In winter, the guys behind Tipo 00 and Osteria Ilaria lunged into the pizza game, opening Figlia on Lygon Street in Brunswick East. The handsome pizzeria has fast become a neighbourhood favourite – and is more often than not a full house. But now, the team has added another notch to its belt with the opening of next-door deli Grana.

Recently, Melbourne has come to associate the word “deli” more with sandwich shops than cheese and charcuterie retailers, but this is a deli in the traditional sense. (Though you can pick up everything you need to make an excellent sanga at home – or in the park.)

With a wall of custom-built (cupboard-looking) fridges, the store looks like a bottle shop at first glance. But while roughly half are stocked with minimal-intervention vinos, the rest are filled with wheels of nutmeg- and cocoa-coated cheese – or mandarin-peel-wrapped ricotta – by pastry-chef-turned-cheesemaker Lucy Whitlow, who also supplies Figlia. “It’s almost like a little cheese cellar of sorts,” says co-owner Luke Skidmore.

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Beyond the fridges, find fancy tinned fish, truffle paste, pasta and other pantry staples. There’s also filter coffee by Ona, bread from Ovens Street Bakery and a tight but terrific selection of cured meats, including a sausage range from Salumi Australia, which Skidmore suggests slicing up alongside a bottle of rosé on a sunny day.

Grana
331 Lygon Street, Brunswick East

Hours:
Mon to Fri 11am–8pm
Sat 10am–8pm
Sun 10am–7pm

@grana.formaggio.vino