Fabbrica Bread Shop

In a bright street-facing corner of the Maloneys Grocer on Darling Street, Fabbrica Bread Shop is the Love Tilly Group’s (Palazzo Salato, Ragazzi, La Salut) first dedicated bakery, and a successor to its lockdown-era bakery at the King Street digs.

Here, group head baker Aniruddha Bhosekar is channeling the vibe of Rome’s Roscioli, an institution-status restaurant, salumeria and pasticceria in the eternal city’s Campo de’ Fiori. That means metre-long slabs of focaccia filled with mortadella or roasted veggies. At lunch time, they’re laden with antipasto staples or tomato passata before being scorched into puffy pizzas. On Saturdays and Sundays, they are sliced to sandwich Tathra Place porchetta.

The menu from Bhosekar and baker Alyce Bennett (ex-Humble Bakery) flows with the team’s ongoing experimentation (think prawn toast sfogliatella and wobbly slices of nutmeg-sprinkled custard tart).

Laminated beauties – the classic duo of plain and chocolate croissants plus savoury pastry scrolls – start the day, with focaccias close behind at around 8.30am. Everything is made from scratch, including the puff pastry and croissant dough, which takes a full three days to execute.

Everything is made using local butter and flour, with a long-term plan to partner with regional wheat farmers for a rotating monthly loaf. For now it’s Fabbrica’s flagship sourdough on a shelf in Maloneys, which also stocks Fabbrica’s pasta and sauce packs.

Sweets might include Basque cheesecake, salted choc-chip cookies and a banoffee tart heaving with piped cream, while Tathra Place pork sausage rolls and a (currently weekend-only) masala croissant are standout savoury items. Can’t decide? Stick to Bhosekar’s favourite: the potato and confit garlic focaccia.