Melbourne’s Tiramisu Craze Continues With Two New Dedicated Shops

Love it or hate it, it’s hard to deny we’re living in the golden age of tiramisu. 

The dessert has taken over restaurant menus and Melburnians have started going out for tiramisu in the same way people go out for gelato and ice-cream. The craze has spawned a group of shops dedicated to the Italian staple including Tiramisu Galleria in Sandringham, and the gelato and tiramisu bar Queen St BB in the CBD, as well as pop-ups and cottage bakeries including Tiramisu Bar and The Travelling Tiramisu.

A shopfront on Little Collins Street that used to house buzzy wine bar Parcs is now Remo’s Pasta and Tiramisu. At La Manna's 10,000-square-metre Essendon Fields store, its self-serve tiramisu bar became a feature that drew people into the store. Then there’s Holy Sugar’s Audrey Allard, who’s become known for branded versions of the dessert, emblazoned with logos (a recent creation depicted the Versace Medusa head logo in 24-karat gold leaf).

Now, two more dedicated tiramisu shops are joining the fun: Soira, an ode to founder Jasmine Caruana’s family, and Pinto, a shop born out of two brothers’ desire to perfect the dessert that started in 2024 and finally has a bricks-and-mortar location. 

Caruana says Siora is a love letter to her Italian upbringing, and to the warmth and community that surrounded it. She ran Siora as a pop-up out of existing venues including AM Bakehouse in Glen Iris and Rose St Cafe in Essendon. Later this month, she’ll open a dedicated Siora store on Auburn Road in Hawthorn East. 

There’s always traditional tiramisu as well as changing specials, which have included Biscoff tiramisu, a peanut butter and jelly take and another inspired by the banana cream matcha at Brunswick sandwich shop Donatelllo’s. “I use my nonna’s recipe as the base for all our tiramisu, even though there are flavours she’s probably never heard of,” the hospitality first-timer says.

Then there’s Pinto (formerly named Trmsu), run by brothers Clancy and Finley Ivanac and Clancy's wife Pernille Ivanac. Clancy and Finley have no formal culinary training, but they developed an appreciation for food and produce growing up on their family’s sheep and cattle farm.

The idea for Pinto was born while they were working on separate superyachts in Europe. They say tiramisu featured on nearly every menu, and ordering the dish when they came across it became a way for them to feel connected to each other while in different countries. They started a tiramisu rating system and compared notes. 

“Our rating system was simple, just price and a score out of 10, but we took it seriously,” says Finley. “We judged balance, sweetness and the coffee levels. I even had people make tiramisu for me, knowing I’d be brutally honest.”

It started in a Collingwood apartment, with the small batches delivered to local restaurants and sold at market stalls. Last month, the family opened a bricks-and-mortar store in Fitzroy, thanks in large part to a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $33,000. 

The name Pinto (Japanese for “focus”), the brothers say, reflects their commitment to mastering one thing. “Focusing on one product allows us to go deep on every element,” Clancy says. “We make as much as we can in-house, from mascarpone and savoiardi [sponge fingers] to brewing our own espresso.” They even bought a wet mill to process their own nuts for a recent pistachio special. “It’s about having complete control to achieve the perfect flavour and texture.”

Pinto
106 Leicester Street, Fitzroy 
No phone

Hours:
Wednesday to Sun 9am–3pm

pintotiramisu.com.au

Siora
97 Auburn Road, Hawthorn
0402 472 174

Opening in November 

www.sioratiramisu.com.au