Upmarket department store Harrods has built its reputation on selling exclusive goods with eye-watering price tags, spanning everything from designer clothes to fancy homeware and gourmet food. But does splashing the cash on these luxury items actually guarantee better quality compared to their cheaper alternatives?
Food enthusiast Carmie Sellitto set out to settle this age-old debate by putting the posh retailer’s offerings through their test as he decided to compare a croissant from the luxurious store against one from Lidl’s in-house bakery.
With the Harrods pastry setting him back nearly 20 times more than its discount rival, the question was: would it justify the hefty price difference, or would the budget option prove to be better?
Taking to TikTok, Carmie decided to share his comparison to his 1.2million followers, as the video started with him buying the two croissants before starting the test.
“Let’s compare the Harrods croissant to Lidl,” he said in the clip as he held up both pastries to show the camera. “I wonder what’s gonna taste better.”
He went on to tease in the caption of the video: “This actually really surprised me.”
Kicking off with Lidl’s croissant, he highlighted the simple yet effective brown paper bag while expressing his astonishment at the 59p price tag.
“Take a look at that. This looks pretty decent,” he remarked, displaying the croissant to his viewers before taking his first bite.
“Wow, I really thought that because of the price, this was gonna taste horrible. This tastes really good! Just look at the inside, it looks so fresh,” Carmie exclaimed as he revealed the delicate interior of the croissant.
He then proceeded to sample a Harrods croissant, which he speculated might be London’s priciest pastry at £12, nearly 20 times more expensive than its Lidl counterpart.
“Let’s see if it tastes 20 times better,” he said, unveiling the luxurious treat from its box. He showed his astonishment as he noticed the lavish addition of an edible gold leaf on top of the croissant.
“Not to mention it’s absolutely massive. This could easily feed a family of four,” he observed, showcasing the croissant’s size, which proved to be bigger than his head. It was also filled with cucumber, salmon, cream cheese, and some caviar.
“That’s a lot of filling in here,” he noted before savouring his first mouthful. “Okay wow. I’m not gonna lie to you guys, I wanted to hate it, just because it’s so obnoxious. But it’s absolutely insane, like is there anything Harrods can’t do?”.
Carmie continued, displaying the cross-section post-bite: “Look how good my next bite looks.
“Not only is the flavour absolutely amazing, it also makes you feel expensive because you’re left looking like gold,” he remarked, showing off the gold leaf remnants on his fingers, which he commented tasted ‘like nothing’.
So, which croissant proved to be the best one? After his taste test, Carmie went on to rate the Lidl croissant a respectable eight out of ten. But the Harrods croissant still won the taste test, scoring a ten out of ten.
Despite Carmie’s verdict, the comments section quickly filled with viewers questioning the fairness of the comparison.
One viewer pointed out the disparity, remarking, “You can’t compare these two it’s not the same,” a sentiment echoed by many who felt juxtaposing a plain croissant with a filled one was unjust.
“Harrods looks like a bread roll shaped like a croissant,” a second person criticised. Meanwhile, a third person said: “£12 seems pretty cheap for that from Harrods.”