Pasticceria Papa, Haberfield

Or, to be more specific, a pal and I pigged out on pastries at Pasticceria Papa on a fine, Sunday morning :D

 

As it so happened, I was seized by an inexorable wave of guilt on Saturday evening for my week of relative inactivity, and felt compelled to go outside for a walk at least. I felt much better twenty minutes into my turtle-paced "jog", and the rush of endorphins this precipitated opened my mind (and stomach) up to all sorts of naughty foodie ideas for Sunday's breakfast.

(An aside: Isn't it simply fascinating how the mind of a foodie constantly seeks to delude itself by coming up with wilder and more colourful justifications to indulge? Just sayin')

Anyway, I've been craving Italian sweets ever since I watched the Cake Boss episodes on cannoli and lobster tale pastries. I looked for recommendations for Italian bakeries in Sydney, and the one with the most rave reviews by far seemed to be Pasticceria Papa, situated in Haberfield. Since I've always found it a bit creepy to do foodie trips on my own (since nothing says "desperate" quite like downing a whole slice of cheesecake by myself while no one's watching), I texted a friend to see if she was up for a early Sunday run, with Pasticceria Papa's famous ricotta cheesecake for breakfast as a reward afterwards. She said "yes"!

(This is the pal. She's my exercise companion, and also my partner in crime when it comes to weekend foodie trips :D)

We met up at 6:30am this morning at my place, and jogged a leisurely 6km to Haberfield, chatting the whole way with ever-increasing degrees of breathlessness. Hey, talking and running at the same time is hard! I'd spent the night before committing the route on Google Maps to memory, so we found the Pasticceria with minimal fuss.

 

First, though, we decided to check out a bakery that was nearby, since my Pal wanted to get some bread. This place had the most amazing looking loaves: 

  

My friend got a brioche and a little piggy head. She bought me a piggy head too :D I went back for a bread shark, so impressed was I by their mastery in dough-shaping.

Then it was off to Pasticceria Papa!

WOW, so many choices. I knew I was definitely ordering the ricotta cheesecake, having heard people all over the foodblogging scene wax lyrical about it. I also got a long black espresso. It's my caffeinated beverage of choice to accompany sweets.

  

My friend ordered an Italian doughnut and a latte:

 

I tried the doughnut and it was sweet, soft and fluffy, not at all like the gluggy, saccharin, oil-drenched ones you get from those horrible chain stores (Krispy Kreme, I'm a-lookin' at you). But the star was definitely the ricotta cheesecake. I've never had cheesecake like this before. The actual ricotta cheesecake part was sandwiched between two biscuity "crusts", so it was more like a pie. But, as the Bard said: a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. i.e. I loved it!

   

I then went back and ordered a ricotta cannoli, and what I thought was a chocolate cream-filled sfogliatella napoletana (aka. puff pastry shell in the same of a lobster tail), but turned out to be a brioche-y cream horn.

 

The cannoli was extraordinarily good. Perhaps even better than the ricotta cheesecake. OH YUM.

 

The cream horn was kinda blah. Didn't like the chocolate filling at all. I think it was some kind of custard. It tasted like it was made with chocolate powder, or flavouring even.

 

Pal and I both got some stuff to take home to our families. I paid $25 for my box of goodies! It was a real treasure chest, though :D

 

Since we couldn't run holding onto a huge box of Italian desserts, we were content to just walk back and discuss possible candidates for future Foodie Fun Runs (lol, that's what I'm calling these trips from now on). We're thinking Lebanese sweets next!

The walk back helped me to work up an appetite (again). I proceeded to go Yum Cha with my family!

I think it was most appropriate that I wore this shirt to both eating events, lol :P Lookee, it's a silver pig!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.Time to get back to the uni grind!

Pasticceria Papa

145 Ramsay Street
Haberfield NSW 2045
(02) 9798 6894

Website: http://www.pasticceriapapa.com.au/