Fabbrica have expanded into bread following the success of their COVID-19 pivot weekend bread shop at their flagship CBD pasta and wine joint. Employing the same name, Fabbrica Bread Shop, you’ll find this bricks’n’mortar bakery taking up real estate inside Maloney’s Grocery in Rozelle. Fabbrica’s three sites (there’s also a pop-up pasta bar in Balmain’s Exchange Hotel) are run by the Love Tilly Group. They’re the crew responsible for the popular Darlo wine bar, Love, Tilly Devine, Dear Saint Eloise, Ragazzi, La Salut and Palazzo Salato.
What you’re coming to this spot for are pastries and chewy focaccia. Topped with pickled pfefferoni, the ham and smoked Cheddar croissants ($9/each) show off laminated dough with a classic honeycomb interior tempered by a tight bundle of ham and a protrusion of exploded cheese. The sobrassada and smoked Cheddar croissant ($9) is better realised: it’s more-or-less a dense, pastry sanga of cured Spanish sausage and cheese, the richness cut by a single cornichon. Under a fluffy dusting of cheese, the cavolo nero scroll ($9) tastes mostly of basil but gets good pastry penetration by the leafy greens. I wasn’t fussed on the masala croissant ($9) but appreciated the focus on experimentation that comes with a permanent bakery base.
Fabbrica have also infiltrated the grocery itself. You’ll find shelves loaded with loaves of sourdough that they proof on site for more than 24-hours, plus pasta and sauce packs. I gave the sourdough ($9.99/850 grams) a whirl. It’s currently made using flour milled in Gunnedah and eats well as crusty bread, but lacks the waterproof silkiness I love at my beloved Penny Fours.
