Mia Dolci Italiani, an Italian pasticceria, and the brainchild of famed Da Orazio chef Orazio D’Elia and classically trained Italian pastry chef Riccardo Falcone (ex-Rockpool), will open in Alexandria this December.
The converted warehouse space will operate as a cafe serving house-made Italian sweets with a modern twist, focaccia, specialised chocolates and also offer retail and wholesale orders.
D’Elia and Falcone have channeled their passion into a true pasticceria – an equal mix of Italian cake shop, open pastry kitchen and buzzing café – where hand-crafted and traditional pasticcino meet playful, homespun Italian dolci creations.
Mia will serve classic Italian house-made desserts such as ricotta-filled cannoli, delizia al limone, rum baba, torta della nonna and crostata di frutta, and also a rotating menu of by-the-slice focaccia slab style pizza for dine in and take away.
The pair both grew up in Campania, Orazio in Naples and Riccardo in Salerno, the dolci famous region of Italy’s south coast, and have long shared a mutual desire to open a place that heroes for the treats they grew up on.
“In Australia we have bakeries on every corner, in our hometown it is pasticceria. After meeting Riccardo we forged a true friendship whilst bonding over our upbringings and love of Italian food, we decided we wanted to bring a piece of our heritage here in Sydney,” Orazio said.
“Through conversations and plenty of education on pastry making, Riccardo opened my eyes to the possibilities in the space and Mia was born,” continued Orazio.
Living above a pastry shop during his childhood, the love for simple, fresh and well made pastry was ignited within Falcone from a young age. Falcone has recently left his role as the executive pastry chef at Rockpool group to open Mia with Orazio. Falcone has also worked in London under Michel Roux, Aimo e Nadia in Milan, and in Australia at the original Rockpool on George and Icebergs Dining Room and Bar.
Continuing the partnership with the team from Loop Creative who Orazio previously engaged to design Da Orazio, the 400sqm space will house the bakery, a cafe where customers can purchase coffee, Pizza al taglio, daily pastries to dine in and take away, a chocolate room as well as cake and pastry display units.
Mia Dolci will open in early December and is located at 200 Euston Road, Alexandria. Initial opening hours are Monday to Friday 6am-3pm.
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