August 2023 update: Messina Creative – Messina’s degustation restaurant – is reopening this week on Thursday, August 17, in a fresh location at the new Messina HQ in Marrickville, and it’s looking nice, nice, baby. And because this is Messina we are talking about, a normal degustation this ain’t – every dish in the six-course experimental meal will feature gelato or sorbet in some way. And yes, there's a combination of sweet and savoury courses.
That may look like yuzu and olive oil gelato with scallop sashimi, N25 caviar and pickled beetroot; truffle gelato with ricotta and butternut tortellini; and wild Messina honey gelato with a lemon beehive and honey tuile. As well as being creative, the dishes look seriously fun – as if Willy Wonka was a chef and created his dream meal. Every course is matched with a non-alcoholic drink, or you can opt for a booze if you wish (we do, please). And while the next lot of bookings are sold out, you can sign up here to be the first to know when more seats become available to scoop up.
- Avril Treasure
Read on for our original write-up of Messina HQ by Caitlyn Todoroski from May 2023
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Just when we thought Messina couldn’t bring any more chocolate-flavoured happiness to our lives, the have done and opened a massive headquarters.
The brand spanking new gelato store-cross-factory has popped up in the foodie hub that is Marrickville. It’s complete with a chocolate shop and floor-to-ceiling glass, so that you can get a squiz at how your favourite frosty treat is concocted – mix-ins and all. The mothership is so large that this is where they bake all the brownies, cheesecakes, cookies and other scrumptious morsels you find swirled behind the glass casings of your local Pyrmont, Darlinghurst, Parramatta, Bondi, Surry Hills and Rosebery stores (just to name a few of the venues in Messina’s Sydney empire).
At the HQ, they’re serving up all 35 of their classic gelato flavours, five more rotating flavours du jour (well, week – let’s be reasonable here), eight types of gelato cakes, milkshakes and bottles of milk fresh from Messina’s own dairy farm. What really sets them apart as the big daddy of Gelato Messinas is their range of take-home desserts. Good luck choosing between Bavarian cream pies, cookie dough and family cookie pies; or just take them all. We’ll have an OG choc chip, lemon meringue and fairy bread, please.
And don’t get us started on the chocolate that’s made on-site. If dainty little truffles don’t even begin to line your stomach, then you’ll be pleased to feast your eyes upon the rows of chocolate bars crafted from Ecuadorian and Peruvian cocoa and cocoa butter.
If your imagination is running wild with all the possibilities that this Willy Wonka-esque factory offers, rejoice in the fact that the HQ is open every day of the week, from lunch time well into the evening – plenty of time to have many kid-in-a-candy-store moments.
To celebrate such a milestone opening for the cult-classic gelato giant, Messina is partnering with Marrickville favourites Baba’s Place and Whole Beast Butchery for eats that will have the neighbourhood singing. May 12 and May 13 will see the Messina HQ car park converted to a party space with street food from noon, and DJs at night.
Whole Beast Butchery is putting on a whole pig spit roast which you can enjoy shredded, tossed in a vinegar sauce and slapped on a crunchy bread roll. Baba’s Place is riding the Mediterranean grilled meats train with succulent chicken skewers and a drool-worthy mixed meats plate. DNA Distillery are also getting in on their slice of fun and will be serving rakija cocktails and rakija and tonic tinnies for delish (and stiff) refreshments.
Now, what’s a feast without a belt-loosening dessert? Messina has devised the ultimate to-go treat served especially at the opening: the Key Lime Pie-Lova Sundae. You can check out the full menu and more details for the grand opening here.
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