July 28, 2026
Provided Image/Michael Persico
Saif Manna, owner of Manna Bakery, says his new shop in Norris Square will allow him to form deeper relationships with his customers.
Though the roots of his business started in a Temple University dormitory, Manna Bakery owner Saif Manna said his love of food goes back to his earliest days in the kitchen, when he would help his father make breakfast.
"He would make pancakes and eggs and omelets on the weekend, so he'd invite me in with him and I would be helping him prepare the breakfast and mixing the batter and cracking the egg," Manna said. "So seeing that for the first time as a kid made me feel like food is magic, you can transform simple ingredients into something greater."
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Manna's love for food grew through the baking lessons his Jordanian grandmothers offered him and during his time as a student athlete at Temple. On Thursday, his pop-up shop, Manna Bakery, a favorite at local farmers markets, is transitioning into a brick-and-mortar store in Norris Square.
The store at 110 W. Berks St. is located in the space that formerly housed Essen Bakery, which closed last November. It features a large travertine-tile bar, a nod to Manna's father, which will house his Levantine and Palestinian pastries. Customers can order coffee or peruse a selection of coffee beans, Levant spices and other wares. The shop's front includes tables and chairs, while the back has a separate space where Manna plans to hold workshops, classes, a supper club and other private events.
The menu includes many of the items Manna sold at pop-ups, plus some new options that he's eager to share. There are brioche Maarouk buns filled with fruit jams and cream, pistachio passionfruit cookie tarts, Jerusalem bagels and manakeesh — a savory dish similar to a flatbread with seasonal toppings. On the side, there is hummus made from hand-peeled chickpeas and muhammara, a dip made from roasted red peppers, walnuts, cumin and pomegranate molasses.
To wash down the sweets, Manna partnered with Princeton's Seekers Coffee to create menu options like a tahini date latte and cardamom saffron coffee. There also are more unusual choices, like Kumda Kahve, a type of coffee brewed on sand, and orange blossom lemonade — Manna's grandmother's recipe.
The storefront is a big step for Manna, who spent the past five years traveling around Philadelphia to sell his treats. His business started while he was a student at Temple, when his girlfriend — now his wife — realized that he had tons of photos of cookies on his phone, but she had yet to try them. The results were so successful that Manna started selling cookies out of his dorm room, and eventually at cafes and other events.
Manna can sell up to 800 pastries in a few hours at farmers markets and other pop-ups. But with the physical space, he's eager to develop a relationship with his customers after they've purchased their goods.
"Doing the pop-ups was lovely, and I love doing them, but people would often — they'll grab the boxes of pastries and they'll leave to go somewhere else to sit or to go back home," Manna said. "But now I'll get to see them enjoy it in real time,"
Manna Bakery initially will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. But Manna said he plans to eventually expand those hours later into the afternoon.
