Baked in Haberfield and filled with pistachio, the unconventional bun wowed the Good Food office like no other Easter treat.
In the world of food writing, nothing can be said to be certain, except a surplus of freshly baked hot cross buns sent to the Good Food mailroom every Easter.
We’ve tried them all, from the classically spiced to the stale and strange, but it’s the limited edition pistachio cream-filled hot cross buns from family-owned Sydney bakery Pasticceria Papa that our office can’t stop talking about.
I know what you’re thinking, but no, this is not a sponsored post (at Good Food, they never are). Rather, it’s a public service announcement: this might be Sydney’s best unconventional hot cross bun this Easter.
There was no formal scoring process here, just the muffled chorus of, “Oh my God!” and “Wow!” as one person after another took their first bite. There was the quiet reappearance of people who were sneaking in seconds. And, at home, there was the dramatic response from my husband: “That is f—-d,” he yelled from across the house, having found (read: stolen) and eaten the remaining bun I’d stashed in my bag. “It’s so good!”
So, what’s the big deal? The bakers at Pasticceria Papa in Five Dock and Haberfield spend four hours making each hot cross bun, generously hand-piping them with their house-made pistachio cream before topping them with a drizzle of white chocolate pistachio sauce and chopped pistachio nuts.
The result is soft, subtly sweet and immensely satisfying. This hot cross bun may look like a bold explosion of flavour when pulled apart for social media, but there’s just the right amount of filling to brighten each bite.
It’s the first time, since Sicilian-born baker Salvatore Papa opened the first Pasticceria Papa in Haberfield 35 years ago, that the bakery has ventured beyond standard sultana or chocolate chip hot cross buns, says Papa’s daughter and head office manager, Carmelina Papa.
Inspired by the variety of buns appearing at major supermarkets over the past few years, the production team (led by Salvatore’s brother Alessandro) underwent a long process of trial and error before new flavours pistachio and Belgian chocolate chip (another winner, filled with salted caramel sauce) debuted in March, along with weekly specials like limone, strawberry matcha and tiramisu.
“We were nervous about it – what if [the pistachio bun] was too heavy? What if people didn’t like it? But within the first few days, our regular customers went crazy for them,” says Carmelina.
“We decided to quickly put it on TikTok and it just went viral. That weekend, there were people coming in saying, ‘We don’t even know what we saw, we just know we need it in our lives’, and we’re so grateful for that.”
The entire range of hot cross buns will be available at the Five Dock and Haberfield bakeries throughout Easter, but the pistachio buns may remain on the menu a little longer. “We’re working on a way to keep it on the menu for at least a month,” Papa says.
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Bianca Hrovat – Bianca is Good Food’s Sydney eating out and restaurant editor.
