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Since opening its doors in Sydney, the Creative Department has evolved, refined and redefined the ultimate fine dining experience. The seasonal menu is curated by our chefs, to take you on an immersive and indulgent journey. Paired with complimenting alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks, this 6-course degustation showcases the perfect balance of sweet, savoury and umami in the comfort of our estaurant.
Darlinghurst is where it all started for Messina way back in 2002. It was our first store and remains the beating heart of our business. As Messina began to grow in the early years, we had the opportunity to take over a small cafe next door and established a production area, a creative space and test kitchen. We tinkered with our gelato cakes, we started experimenting with weird & wonderful ‘monoporzione’ and it was dubbed the ‘Messina Creative Department’ – a tiny space where a lot happened!
We held our first gelato classes here, squished between fridges, pasteurisers and the kitchen sink. We opened Sydney’s first dedicated soft serve gelato/dessert bar and stuck to our ethos of literally making every component in-house. It afforded our chefs the opportunity to experiment with gelato, hand rolled cones, and a multitude of additions including biscuits, crunches, pralines, marshmallows, jellies and all manner of exquisite dessert toppings. It was fun!
However, by the end of 2015, we got a little bored. We closed the doors and started preparing an ambitious project we’d talked about for years.
The result is a Darlinghurst restaurant with 1 table, 8 seats and a lot of love.
The Creative Department by Messina, offers a fine dining six course degustation that is experimental, immersive and indulgent. Paired with complimenting alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks, this is not what you might expect. It borders on dessert but it is very much a meal.
The menu flirts with savoury and dances with the unexpected. It tests the relationship between what you see and what you taste and will challenge your palate and f*ck with your mind. It challenges your taste buds and will knock any pre-conceptions associated with eating 7 rounds of Messina straight out of your mind. By using seasonal, local and specifically sourced fresh produce and incorporating flavours not normally associated with dessert, our aim is to take you just out of your comfort zone but leave you feeling like you’ve just had a big hug from a cuddly stranger! The truth is you could eat a small meal before or after this degustation, or you could treat this as a meal in itself. But if you choose to eat prior to dining with us, we’d advise that you keep it on the light side. We hope you like it.
At Gelato Messina our job is to make people happy. Yes we make amazing gelato with the very best, real ingredients. And yes our gelato cakes are weird and wonderful, but it’s all in the name of putting a smile on someone’s face.
