Stockbridge bakery Lannan, headed up by Darcie Maher, has won the La Liste 2024 for Best Pastry Opening
When it comes to pastries in Scotland’s capital, you don’t get much better than Lannan Bakery. Their French viennoiserie, pain au chocolat and croissants, hand-crafted by Darcie Maher, are so coveted that there’s often queues the length of Hamilton Place, with favoured items often selling out before the clock hits 9am.
In the age of social media, buzz surrounding an eatery should be treated with a healthy dose of scepticism, but in the case of Lannan, the hype is entirely warranted. Darcie has earned her culinary stripes, cutting her pastry knife at Edinburgh’s The Palmerston in 2021 before setting up her own bakery in 2023; a dream she’s held since she was little, growing up in the Scottish borders.
Lannan has gone from strength to strength since its launch. An immediate success, it’s built an incredible reputation across the city and internationally, with TikToks and Instagram videos showing tourists queueing up to get their fill.
That success has lead to the likes of collaborations with fellow pastry chef Nicola Lamb, who visited Lannan on the Scottish leg of the tour for her new cookbook Sift, as well as a feature in new book, Britain’s Best Bakeries.
With acclaim like Darcie has enjoyed, it was only a matter of time before she was recognised professionally. This month, the bakery was awarded La Liste’s Best Pastry Opening of the Year 2024.
Taking to Instagram, the baker shared an emotional message. “As a Scottish pastry chef, who specialises in French viennoiserie, collecting this award at Les jardins des Invalides in Paris was an honour.
“I’m grateful to La Liste for both the recognition and the invitation. 25 exceptional pastry chefs from across the world were given an award and it’s a privilege to be included. Thank you for creating an award dedicated to us. We’re so often overlooked. We’re first in the bakery in the morning, and the last out the restaurant at night.
“Thank you to @helenepietrini, @stephaniezchoice and @pastry.narae_kim for hosting us at the Female Chef breakfast at Park Hyatt Vendôme. It was wonderful to meet a group of likeminded woman doing incredible things in hospitality from all over the world.
“I’ve never been a particularly confident person, both in myself and my abilities. I create pastry because it makes me happy and I want to share that with people. Anyone I’ve worked with will attest to my joy and (over) excitement when developing new products, it never gets old. I got the keys to Lannan aged 24, with the view of achieving a dream I’d had since I was little.
“We haven’t even been open a year and the bakery has surpassed anything I ever imagined it would be, it’s tough, it’s relentless, but I adore it and I’m grateful for every single part of it.
“A huge thank you to my wonderful staff and customers, past and preset, pre-Lannan and post-Lannan.
“I can’t wait to get back and bake for you, we have so many exciting plans coming at the end of this year. It’s going to be a joy share them with you.”
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