From the tender, salty porchetta to the crispy, light focaccia, everything is made in-house at Pyrmont newcomer Norcino, the small Roman-style salumeria which soft-opened on Saunders Street this month.

Norcino launched with a small breakfast and lunch menu showcasing the kitchen’s cold cuts, baked goods and fresh pasta, with standouts including mortadella and stracciatella cheese pizzetta ($18), soft brioche maritozzo (from $6.50) and tonnarello cacio e pepe ($28).

Customers order food and coffee from the takeaway window, with the option to eat inside on the rustic, communal table or outside in the leafy garden. In a few weeks, there are plans to introduce negronis for the complete Italian cafe experience.

“We wanted Norcino to feel like home, like customers are pulling up a chair at a family gathering,” explains Arnolfo Raimondi, who co-founded the venture with friend Fabio Battisti.

The two chefs, who both hail from the Lazio region of Italy, came together almost six years ago when working in the kitchen of Olio, a fine-dining restaurant in Chippendale. Frustrated with their inability to find authentic guanciale (cured meat made from pork jowls) in Sydney, the pair began to make their own.

“We started with the guanciale, and once we were happy with that we moved onto other products like pancetta,” Raimondi says.

“Our dream was to open an artisanal salumeria where everything was homemade, naturally, with high-quality ingredients.”

Fridges filled with hanging, cured meats line the walls of the industrial-style kitchen, and their first batches will be ready for retail sale within the next month. The delay in production is due to their traditional curing process, explains Raimondi.

“We make them 100 per cent naturally, without any nitrate or additives, which means it can take up to three times as long,” he says.

“But the final result is very similar to what we used to eat in Rome, aged just enough and with the right amount of spices.”

In the meantime, customers can purchase deli products such as prosciutto, porchetta and Italian sausage. Their products are also being used in Italian restaurants such as Cicerone at Surry Hills.

As the team grows, Raimondi and Battisti plan to open the restaurant for a la carte evening service, with dry-aged steaks, hearty bowls of pasta and traditional Roman appetisers.

It’s in Raimondi’s blood, afterall - his family has been operating restaurants in Rome since the 1880s.

“Every time my family gets together for Easter or Christmas there’s so much pressure because everyone competes to cook the best meal,” he laughs.

“But it’s OK, my mum has already visited the shop, and she approves.”

Open Tue-Sat, 7am-3pm

1 Saunders Street, Pyrmont; instagram.com/norcino.sydney