Only those who've visited in Sydney will truly understand why "Papa knows best". For over 30 years, Salvatore Papa has been feeding Sydneysiders quintessential Italian sweets, inspired by recipes from his hometown in Sicily. These treats offer a taste of home to Italian migrants and let locals experience true southern Italian cuisine.
The story of Pasticceria Papa begins in the Italian region of Piedimonte Etneo with a young Salvatore Papa. Food was a way of life in the country and something he was taught to appreciate as a child.
Papa's daughter, Carmelina Papa, tells SBS Food, "In Sicily, you're always brought to the table by food, whether it be sweet or savoury.
"If it's someone's birthday, it's not really about giving an actual gift, it's more about bringing cake."
Papa and his five siblings would spend hours in the kitchen with their nonna learning how to roll pasta, bake biscuits and knead bread. These skills came naturally to Papa and practising them brought him immense joy. But his passion for baking was heightened at age eight when he started working at a local bakery.
For over 30 years, Salvatore Papa has been making quintessential Italian sweets for Sydneysiders. Source: Carmelina Papa
"During that time, children wouldn't really go to school," Carmelina explains. "They would be working to bring money back to the family."
The bakery was within walking distance of his family home and his older brothers were already working there full time. Days started at the crack of dawn and were long, but Papa wouldn't have spent his childhood any other way.
Then, after completing a compulsory year of army service and finishing up at the bakery, 18-year-old Papa embarked on an adventure Down Under.
"When he came to Australia, he loved absolutely everything, but the one thing that he noticed that was missing was definitely his culture," Carmelina says. "Everyone thinks Italian food is pasta and pizza, but it's much more than that."
This absence of traditional, Italian-inspired flavours inspired Papa to permanently relocate to Sydney and open his own pasticceria, which means a pastry shop in Italian. He spent the remainder of 1987 working three jobs and saving every cent possible to achieve his goal.
"My dad worked for Italian businesses, but his perspective was that everything was very modernised, and [came from] the north of Italy; [products weren't] really [from] the south," says Carmelina. "They had that whole pizza, pasta thing, but arancini were missing or there was cannoli missing, or if they did have those items, the taste wasn't the same as home."
Papa's dreams of opening a shop became a reality the following year when he rented a small newsagency in Haberfield, a suburb that's known as a hub for Sydney's Italian migrant population.
"It started very small with a limited range, so like the [baked] ricotta cake, continental cake, tiramisu cake and cannoli; things that were more southern from where he came from," Carmelina explains.
These Italian specialties resonated with the locals, and business grew from there. Papa soon had to relocate down the street to a bigger shop and in the following few years to an even larger space.
Pasticceria Papa is known for its ricotta cheesecake. Source: Carmelina Papa
Thirty years on, Pasticceria Papa is now a thriving retail and wholesale operation with three locations in Haberfield, Five Dock and Bondi. Papa can still be found working across the stores seven days a week.
"He starts work at about 2am and he won't get home until about 9pm," Carmelina says. "People think he's crazy but he's just really passionate and he really loves being in the shop."
Despite having over 150 employees, Pasticceria Papa is still very much family owned and operated.
People think he's crazy but he's just really passionate and he really loves being in the shop.
Papa takes pride in showing his employees how to bake the bread or roll the pasta and ensuring that every product retains traditional Italian flavours.
"My dad is very hands-on. He knows every single employee's first name, last name, if they have kids, if they don't have kids," Carmelina says.
Papa is also very friendly with his customers, some of whom have been visiting Pasticceria Papa since it opened 31 years ago.
"Something that is so beautiful is the fact that we have customers come in and say, 'It tastes like Sicily', or 'My parents love eating your cakes because it tastes like home for them and they aren't able to go home'," she says.
The pasticceria is like a second home to Carmelina, who's worked there since she was 14 years old. Carmelina now studies at university, but is helping her father grow the business.
"I see my parents work incredibly hard and that's such an honour to have them do this for me," she says. "Even just to see their passion, to see our culture, our tradition and to be able to share that with other people."
Carmelina loves working alongside her dad and helping him to offer the aromas, tastes and traditions of his childhood in Sicily.
Pasticceria Papa’s original store in Haberfield, Sydney. Source: Carmelina Papa
"It is so incredible that we can have different cultures come in and enjoy what we eat every day from home," she says.
Sunday lunches are something that the Papa family cherish since it's the one time during the week when they can all switch off and enjoy each other's company. It's a family tradition to have an antipasto platter, followed by handmade pasta and sauce.
"There always has to be like a treat on the table as well," Carmelina adds.
Luckily for her, the family is spoilt for choice, and she hopes it stays this way for many years to come.
"We want to keep the business as family-run for as long as possible in terms of the values and the love and the passion that we have," she concludes.
Photographs by Carmelina Papa.
