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Saif Manna

@chefsa1f

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Founder of @mannabakery_philly
Storyteller. Trying to make food just like my tetas.
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🧑‍🍳 by @chefsa1f
7
2 years ago
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@mannabakery_philly is a Halal Palestinian 🇵🇸 and Levantine third-culture bakery and café that has officially opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Fishtown 📍110 W. Berks St. Philadelphia PA @mannabakery_philly is founded by @chefsa1f Inspired by family kitchens, Palestinian traditions, and the flavors of the Levant, Saif began by baking cookies for friends before growing Manna into a beloved farmers market pop-up. Today, Manna serves creative sweet and savory bakes rooted in tradition and crafted with seasonal, high-quality ingredients—including imported Palestinian olive oil and za’atar. From comforting pastries to inventive treats, each offering reflects Saif’s culinary journey. After building a loyal following at markets around the city, Manna has officially opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Fishtown Currently open Thursday to Sunday Pull up and show them some love, you don’t want to miss this one #phillyhalalspots #mannabakery #palestinianbakery #levantine #halalbakery by @chefsa1f
84
a month ago
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‼️UPDATED STORE HOURS‼️ Thursday & Friday: 7am - 3pm Saturday & Sunday: 8am - 3pm Thank you all for the amazing turn out during our opening week! I cannot describe how much this all means to me and the entire team bringing this all to life. We can’t wait to welcome more of you into our home. We’re going to be open 4 days a week now! We will slowly be expanding our days and hours in the near future! When you walk in during our first hour of opening, expect to see a couple of pastries still missing from the display. Since we bake everything fresh, baked goods don’t come out from the oven all at the same time. Therefore, the first hour of opening is dedicated to the final act. Crafting the last few pastries and bringing them all the way to you at the counter. Shukran for all the love. We are just getting started❤️ شكراً 📸: @persicophoto by @chefsa1f
10
2 months ago
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Manna Bakery is opening its doors this week! Here are the current hours! Our farmers market pop ups will remain! Thursday & Friday 7am - 3pm Saturday 8am - 3pm For all of you tagging along at this moment in time, let me give you a little backstory on how we got here. I started cooking at the age of 8. My baba = father brought me into the kitchen to help him make breakfast on the weekends. I’d crack the eggs and whisk the pancake batter. I’d stand next to him and watch the batter rise into fluffy mounds. To keep me engaged, he would feed me the little burnt bits that he scraped off the edges of the pancakes. Those were the best parts! In the summers, I visited my tetas = grandmas. I watched them make eveybting from scratch. I ate everything too. The smells and sights of the kitchen made me fall in love with the art of cooking. Food represented community and happiness in teta’s house. The positive emotion that formed around the table when food was served was probably the catalyst for me to consider cooking as my passion. Manna Bakery wasn’t always this popular. It started out as a little table I would set up randomly on the side walk to sell my baked goods. For every 10 people I attempted to persuade, 8 of them would say no. However, that did not deter me because resilience is acquired through challenge. Much like the dandelion in our logo, I found a way to germinate. My baba had a small framed picture hanging in his office. It read “a river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence”. I used to read it every single time I’d visit my baba at work. He would always remind me that you become what you think about all day long. I did become what I thought about all day long. I became persistent. If you scroll to the last picture on the slide, it was a random photo my baba took of us standing in front of a random cafe in Austria. He joked that it was my future restaurant. If you look closely it says delicatessen cafe. Couldn’t be more accurate. Life has its ways. In the end, I am a storyteller. Food is my medium. Thank you all for your support. It means the world to me. What’s the point of a book if there’s no reader? ❤️ by @chefsa1f
78
2 months ago
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Happy Father’s Day. It is certainly not the same without baba with us. I decided to post a couple of videos and a picture to share my baba. In the first video, my mom is asking him whose banana bread is better and he responds “of course Saif”, while he continues to eat the one she made. My mom tells him that is the wrong answer and that he cannot eat her banana bread. I thought it was a funny exchange. He was always proud of what I did. The second video is him tasting one of my cookies, specifically the triple chocolate. My mom had visited me in Philadelphia because I was graduating from college. I sent her back home with some cookies and my dad was eating one in the morning and praising how good it was. He was saying that it had been a while since he ate my cookies, so it tasted even better. The last pic is baba proudly taking a picture with my mom’s tiramisu. She made it for my youngest brother’s birthday. You can clearly see my dad loved to eat. He throughly enjoyed it. He passed the love he had for food on to me. We grow up thinking our parents are immortal. We take them for granted. Everyone has to go at some point. Thank you baba for leaving beautiful memories. I just wish you were here to try more of what I make❤️ by @chefsa1f
40
3 months ago
