What To Eat at Melbourne’s Il Mercato Centrale – From Pizza Bowl Gnocchi To Lobster Rolls

It’s easy to forget where you are inside Il Mercato Centrale. And not just because the place is so big (3000 square metres over three heaving levels). During my visit, I almost collided with another crowd member and, forgetting I wasn’t in Italy, involuntarily yelled, “Scusi!”

Can you blame me? The new Italian food hall is packed with producers hand-stretching pizza dough, rolling sheets of pasta, churning fresh gelato and piping cannoli shells, with signage written in Italian above each vendor.

The mega market, which finally opened last week almost two years behind schedule, has 23 different stalls, including two bars and a restaurant. Il Mercato Centrale founder and global CEO Umberto Montano, who opened the first iteration in Florence 10 years ago, tells me the vendors were selected through a “rigorous” process focused on “quality, authenticity, and passion for food”.

We know who all the vendors are, but menu information is still scant. So to help you decide where to start, we got sampling in the name of research.

You can pick up freshly made pasta by Lavezzi’s Angelo Sperlinga, including lesser known stuffed pastas like money-bag-style sacchettoni and pleated, potato-filled culurgiones. Or dine in with a plate of tonnarelli cacio e pepe, bucatini carbonara or linguine vongole.

There’s more pasta at La Pasta Fatta in Casa, where you’ll find thick ribbons of tagliatelle or handmade cappellacci in burnt butter and sage by food blogger Annapaola D’Alessio. Her husband Valerio Violetti is making pizzas at the next stall over, La Pizza Napoletana, and they’re combining their talents in an Instagram-ready carb-on-carb dish of gnocchi served in a bowl-shaped pizza base.

The carbs continue at La Pasticceria, a sibling store from the team behind Brunswick’s beloved Italian cafe Pulcinella’s. Find signature sfogliatelle (crisp shells filled with ricotta and semolina) plus jumbo-sized rum babas and glazed Italian fruit and jam tarts (or crostata), then refuel with a coffee at Il Caffe nearby.

Among the artisans is local cheesemaker and Sicilian native Giorgio Linguanti of That’s Amore, who’s manning cheese shop La Mozzarella. The creamy orbs are sold to take home, or you can get them stuffed in focaccia with thick-cut herby porchetta, crunchy crackling and peperonata (stewed onions, peppers and cherry tomato). Just make sure you have two hands free and a napkin nearby.

There’s also fishmonger George Milonas, who has worked at the Queen Vic Market for years. He’s selling fresh seafood at the aptly named Il Pesce, including Sydney Rock and Tasmanian oysters to slurp right there. You can also order oysters Kilpatrick-style or with mushroom and chilli mayo, plus prawn and King Island lobster rolls – blowtorched to order, for extra toastiness.

Elsewhere in the market, there’s piadina (Italian flatbread) with mortadella, pistachio-and-kale pesto and stracchino cheese from La Piadina; golden, flaky pies filled with osso bucco and soft polenta from ll Forno; arancini balls (a notably gluten-free option) from Il riso; Roman-style pizza al taglio sold by the slice; and, perhaps less expected, smash burgers from Lo Smash Burger (although you’ll find them at the Italian locations, too) and sushi from Il Pesce.

There’s also an in-house restaurant (open every day from midday to 10pm) with table service and food by chef Jerry Kim, who’s serving vitello tonnato (a Piedmontese dish of sliced veal with tuna mayo and capers), handmade pastas, and the classic Tuscan dessert of cantucci (crunchy almond biscuits) dipped in Vin Santo dessert wine.

The bustling industrial site sits somewhere between piazza, marketplace and fancy food court (while there’s some fresh produce, including fruit and vegetables and dry-aged meats, it’s the food you’re coming for). “It won’t just be a place to eat,” says Montano, “but a vibrant space where people gather, engage and share experiences, much like the beloved tradition of the piazza in Italy.”

Il Mercato Centrale is open at 546 Collins Street, Melbourne.