can you pinpoint a particular encounter where it went from ‘I like this’ to ‘I'm hunting for it’?

100%. I finished my book in 2024, after signing with Simon and Schuster in October-November, and then I had to do my first round of edits. My beautiful friend Michelle from university has a house down at Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula, and I took myself there in December of 2024 to edit my manuscript, with my black lab, Lily. We would start every morning going for a big walk that always involved walking down into the village at Mount Martha, where there was a little Italian deli called Cibo. They had this piece of banana bread wrapped in Glad Wrap, which, honestly, is not a great sign. Normally, if I see baked goods wrapped in a refrigerated cabinet, I run for the hills because it suggests not fresh, mass-produced. But I was hungry, and I like banana bread, so I ordered it.

I still remember the guy that brought it out. He'd perfectly toasted it, then put the perfect amount of butter on top – and I've got to say, I don't normally like it when people butter my bread, toast, or banana bread for me. But he had just so artfully done it – he'd waited for the bread to cool a little bit so the butter hadn't just melted into a puddle. I actually have a photo of it.

I remember biting into the banana bread and thinking, this is perfection. The way it was toasted formed this delicate crust on it, but then inside was moist. It wasn't tricked up with nuts or dark chocolate. It was just really good, and it was also a nice size. These days, when you go to a cafe, the banana bread can be as big as your head. I want something that's probably like, the size of my hand – and this was that. So it became a daily ritual that Lily and I would walk down to the Mount Martha village and have some banana bread and a coffee at Cibo – I actually think I have seven photos of my seven slices from each day of that week.

Now, every time I'm down that way, I always make a point of going via Cibo in Mount Martha to buy myself a piece of banana bread. I recently discovered that it's made by a French man, by hand, and you can buy the full loaf of it. So, sometimes, I'm indulgent and I buy a full loaf and I bring it back to Melbourne and portion it up and put it in my freezer for a rainy day. So I’m going to say December 2024 was the beginning of the ‘I'm hunting for it’ obsession.

What exactly is it about banana bread that appeals to you?

I mean, not every banana bread appeals to me, let's be clear – I've had some pretty bad, dry, cardboard-y, flavourless examples, and I've also had some pretty decadent, over-the-top examples. I think for me, banana bread fits into the same category that a fruit-based muffin does. For example, a raspberry muffin or a pear or an apple or a whatever muffin, it feels like it's healthy because it's got fruit in it. The intelligent scientist/engineer/baker in me knows that's absolutely not true. There's some form of fat, there's sugar. Banana bread's not a healthy item, but it just feels like a slightly more elevated piece of toast to me. And if I can have an elevated version of something, I will pick the elevated thing. And I just love, love the texture of it. I think the banana adds a really nice moisture and texture to the crumb. But it's got to be a good one, it's not just banana bread across the board.

Croissants are exact, banana bread is forgiving – would you agree with that?

Only to a certain extent. I've tried a number of different banana breads in my life. Banana bread can easily be too dry, and if you don't mash the banana properly and evenly to basically disguise the texture of the banana, it can be weird.

No. I'm going to say I feel like I approach banana bread with the same level of exactness as I would croissants, honestly.

You mention that a good croissant is one with 'a crisp outer shell and big, crispy, elegant flakes... and an airy inside'. What is your framework for a great banana bread – and the most common way it goes wrong? 

*For me there has to be the perfect balance of moisture in a banana bread for it to be right. You don't want it to be too wet and soggy, but you absolutely don't want it to be too dry. I do think that the key is getting that banana to the consistency of like a wet paste, where it basically incorporates in the cake batter completely. If you give me a banana bread that has big chunks of baked mushy banana in it, or those ones that, like, bake half a banana on the top of it, I won't touch it. I cannot stand the texture of a chunk of banana that's seen the searing heat of an oven.

No sultanas in anything ever – no dead flies. I don't mind a bit of pecan or walnut, if there's going to be a nut in the banana bread. But if there is, it’s got to be chopped pretty finely because there is nothing I hate more than getting my serrated knife, cutting into a slice and encountering a nut that is too big for the serrated knife and it tears at the crumb of the cake. So again, it's got to be chopped pretty finely and evenly and distributed. I do think that, like, a little bit of walnut adds some nice texture. I don't mind a little bit of cinnamon in there, I've got to be honest. Some people are anti-cinnamon in banana bread, but I'm very pro-cinnamon.

And you know what? I don't mind a little bit of dark chocolate encountered in a banana bread from time to time, but let's be clear: that's not a breakfast banana bread. That's like a treat-morning-tea-with-a-coffee number, and I'm here for that from time to time. But if I'm going to be having banana bread as a replacement for toast in the morning, I really just want it pretty plain.

How do you find good spots? 

I typically save my banana bread cravings and have them in places where I know I can get good banana bread. I don't like risking my pastry intake on something that could be potentially terrible. So if I'm down in Mount Martha, where I know they have a cafe with good banana bread, I will probably have a piece every day. If I walk into a random cafe and they've got banana bread, I have to be having the maddest craving to risk it.

When my Instagram following discovered my level of obsession with banana bread – aside from recommendations – that particular week, three independent strangers delivered baked loaves of banana bread to Lune in Fitzroy for me. I really need to do Instagram shout-outs more often, it was amazing!

When you find a promising spot, what's your ordering ritual? 

