Messina HQ And Creative

August 2024 update: Gelato Messina is launching Snackbar—a weekly Sunday pop-up at the Messina HQ in Marrickville—on Sunday 22 September.

Snackbar will take the format of Messina’s wildly popular and world-first gelato degustation dinners and spin it into a casual, a la carte offering blending wine, gelato and elite snacks like prawn toast with lobster and tomato sriracha, beef tartare in a brioche roll with jalapeno gelato, and a signature hotdog using Emilio’s pork sausage with spiced ketchup and mustard.

It’s not a bar without drinks, so there’ll be a tidy edit of Aussie and Italian natural wines and local beers, all soundtracked by lofi vibes through the Pitt and Giblin sound system (music nerds, IYKYK). Snackbar at Messina will be walk-in only.

The huge Messina HQ is a Wonka-esque dessert mecca for Messina fans, complete with a chocolate shop and exclusive Messina treats like milkshakes and bake-at-home desserts, and the mind-bending Messina Creative restaurant.

Painted like a Messina box, with the signature orange and green geometric pattern, you'll find Messina HQ hovering over Rich Street in Marrickville near the Factory Theatre.

Here, you can fill up on all 35 of your favourite signature Messina gelatos and five specials on rotation, making up a whopping 40 flavours to choose from, plus all eight of their famous gelato cakes, including the iconic toadstool, Dr Evil's Magic Mushroom, milkshakes and bottles of farm-fresh Jersey milk from the Messina farm. 

Peruse a cabinet filled with Messina's stunning range of mini chocolate bars—like the Vovo Vroom, made with raspberry cream, biscuit, and raspberry gel, enrobed in raspberry chocolate, and topped with coconut. There's also chocolate bark sold by weight and chocolate blocks perfect for gifting, Messina's full range of take-home desserts like Bavarian cream pies, cookie dough and cookie pies.

As well as the usual cup- or cone-based treats, Messina HQ is also home to Messina Creative—Sydney's first gelato-centric fine dining restaurant.

Here, the skilled team crafts six-course degustations that features gelato in each course spanning savoury and sweet; the menu changes often, but might look like yuzu and olive oil gelato with scallop sashimi, caviar and pickled beetroot, or truffle gelato with ricotta and butternut tortellini.

The experience (available Thursday–Saturday weekly) starts at $165pp including paired non-alcoholic drinks, and carefully curated cocktails and natural wine can be added for an additional $40.

Image credit: Gelato Messina 

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