The eternal city is having a moment right now. A new empire of Roman-inspired restaurants has hit the city, slinging Southern Italian street food from porchetta rolls to cream-filled maritozzi buns.

If you don’t have enough frequent flyer points for a Roman holiday, an afternoon wining and dining at Martina will hit the spot for now.

Ride your Vesper over to Rose Bay, where you’ll find the new all-day bakery and osteria by Flavio Carnevale, the man behind Marta’s in Rushcutters Bay.

Marta’s was the Roman restaurant that led the charge. The sleek pasta-driven diner opened in 2017, but when coronavirus restrictions came in and in-venue dining went out, it transformed into a takeaway bakery during the day.

In lockdown, all of the eastern suburbs isolated together in that Marta’s queue, waiting 45 minutes, only for the person in front of them to buy the very last maritozzi cream bun.

When the restrictions ended, the bakery-osteria concept lived on and has proved so popular that Carnevale has now opened a second venue.

Little sister Martina has landed in another bayside suburb, on a leafy side street just off the main drag, in Rose Bay.

The open shopfront is bright and cheery, with candied orange-coloured awnings, while tables and chairs take over the pavement, piazza-style.

In Rome, breakfast is often just coffee and a cornetto, and who are we to argue? Martina embraces the tradition with an array of pastries, including many of the favourites from across town. Do as the Romans do and go the cornetto, a sweet, flaky take on the French croissant, made for dipping in your cappuccino crema, or go the golden-spun sfogliatelle, loaded with fresh, sweet ricotta and perfumed with orange zest.

The maritozzi is the creme de la creme, made from a fluffy brioche bun pocketed with a cloud-like vanilla cream.

Linger longer and they’ll bring out focaccia topped with sweet caramelised onions or a Romano sandwich patriotically filled with a tricolore of tomato, mozzarella and basil.

The carb fest continues into the evening. Focaccia comes out of the forno and in goes pinsa – an oval-shaped Roman-style pizza. Unlike the Neapolitan variety, pinsa is made from a mix of flours, including rice flour for lightness and soy flour for a more intense crunch. The artisan base is hand-stretched into shape (pinsere meaning “to stretch/spread”), giving it a beautiful, rustic, oblong shape.

The bubbling pizzas arrive on long wooden boards. Toppings include both rosso and bianco, from the saucy Norcina, topped with smoked mozzarella and spicy salami to the lighter, elegant Salaria, layered with fresh fior di latte and ricotta, then finished with lemon, pepper and fragrant fennel fronds. It’s light and snacky, without any of the heaviness of dense, chewy dough.

The dessert menu includes all the classics, a lush tiramisu, piled generously with thick mascarpone cream, and a white chocolate panna cotta, that’s a little less wobbly than hoped. But it’s those golden pastries we crave, and sadly they’ve sold out for the day.

If you want maritozzi, you’ll have to come back in the morning.