As it is known, in August we don’t have much time to write creative blog posts, so we have thought we might create one made of memories, just to have a bit of fun…I don’t even try to involve my usual co-author Franz to write this post, because during this month he -as a true chief confectioner- is buried in the lab, while I manage to get off the hook relying on our collaborators, since I am not a perfectionist craftsman as he is, but a mere manager. 🤣
So the most remote memories will only be my own. I was born 5 years after Dentoni was founded, but since time immemorial everyone swears that what I am about to say was true even before I joined the family.

I am speaking about the dominance of the Leccese croissant over the rest of our offer, in terms of customers’ response.

We can certainly be proud to have created Torta Crêpes® and to have spruced a lot of cakes from both Italian and international confectionery with our creativity, from mousse to the Sicilian cannolo, from the Neapolitan sfogliatella to the nun’s tt from Andria, from the Austrian Sacher cake to the Leccese fruttone…but nothing has been so relentlessly and successfully the hard core of our business as our croissants: even cafeteria kicked in only later!

For many a tourist -well, at least those who come to Salento for holidays for the first time- a mouthful of our key product is a surprise. The national Italian croissant is, traditionally, a triangle-shaped flaky pastry that rises while still empty and receives its filling only after being baked, the filling being at room temperature; the Leccese croissant, instead, is special because the rising happens when it’s already being filled up: our classical poker, in particular, contains fillings of cream, nutella, cream & chocolate or wild cherries marmelade & chocolate.

Even this may sound trivial, this makes the task of your confectioners team more complicated, because on their tables the filling must be injected on top of the dough before this is closed, with due attention.

People have always rewarded our effort to offer an ever fresh daily product, patiently standing in line for several tenths of minutes to either eat our freshly baked croissants or to take them home to have them together with their family and friends (sometimes, during the summer, they are a bit less patient, but we understand them).

Beside the cues I witness every year, that never cease to surprise me, I always keep a special memory of the disco people from the ’90s. I have never been part of them later, neither as a youngster nor as an adult, but those few times when I did manage to wake up early enough, still a young boy, to see for myself the crowds that flocked our old venue when disco people closed their all-nighters with our hot croissants, I felt like I was part of something truly special.

Much like in life, such proofs of loyalty, so persistent, make a relationship special and cement rapport. In my mind, this binomial of young people pulling all-nighters and Dentoni’s croissants has stamped a very strong representative picture, when it comes to our relationship with our customers and to what, I think, we must not get tired to represent for them: a safe harbour where a family atmosphere and cakes of undisputed quality and so much hospitality can be found.

As always, we look forward to welcoming you in Torre dell’Orso…now I have to run because it’s August and my to-do list is soooo packed !!!!!

Mirek and Franz