The Manly Pastry Lab Bringing Proper Italian Cornetti To Sydney’s North
Manly mornings already have a pretty strong case for being smug. There’s the Shelly Beach walk, the wharf-side spritz, the Corso coffee run and, of course, the blue-water bragging rights at Cabbage Tree Bay.
Now, if you're lucky enough to live in this neck of the woods, there’s another reason to feel insufferably pleased with your postcode: Valentina Pastry Lab, a new European-style patisserie bringing slow-made Italian cornetti and buttery pastries to Sydney's North.
Behind Valentina are Italian hospitality operators Dario and Paolo, working with an Italian executive chef and pastry chef to bring the structure of a traditional pasticceria to Manly. To be clear, the cornetto in question is not the chocolate-tipped ice cream cone you lucky dip from the Peters ice-cream treasure trove at your local kiosk.
In Italy, a cornetto is a morning pastry; softer, sweeter and less aggressively buttery than its French cousin, usually eaten with coffee at the counter or over a slow breakfast.
The pastry cabinets here also stock laminated pastries, freshly-baked bread, polished desserts and savoury options too. The “Lab” in the name is literal: you can actually see into the production space, where dough is rolled, folded, piped and glazed in view of the counter.
Valentina also makes celebration cakes to order, alongside catering boxes for office mornings, long lunches and private gatherings. Gluten-free options are available, and the house coffee beans are roasted in collaboration with Black Drum Roasters—an Aussie family-run coffee roaster you need on your radar.
Find Valentina Pastry Lab at Shop 6, 11–25 Wentworth Street and Rialto Lane, Rialto Square, Manly.
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Image credit: Supplied