Cold cuts, cheese, canned goods, fine wine, stiff drinks. A week ago that could only describe one venue, but from today there’s now two Continental Deli Bar Bistros – the second has opened on Phillip Street in the CBD.

Everything that made the original exceptional is echoed in the city venue (although it’s only one level rather than two). There’s the rare and delicious cheeses and charcuterie, a large range of tinned fish from across the globe, and produce batched and canned in the inner-west restaurant.

The space was designed by co-owner Sarah Doyle (Elvis Abrahanowicz, Joe Valore, Jesse Warkentin and Mikey Nicolian round out the list) and it features Art Deco wall pieces, a marble 16-seat bar, glass facade and pastel pinks, which imbue it with a similar look and feel to the group’s flagship restaurant, Porteño (it also owns Bodega and has a hand in a number of places, including the recently opened Bella Brutta).

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You can still opt for a Mar-tinnie (a canned Martini) and Gilda (guindilla chilli pepper, olive and anchovy on a toothpick) while perching on a bar stool, but the vibe is more a one-plate, one-person business-lunch scenario – maybe a steak (dry-aged rib eye or a roast sirloin); half a roast chook with sweet corn and cavolo nero; or a pork chop with apple, crème fraîche and sugarloaf cabbage. There's also a lunchtime sandwich menu of mortadella, ham and butter or a meatball and Parmigiano-Reggiano option. “We don't want to change what we do too much, just tweak it slightly,” says chef Warkentin.

The most obvious digression is the addition of a pasta extruder. “We'll be doing fresh pasta dishes,” he says, although stresses this isn’t a pasta restaurant. “I don't want that pressure; I'm not going against anyone's nonna … we'll just put whatever we want on.”

The opening menu includes a trio of pastas (two that involve canned fish), a mafaldine (like a fettucine with squiggly edges) with Olasagasti tuna and tomato, and a rigatoni with sausage, broccolini, bottarga and cuttlefish. Warkentin is also working with local cold-cut champions Pino’s Dolce Vita to create a takeaway lunch pack stocked with deli goods.

With the larger space the team can also expand on its wine selection. That may sound like generic restaurant talk, but when many new venues serve only minimal-intervention wines, having a balance of classic styles and natural drops can be meaningful to those who haven’t embraced sediment, funk and fizz.

Nicolian is still in charge of the cocktails and he’s introducing a new member to the tinned-drink range: the Ameri-can-o. That’s soda, Campari and red vermouth mixed and then canned for your drinking pleasure.

Continental CBD
167 Phillip Street, Sydney
(02) 9922 7347

Hours:
Mon to Fri 12pm–12am
Sat 6pm–12am

instagram.com/continentaldeli

This article first appeared on Broadsheet on October 30, 2018. Menu items may have changed since publication.