Wild Buns Pop-Up Bakery Pauses

Florence’s wildly popular Wild Buns Pop-Up Bakery is taking a winter break, from November 19, 2020 to early February 2021.  The Estonian-born owner Robert Marrandi is going home for the holidays and will be back next year.  After the mandatory two weeks of self-quarantine, Robert (or Roberto as he is known in Italy) will be back preparing and baking every single one of his Scandinavian buns, served straight out of the oven at East Catering at via di Mezzo 36/r.

Like many of us, Roberto visited Italy and fell in love with Florence, deciding to come back in 2016.  Trained as a professional chef in Estonia, he initially developed the brunch menu at the via Sant’Egidio location of Rooster.  Carrying on the tradition of Scandinavian breakfast buns, prepared personally by his grandmother, Roberto decided to open his pop-up bakery, first out of his home kitchen and then officially through East Catering on October 4, 2019.  He has had special events highlighting his pastry art at Eataly, and supplies Ditta Artigianale gourmet coffee shop with his delectable breakfast selections.

So, 2021 will bring the return of such scrumptious treats as cinnamon buns and salted caramel sticky bun (suggested by a customer) which led Roberto to develop the recipe.  “I love to interact with my customers so I always serve what I make personally by hand,” he says.

Besides the sticky bun, the vanilla custard bun is also a favorite, as certified by public demand.  Other items on the menu include the traditional cinnamon bun also in a chocolate variant, a lemon and poppy seed bun, a cardamom bun in addition to rye bread.  Wild Buns has a strong following from Florence’s Scandinavian and foreign community in general, in addition to a fast-growing number of Italian-born customers. Tune in for an update when Roberto returns from Estonia, arriving with many of the necessary ingredients from northern Europe.  (rosanna cirigliano)