Rinaldini

Fuchsia high pastry, macarons and babà

The case is the argument at Rinaldini: macarons, decorated biscuits, frollini, gelée di frutta and chocolate laid out in the bright, saturated style the house sums up as il tocco fucsia dell'alta pasticceria. This is the Rimini shop of Roberto Rinaldini's pasticceria artigianale, a pastry and confectionery counter with café use layered over it rather than a bread-led neighborhood bakery. The named range sharpens quickly: Gelée di Frutta in boxes of nine or sixteen, Tenerina al Cioccolato and its white chocolate and lemon version, Frollini al Caffè, Cremosa di Nocciole e Cacao, and a babà that is naturally leavened and finished with orange liqueur syrup and candied orange. The gluten-free cakes are built on first-choice ingredients, with no hydrogenated fats, no palm oil and no preservatives.

The pastry chef behind the counter

Roberto Rinaldini came up through hospitality school and hotel kitchens on the Riviera Romagnola before moving into competition pastry and gelato, and the record is long: world gelato champion in 2006 and 2008, Pastry Chef of the Year at the AMPI symposium in 2014, entry into Relais Desserts the same year, victory at the Mondial des Arts Sucrés in Paris in 2016, and Gambero Rosso Best Pastry Chef of the Year in 2019. The shop itself holds Gambero Rosso Tre Torte and is a Relais Desserts member boutique. In 2018 the business was restructured for national expansion, and two of its stores sit in Rimini, the chef's home city. What that history buys the visitor is consistency: the display is theatrical, but the technique underneath it is competition-grade.

What to order first

Start with small formats, because they show the house style fastest: a few macarons, a fresh brioche with a cappuccino, a couple of decorated biscuits or frollini. For something to take away, Gelée di Frutta, Cremosa di Nocciole e Cacao and Frollini al Caffè are the obvious boxes. If the order is cake-led, the two tenerina versions are the clearest gluten-free choices, chocolate on one side and white chocolate with lemon on the other. For leavened pastry the babà is the one to have, and it is worth eating on the spot rather than carrying home. The room is colorful and stylish and works for a sit as much as for a takeaway, which is the right way to treat a counter this decorative.