Illustration by Fig & Ginger, drawn from the review. The venue's own photo is on its way.
Neighbourhood pasticceria and breakfast bar in Risorgimento, Milan
Pasticceria Sissi
Brioche Filled While You Wait
The best breakfast decisions in Milan are made standing up, and Sissi is built for them. It is a narrow pink pasticceria on Piazza Risorgimento, a little east of the centre, run since the 1990s by Sissi and Zig Faye. The room is tight and slightly bohemian, all rose walls and wooden tables, with a pergola outside for the warm months. The laboratory sits right next door, so the pastry does not travel far.
Come for the brioche. They are split and filled by hand at the counter, to order, with vanilla or chocolate pastry cream or jam. Nothing has been sitting in a fridge pretending to be fresh. The savoury brioche with prosciutto cotto is the local secret that is no longer a secret. Bomboloni and veneziane are made on site too, along with cannoncini and crostata. Then order the caffè senegalese, the house twist: espresso with chocolate gelato in summer, with hot chocolate in winter, and whipped cream on top. It is not a light breakfast. It is not meant to be.
The baristas pull shots faster than you can find your coins, and the regulars treat the bar like a parish meeting. Expect a crowd at peak hours. Do as the neighbourhood does: stand, drink, eat, leave room for the next person. This is a working pasticceria for a working city, and it is better than most of the places with publicists.
- Order this
- Brioche filled to order with crema pasticciera, Savoury brioche with prosciutto cotto, Bomboloni alla crema, Caffè senegalese
- The damage
- $
- Go
- Early on a weekday morning, coffee at the counter; it opens at 6.30 and is closed Tuesdays
- Find it
- Piazza Risorgimento 6, 20129 Milano
- Website
- pasticceriasissi.it