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Dear Baba, While I may not see you reading this, I know you are. You fought bravely, but ultimately cancer got the better of you as it does in many instances. While death is never timely, at 61, I’d say it was a little too soon. When people ask me, “when did you start cooking?” my answer always has two parts. The first being the time I attempted to make tomato sauce on my own at 8 years old. The second being when you brought me into the kitchen on the weekends and had me assist you while you made pancakes and omelettes for everyone. I watched with curious eyes on how the liquid batter bubbled and puffed before you demonstrated how I should flip it. Then, we moved onto cracking eggs for the omelettes and you grabbed a little stool for me to stand on because I was too short for the counter. You taught me how to crack an egg and I proceeded to do the rest without breaking a yolk or dropping a little shell fragment into the mix. I vividly remember you saying, “wow you cracked them all perfectly—you must be talented.” That is the very moment I believed that I can cook. From then on, I attempted to cook and bake everything and anything I saw. I made little cakes for you that you would proudly eat at the end of a long day with a glass of milk. You would exclaim, “these are delicious!” while eating another two of them. Unfortunately, baba you never got to eat or try most of the things that I make at Manna Bakery. You never got to see the storefront open. I had your order ready. I wanted to show you how things baked in those big ovens, and I told you that when you come, you’ll make Fuul (spiced fava bean stew) for everyone. As much as it hurts to see you go, I know that you were suffering in the end. In honor of you baba, this weekend’s menu will feature some of the things you enjoyed eating. It is a shame I won’t get to see you savor all the food, but I know you’ll be watching. I just wish I could see you watching me. You may no longer be sitting at the table, but you will always be in every plate. I love you Baba. I’ll make you proud❤️ by @chefsa1f
104
6 months ago
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What does it take to build a bakery in 2026? Moderator Lisa Marie Donovan leads a conversation with Mariela Camacho, Kelly Jacques, Saif Manna, and Ellen Ramos on what’s “rising” now. Sponsored by @tilitnyc. Almost sold out. Link in bio for the full lineup + tickets. by @chefsa1f
7
7 months ago
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I want to extend a huge thank you to @chefsa1f of @mannabakery_philly for one of the most fun pastry collaborations! I was very proud of how we merged both our cultures along with some of the Korean influence we're known for here at @provenancephl. It really was one for the books! Who would you want to see me collab with next? by @chefsa1f
12
7 months ago
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We are so excited to announce a collaborative pastry dinner between @chefsa1f of @mannabakery_philly and @abbydahan on February 19th! We wanted to do a pastry dinner that was focused on giving back to our community. Proceeds will benefit @sundayloveproject, which fights food insecurity in Philadelphia through their free grocery store, Greater Goods, in Kensington! It will be 6-courses, priced at $275 per person (excluding taxes and a 20% service charge). Reservations will be released on Thursday the 5th at noon on @opentable. Reservations are ONLY available at the 5:30 seating at our Kitchen View Counter and Sunkoo Yuh Room! We cannot accommodate any dietary restrictions or allergies for this dinner. by @chefsa1f
19
8 months ago
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Do you remember the first thing you ever cooked? @chefsa1f does, and so does his brother, who's still a bit traumatized... Fast forward to today: @mannabakery_philly is popping up all over Philadelphia with Saif's beautiful and tasty treats. On the latest episode of #DeliciousCity he reveals some of the more creative ingredients that go into his baked goods (sumac, anyone?). He tells the story of his culinary journey tracing back to cooking with his grandma as a child, to launching Philly's first Levantine inspired baking pop-up and creating unique bites for special collabs with the city’s most sought-after chefs. SUBSCRIBE + STREAM wherever you get your podcasts 🍪 taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by @chefsa1f
20
a year ago
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Sold out! Email shelby@lecookingstudio.com to get on the wait list! ONE NIGHT ONLY — Flavors of Palestine w/ Chef Saif from Manna Bakery 🍽️✨ July 20 | 5:30 PM If you’ve ever stood in that Manna Bakery line (or wished you had), this is your chance to skip it entirely… and cook with the chef behind the magic. The Cooking Studio is teaming up with Chef Saif for a one-night-only hands-on class celebrating Palestinian hospitality, heirloom ingredients, and stories you won’t find in any cookbook. On the menu: 🌿 Mezze of beetroot, tahini & tabbouleh 🥟 Shish Barak — lamb & cherry dumplings folded by hand 🍨 Housemade baklawa + cardamom ice cream surprise tastes, Saif’s curated playlist & BYOB vibes We only have a few spots left—this will absolutely sell out. Grab your seat at the table now before it’s gone. 🎟️ Click the link in bio to book! #palestinianfood #mannabakery #phillyfoodie #thecookingstudio #phillyevents #flavorsofpalestine #cookingclass #byobphilly taken in Telford, Pennsylvania by @chefsa1f
9
a year ago
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Got a chance to check out @mannabakery_philly popups recently as well as @phillymagicgardens! Also some snaps from previous shoot of @chefsa1f in action ❤️‍🔥 taken in Philadelphia's Magic Gardens by @chefsa1f
8
a year ago
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