With Bar Mammoni opening at Quay Quarter in the next week, well might you ask, what's a Mammoni? A fancy cocktail, a dish, or a town in Italy?

Mammoni is the plural of mammone, the Italian word for "mamma's boy", restaurateur Scott Brown educates us. "He's the guy who stays at home until he's married, and mum makes his bed. Our Italian chefs laughed when we mentioned it," Brown says.

The name stuck, as have Brown and his team. It will be the fourth venue they'll launch in the area, set over two blocks at Circular Quay, following the opening last year of restaurants Lana and Grana and cocktail bar Apollonia.

Mammoni is one of those clever venues that morphs from an espresso bar in the morning to a cocktail bar after dark.

In many ways it is the venue that ties all its sibling venues together, arming itself with the cannoli and croissants of the Grana bakery and cocktail prowess of neighbouring Apollonia.

While mostly comprised of laneway seating, the pint-sized bar starts the day inside offering Italian-style discounted stand-up coffee ($2 espresso) while at night Brown hopes it will be somewhere groups can mingle for a pre- or post-dinner drink before or after hitting up Grana or Lana.

Bar Mammoni's head chef, Jason Duncan (ex Charlie Parker's), will oversee daytime pizza by the slice topped with 'nduja and caramelised onion, and meatballs served in "pizza pockets". Cocktails will chum up with lobster roll bruschetta and mortadella with whipped ricotta.

And how does a mammone like his room, apart from the made bed, of course? "It's colourful – bright orange and burgundy," Brown says.

Open Tue-Sat 7am-late, Quay Quarter, Loftus Lane (behind Hinchliff House), Circular Quay