A new pastry called the "frissant" — a hybrid between a deep fried doughnut and a flaky croissant — has people lining up outside an East Vancouver bakery just to get a taste.

Swiss Bakery, on Third Avenue near Main Street, began experimenting in late spring, inspired by the "cronut" craze in New York.

Operations manager Annette Siu said the bakery tried at least 10 different recipes before they got it right.

"The cronut is an inspiration of ours," Siu said. "We saw it was being done in New York. We thought, 'Ok this is something we can experiment with and make our version of it.'"

The frissant comes in two flavours — chocolate and vanilla — and is shaped like a doughnut but is flaky on the inside like a croissant.

The frissant is shaped like a donut but is flaky on the inside like a croissant. (Swiss Bakery)

The bakery began making and selling about three dozen frissants a day. But all that changed when local bloggers had a bite.

"It was mid-June that it just spiked," Siu said. "We just suddenly had lineups out the door before we opened and we were just caught off guard and there was just such huge demand."

Siu said they are now making close to 200 frissants a day.

But with lineups forming every morning even before the bakery is open, Siu said they have had to limit six frissants per customer.