Italian Pastries You Need To Try 

Roll up to Goloso in Soho to try some of the best Italian pastries in London. Although nothing beats a holiday to Sicily, and London certainly can’t compete on the weather front, Goloso is the best option for tasting a bite of Italian pastry heaven without leaving your home town. 

In this post, we will help you discover the different types of Italian pastries we offer and help you choose which to try next time you find yourself in an Italian café or bakery. 

List of Italian Pastries 

Pastries from our breakfast menu:

• Conchiglia al Cioccolato: this sweet and crunchy breakfast option has layers of flaky pastry in a twisted formation with a soft chocolate and hazelnut filling. It’s made with a puffy pastry, making it a perfect choice for a better-than-Nutella-style pastry breakfast. 

• Croissant: although many people associate the humble croissant with French pastries, this flaky, buttery pastry is based on the Kipferl pastry, which originated in Austria/Hungary. 

At Goloso Italian focacceria and café, we serve the Italian version of the half-moon shaped croissant, which is known as the ‘Cornetto’ by Italian speakers, which roughly translates to ‘little horn’. However, as some Italian bakeries (specifically in the North) use the term Cornetto to describe a brioche pastry, and Londoners associate the term with the popular ice cream cone, we decided to stick to the French name to help our customers understand the menu. 

• Pain Au Raisin: the pain au raisin, along with the pain au chocolat, comes under the umbrella of croissants. If you like dried fruit or just fancy a different breakfast option from our menu, this is a great choice for breakfast or a tasty morning pick-me-up with one of our Italian coffees. 

• Krapfen: soft and fluffy doughnuts filled with a filling of your choice. Traditionally these German doughnuts are filled with jam, but you can also have your Krapfen with other sweet cream Italian fillings. 

• Cannolo Siciliano: the traditional Sicilian Cannolo with a creamy filling made of ricotta, pistachio, or chocolate are perhaps among the most recognised Italian pastry. 

You can read more about these sweet pastries from Sicily in our previous blog post. 

• Cannolo Di Sfoglia: similar to a traditional Sicilian Cannolo with sweet ricotta, pistachio or chocolate cream inside. 

• Cestini: another traditional Sicilian pastry is these mini butter tarts made of a shortcrust pastry with cream fillings. 

You can choose to have your croissant or Krapfen served as is or with a sweet filling of either pistachio, chocolate, custard or jam. 

Pastries from our Savoury menu:  

• Spinach and Ricotta Pie: Italian pastry with ricotta cheese, egg and spinach filling. The filling on this pie is crusty and dense, making this is a good option for a satiating and savoury meal with protein from the egg and cheese. 

• Spinach, Swiss Chard and Parmesan Pie: if you prefer a more nutty and less creamy cheese filling, this savoury pie is a great option. Plus, it’s packed with health-reviving veggies to set you up for a great day.

Pastries from our Italian Dessert menu:

• Torta Della Nonna Lemon or Chocolate: this tart from Tuscany is a well-known Italian dessert made with sweet shortcrust pastry. At Goloso we made our Torta Della Nonnas, aka ‘​​grandmother’s cake’ in lemon or chocolate flavours so you have two options depending on your mood. 

• Homemade crostatina: this Italian dessert is made with either pistachio, chocolate, red berries jam, or apricot jam. Please enquire with our friendly team when you visit us at Goloso to see which flavours we have on offer when you stop by. 

• Apricot crostata: this Italian dessert, otherwise known as a Crostata di Marmellata, is often found at Italian coffee bars. It is similar to a tart made from fresh apricots with a crumbly topping. These are a great choice if you like to try new things and want a sweet treat to enjoy with your Italian coffee of choice. 

What is a popular Italian pastry? 

There are many popular Italian pastries, and you may recognise some Italian pastry names including cannoli and panettone. However, if you are in the North London area, why not pop down to Goloso and try some for yourself? 

What is pastry in Italian? 

If you were to translate pastries in Italian literally, you would find that the Italian equivalent is pasticcino (singular) or pasticcini (plural). However, many people in London also know Italian pastries by their true Italian names. 

For example, the best pastry in the world, aka the cannoli from Sicily, does not have an English equivalent. Are you wondering what are Sicilian pastries called? the most well-known Sicilian pastry is the cannolo, this is probably the most suitable answer. However, this simply refers to one type of Italian pastry, i.e. a cannolo is a type of Sicilian pastry. 

Where to Find an Italian Pastry Shop in London

So now you know the difference between the different Italian pastries, or you may even have an itching to go out and taste one for yourself. If you are based in or around London, the best Italian pastries in Soho are at Goloso. At Goloso, we service hungry Londoner’s breakfast pastries, paninis or filled focacceria for lunch, as well as thirst-quenching and soul-restoring coffees, juices, smoothies, and frappés. 

How to order Italian pastries online

If you’re lucky enough to live in the Soho area, you can order Italian desserts and pastries 

and drinks from Goloso on Deliveroo. We offer flaky croissants and pain au raisins, Krapfens, creamy cannolo, butter Cestini, and some savoury pastries, including a spinach and ricotta pie and spinach, swiss chard and Parmesan pie. These tasty pastries make a delicious Italian breakfast, mid-morning snack or dessert.