Sanjana opened Croffle & Co at the Bus Depot Markets in July 2025. Photo: Croffle & Co.
When Sanjana Kalyan of Croffle & Co decided to go into the croffle game, it was a decision she didn’t take lightly.
As a pastry chef, she wanted a product that found a middle ground between a fun concept and that missing element in the Canberra market scene. She found her unicorn in the croffle, a hybrid of a croissant and a waffle.
“Everyone knows croissants and waffles, but combining the two creates something exciting without being intimidating. It felt like the right balance of comfort and novelty, while also giving me room to be creative as a pastry chef,” Sanjana told Region.
With her concept decided on, Sanjana chose the Old Bus Depot Markets as her principle outlet and, along with her husband Omkar, the pair now have two prominent stalls at the far end of the markets, with Omkar running the popular Dumpling Diplomate stall.
The location has been a good fit for the foodie duo, and having attended each Sunday for six months, they’ve found their regular croffle and dumpling fans along with new followers each week.
“Over time, we’ve built a lovely group of regular customers who come back specifically for our croffles, which has been very rewarding,” Sanjana said.
Sanjana makes all of her croffles fresh to order so they remain hot and flaky. Photo: Tenele Conway.
If you haven’t heard of a croffle, you can be forgiven. They’re a pretty modern concept, having been popularised in South Korea and only going global as recently as 2018.
I have a general life rule to avoid foods that spread via a ‘viral trend’, for no particular reason except I don’t think food and viruses are a cohesive concept. But I’m a flexible foodie, and the more I thought about a croffle, the more I thought the concept was sound.
“A common misconception is that we take already baked croissants and press them in the waffle iron,” Sanjana said. “That’s not the case. We use raw croissants that have already been proved.”
The layering effect of the laminated yeast dough is the ideal basis for other uses and shoving it into a waffle iron cooks those layers perfectly. You’re left with a squashed crescent shape that’s the ultimate vessel for adding other flavours.
Sanjana has mastered her croffles by running four waffle irons at the same time to ensure that all of her croffles are made fresh and served hot, something that gives them their signature flaky and crunchy exterior and soft buttery interior.
Sanjana sometimes has secret menu items like this lavender chocolate croffle with flower confetti, sugar pearls and fairy dust. Photo: Croffle & Co.
Serving them hot also allows Sanjana to dip them into warm melted spreads like Nutella, matcha chocolate, white chocolate and ruby chocolate and then sprinkle them with toppings like rose petals, pistachios, Biscoff, M&Ms and sprinkles.
I am a purist. There is no better thing on this planet than a hot fresh cinnamon donut, and I recently put that to the test by grabbing one of Sanjana’s hot fresh cinnamon croffles. I must say, it absolutely gives a donut a run for its money.
To keep customers on their toes, Sanjana runs a regular menu plus rolling specials that help her keep up with trends like the recent Dubai chocolate craze, which she says was a big hit at the markets.
I’m a little sceptical about the combining of two viral trends, croffles and Dubai chocolate; it sounds like the first wave of a possible pandemic, but when it comes to these sweet treats, maybe it’s the pandemic we’ve all been waiting for.
You can grab a hot fresh croffle at Croffle & Co at the Old Bus Depot Markets each Sunday between 9:30 am and 2:30 pm.
