Italian mega-market Mercato Centrale opens first overseas outpost in Melbourne

A giant food market famous in Italy is opening its first international outpost in Melbourne. Here’s when it will open.

Italian mega-market Mercato Centrale is opening its first overseas outpost in Melbourne this year.

The massive artisan market will be a mecca for food, art, craft and design when it takes over two floors of the old McPherson’s building on Collins St.

Founder Umberto Montano visited Melbourne for the first time last week and was looking for 19 local stallholders to take on a three-year residency.

Mortadella sangas will be aplenty.

“We are looking for Italian artisans in Melbourne. There are a lot of Italians in Melbourne who do what they love with passion,” he said.

“We’re not ready to say who will be there, but those (producers) will be mostly artisans who are making pasta, street food, cheeses, pizzas and traditional Italian fare.

The Florence-based entrepreneur was approached by Australian businessman Eddie Muto three years ago to bring the concept to Australia.

Mercato Centrale will live in the old McPherson’s Building.

Mercato Centrale will open in Melbourne later in 2022.

After a turbulent few years, the team is hoping to open the market by November.

Montano was quick to praise Melbourne produce, but couldn’t be swayed on our coffee.

“In Italy it’s better. You have a big passion for coffee, and I have to say most of it is very good but in Italy we have a habit for espresso,” he said.

“I’ve tasted many things while in Melbourne and I have to say the meat is incredible. We have better coffee but you have better meat.”

Mercato Centrale is well known abroad, starting in Florence in 2014 and expanding to Rome, Turin and Milan in recent years.

Mercato Centrale, 546 Collins St

Where to get your pastry fix

Penny for a Pound’s Ben Wilson and Matilda Smith are proud parents of two lockdown babies – a boy born just three weeks ago and their flagship Moorabbin cafe.

The massive new digs at the Morris Moor site opened late March and has been a long time coming after the duo launched their wholesale business and then Richmond hole-in-the-wall cafe.

Matilda and Ben at their new flagship cafe, Penny for a Pound. Picture: Nicki Connolly.

“Our walk-in fridge in Moorabbin is the same size as our Richmond shop,” Matilda said.

Penny for a Pound’s second store boasts a production kitchen filled with a brigade of pastry chefs, overlooking a 120-seater dining room that’s open for coffee, breakfast and lunch.

Croissants are made fresh every 30 minutes each morning with more than a dozen flavours in rotation at once.

Head pastry chef Monique Collins also makes doughnuts, cruffins, sweet and savoury danishes, cakes by the slice and sandwiches daily.

The larger space also allows them to serve a substantial food menu, prepped by head chef Mark Richardson, and install an espresso machine grinding Axil coffee.

“Every time I walk into the venue I think, me 10 years ago in pastry school would have been blown away by this,” she said.

“It’s an incredible thing we have been able to build, especially during Covid. I’m just grateful to have an incredible team in the bakery and cafe.”

7 Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, open daily 7am-4pm weekdays, 8am-4pm weekends.

Gus Cadden and Alex Ghaddab prepare some pasta at their new Italian restaurant Osteria Renata. Picture: Ian Currie

Italian job

The duo behind South Melbourne’s Park St Pasta and Wine have some important news to share – and it’s not just about their Prahran venue, Osteria Renata.

Not only are Angus Cadden and Alex Ghaddab opening an 80-plus seater next to the Mt Erica Hotel in June, they’re also launching a retail pasta line, Pasta Gustavo.

Cadden will churn out the carby goodness from the restaurant’s purpose built pasta lab daily, as well as make product for the wholesale and retail lines.

“The pasta lab is definitely my favourite part,” Cadden said.

“We’ve converted what used to be an old cooking school and covered everything in stainless steel for the space. Our pasta making will be on display, as the lab overlooks the 20-seater courtyard.”

While the Italian-inspired neighbourhood eatery was fittingly named after Ghaddab’s grandmother (Renata means to be reborn), Cadden hasn’t yet come to terms with the pasta line’s branding.

“Pasta Gustavo has been named after me, unfortunately,” Cadden joked.

“Not only will we be supplying a couple of restaurants, the retail range will include fresh-made pasta and sauce kits,” he said.

Despite having a pasta lab on site, less of it will appear on Osteria Renata’s menu.

“We’ll have a robust main plate offering compared to what you’d see at Park St,” Ghaddab said.

“Osteria Renata is a neighbourhood diner inspired by Italy. Think antipasto, four pastas that’ll focus more on quality over quantity and larger main courses.”

Osteria Renata, 436-438 High St, Prahran

Heritage Harvest Weekend will return to Ballarat’s Sovereign Hill this weekend.

Heritage weekend

If you’re hankering for a regional getaway, why not head to Ballarat and learn the age-old techniques for growing and preserving food at Sovereign Hill’s Heritage Harvest Weekend.

Chat to local producers about the art of fermentation, curing, salting, pickling and distilling at the two-day event next Saturday and Sunday.

Sip Ballarat-distilled Kilderkin gin, cook damper over an open flame, watch butter and cheese making demos, brush up on your backyard bee colony knowledge or learn how to make terrine and pate by Saltbush Kitchen’s charcuterie king Mick Nunn.

Tickets $39 adults, $20 children. bookings.sovereignhill.com.au