First Look: Tuki’s Golden, Syrupy Medialunas Are Only a DM Away

Medialunas look just like little croissants. And they’re often described as Argentinian croissants. But beyond their shape and the dough’s lamination, they are not croissants. Where croissants are flaky and savoury, with plenty of crunch, medialunas have a brioche-like squish, glossy top and syrup-soaked base. You’ll find the little “crescent moons” on nearly every block in Argentina and commonly across Latin America but, according to couple Lourdes Abboud and Mauro Cardoselli, Sydney’s offering is slim.

So they started making their own at home – all in an attempt to cure their longing for medialunas as good as those at home in Tucuman, in northern Argentina.

Abboud is an architect and Cardoselli a lawyer, and together they run Tuki. In the two years they’ve been Down Under, Cardoselli has taken online classes and talked to his favourite bakers in Argentina, practising and practising his medialunas. When he landed on a recipe that their friends gave a “10 out of 10”, they knew they had to sell them.

“We started going to Bondi Beach, walking in the beach with a sign [that] said ‘medialunas gratis’, which means ‘free medialunas’,” Abboud says. “We wanted to catch only the Argentinian public, because they were the ones that were really qualified to tell us, ‘this is good’, ‘this is not good’ and everything.”

The medialunas were good, and word spread quick. “It was crazy! Now, after four weeks, we have more than 1000 followers on Instagram, and [last week] we sold 55 dozens of medialunas … I have one friend, her family owns a bakery in Argentina and she was like, ‘I can’t believe that in so little time you learn how to do that’. She couldn’t!”

On Sunday alone, Tuki sent out 240 medialunas, the largest single bake day so far. And Broadsheet nabbed a half-dozen.

Six sticky, honey-coloured pastries sat cosily inside a cardboard box stamped with the little logo Abboud designed. A sweet scent escaped as soon as we opened the lid.

Tuki’s medialunas are superbly soft and slightly cakey, with only the darkest outer layer having any crunch. The bottom is syrupy, the top is shiny and golden – and they really do taste like the good ones you find in Argentina.

The pair dreamed specifically: they wanted the medialunas found at top bakeries Ekeko , Cucina di Lucas and La Madrileña back home. They found that magic by waiting.

First a dough’s made with flour, salt, sugar, milk, water, honey, vanilla and orange zest, then they wait. Four hours later, butter and yeast are added, then they wait again. After eight hours, more butter is laminated through the dough – then eight hours later, the medialunas are shaped and left to rise. Another eight, and the little crescents are ready for the oven. Twenty minutes later, the hot tops are slicked with a syrup of sugar, water, vanilla and orange, then left to soak it up on the tray.

Tuki’s bakes are available every day, with 24 hours’ notice. Just send a DM on Instagram or a Whatsapp message (via the number listed on the profile). Nab six for $24 or a full dozen for $40, and pick up your order from Bondi Junction Station or Hyde Park.

The pair’s project is already outgrowing their apartment. Another laminating machine and a planetary mixer are on the way, plus a kitchen space to rent on weekends. “We are investing everything that we have and we can to make this bigger, as big as we can,” Abboud says. “We want to do all the kinds of pastries we have in Argentina. But we’re starting with this one.

“The thing that actually made us feel happy is that we’re creating our own community here in Sydney. All the Argentinians that tasted our medialunas, the phrase that they’re always repeating is that we made them go back home with the taste. Like, it’s a flashback for them to be in Argentina again. So, for us, it was like having a little piece of Argentina here.”

@tukibakery