I will always order one slice and try to be objective. If it's a piece of banana bread that I haven't had before and I don't like it, I won't finish it. I will never, ever, ever split it with someone. I hate splitting a baked good with someone, and that's important for everyone to note out there. Don't ever ask me to split a baked good with you.

I like my banana bread to be toasted, served with butter on the side and a knife. Don't put the butter on top of it for me, I like to judge the temperature of the banana bread for myself. I also like to judge the amount of butter for myself. And I don't really like doubling down on the amount of butter. If someone served banana bread that has been pre-buttered that’s melted in, and I ask for more butter, then I've kind of double buttered, and I don't love that. Sometimes at Cibo, they sprinkle their banana bread toasted with icing sugar, and that is entirely unnecessary, and I have a little bit of an inner growl when I see that.

So just toasted, a hefty amount of butter on the side, no icing sugar. And I will also typically upend it, so it's standing, to allow it to cool, so it doesn't sweat on the plate because I don't really like sweaty banana bread either. I realise that is very specific.

The list: 4-6 favourites – where, and why theirs work.

Obviously, Cibo Deli down in Mount Martha. Assembly in Carlton is a really good cafe near my house – they've got a delicious little banana bread. Around the corner at Parco in Carlton – also exceptional banana bread. Although their slices are a little too big, but I forgive them for it because it's really, really good banana bread. They're obviously convenient locals that I have come to trust. And then, June Reed's kitchen – my mum – where I know that if I go over and she's baked a banana bread, it's going to be good.

Oh, and then maybe if Helen Goh ever baked me a banana bread, I'd eat the whole loaf in one go. Shout out to you, Helen – you are an absolute angel and a gorgeous human being to boot.

Pairings – do you have an ideal pairing, and have there been any surprising ones?

Oh, I like this. Straight up butter, preferably, like, butter that isn't whipped, and also not spreadable butter, unless it's Lurpak, I don't mind. I've actually got a tub of Lurpak in my fridge because I think it's the best of the spreadable butters. But if I'm out at a cafe, I want them to be leaving their butter out at room temperature, so it holds its shape, but it's actually spreadable, and then potentially a little bit of sea salt on the side. That is heaven. Not cream, not golden syrup, just the ideal pairing is butter.

Basically, anything that can be a vehicle for butter is something that I'm happy to eat.

Tea or coffee with a slice?

Coffee only. I don't really drink tea. I find it… hmm, I just don't drink it. And it's typically a flat white, well made.

Where do you stand on banana bread interpretations – deconstructions, modern abstractions, riffs etc?

Ok, for example, if I were to encounter something like chilli crisp banana bread – I know chilli crisp is everywhere these days – but you can shoot me the day I do see it. Same goes for experimental versions like, I don't know, green curry banana bread. I'm somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to banana bread. I have seen someone on Instagram claiming to have made a 'healthy' version, with oats instead of flour and Greek yoghurt as the fat component – but honestly, banana bread isn't even that unhealthy. It has oil or butter, but those things in moderation are good for you.

Hmm, as for modern abstract interpretations… if you mean taking the key banana bread elements and working them, say, into a banana tart with caramel and ice cream, or a trifle with banana and vanilla – neither of these are banana bread. A sticky date and banana pudding – that’s sticky date pudding with a bit of banana snuck into it. These cease to be banana bread, and they become tart, trifle, or pudding. Banana bread is a loaf or like a loaf-cake with banana through it.

Banana bread or muffin – is this even a debate?

No, banana bread and muffin isn't a debate. They're two pretty different things. I actually haven't had a good muffin in a while. I went through a massive phase of being obsessed with muffins probably about 15 years ago, and I even considered starting a blog called 'Muffin Else Matters'. Thankfully, that didn't get off the ground. Yeah, I actually don't know anywhere that does a good muffin. Maybe there's a business idea there.

Do you make banana bread at home? Go-to recipe?

My go-to recipe is Helen Goh's banana bread. It's truly exceptional. The only problem is it makes a very big loaf, and I live by myself, and I just don't need that amount of banana bread around me because it's just asking for trouble.

Any chance for banana bread to find its way into a Lune croissant or cruffin?

We actually have done a banana cake, twice-baked at Lune. I think banana cake is pretty much banana bread, but baked in a cake tin with cream cheese icing. In April 2025, Lune ran a limited-edition ‘Banana Cake’ croissant – a twice-baked croissant filled with banana frangipane and an actual slice of banana cake, topped with piped cream cheese icing and nutmeg. So I'm going to say that the banana bread element has actually made it into a Lune croissant before – happy to answer!

Has Lily ever had a dog-friendly banana bread made in her honour?

There's a cute little cafe in the Fitzroy Gardens called KereKere, and they do these dog biscuits made with pumpkin, cinnamon oats, egg… I don't know if there's flour in there or not, but they smell so good that, honestly, I buy one for her most mornings when we're walking through the park and they smell so good that sometimes I've actually thought about tasting one for myself – but thankfully, some level of honour pulls me back.

On a scale of one to croissants, where does banana bread rate?

I love this question.

On a scale of one to croissants, where does banana bread rate in the difficulty level? About a three.

On the enjoyment of eating level, I'm going to say a really, really good bit of banana bread compared to a really, really good croissant is pretty up there. I'm going to say a good bit of banana bread sits at about an eight and a half to a nine. It can't be all the way to croissants because the challenge of making banana bread is so much easier than making a good croissant. I will never not know that when I'm eating one, and you just really have to appreciate the level of work that's gone into a high-quality croissant.