This one comes with a shortcut. All four words below sit on the Classics menu at Lune, so you can order the whole list in one place.
Not the one correct way to say them, just how the sources land and what you are actually ordering.
croissant
Sounds like: KWAH-son (stress on KWAH)
In French it lands closer to krwah-SAHN, and the important part is the ending. There is no hard t. The usual Brisbane version is kruh-SAHNT with the t pronounced, common enough that Cambridge and Oxford both list a US-style form. So neither is wrong at the counter, but if you want the French shape, drop the last t.
● Lune Croissanterie, 13-17 Manning St, South Brisbane · Website · Get directions
Order. The almond croissant is the one most people line up for. South Brisbane is the flagship and Lune's Queensland kitchen, with a smaller CBD outpost at 79 Adelaide St, off Burnett Lane, that carries the same Classics.
pain au chocolat
Sounds like: pan-oh-SHOK-uh-lah (stress on SHOK)
The trap is the first word. Pain here is the French word for bread, so it is pan, not the English pain. In French the whole thing tilts to the last syllable, closer to pan-oh-shoko-LAH. And depending on where in France someone is from, they might call it a chocolatine instead, which is a whole separate argument you do not have to get into on a Saturday.
● Lune Croissanterie, South Brisbane and CBD · Menu · Get directions
Order. Same laminated dough as the croissant, with dark chocolate baked inside, on the Classics menu at both Brisbane stores. When the specials board has it, the twice-baked Coco Rough takes it further with coconut frangipane.
kouign-amann
Sounds like: kween-ah-MAHN (stress on MAHN)
This one looks unreadable and that is the whole reason it gets pointed at. It is Breton, and the name literally translates to butter cake, which tells you most of what you need to know. The spelling wants you to say koo-ign, but it is closer to kween.
● Lune Croissanterie, South Brisbane and CBD · Menu · Get directions
Order. At Lune it is croissant dough with more butter and more sugar, caramelised until the edges go crisp. It sits on the Classics menu, so both Brisbane stores have it.
pain suisse
Sounds like: pan-SWEESS (stress on SWEESS)
The name means Swiss bread, which is a small lie. It is French, and Switzerland has very little to do with it. Pain is bread again, and suisse is just swees, not swiss-ee. Lune call it a classic for life, a year in the making by their own account.
● Lune Croissanterie, South Brisbane and CBD · Menu · Get directions
Order. Lune's is vertically laminated, filled with vanilla custard and chocolate chips, brushed with vanilla syrup and finished with flaky pink salt. On the Classics menu at both Brisbane stores.
A note on the picks.
Anglicised. Close enough to order with. Sources are Cambridge, Oxford, Forvo and Lune's own menu, checked in July 2026.
Next in Menu Words: the ones you rehearse in your head first.
Got a menu word you still point at?
The one you have ordered a hundred times and never said out loud.
DM it to @bnelately. The next list grows from the inbox.
Tell @bnelately