The people running Continental Deli don’t do things by halves. They’re canning in-house, the drinks are bang-on, the food’s elite and the service is slick – all in a friendly neighbourhood way. Now their little slice of Australia Street is growing. Four-fold to be exact, with Flora, Mister Grotto and Osteria Mucca joining in the surrounding spaces. Plus, a trio of suites for you to stay are incoming.

See? No halves.

We visited the butter-yellow, brekkie-ready Flora for pancakes, now we’re taking a dive into the grotto – and the fit-out must be introduced first.

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“The dream for Mister Grotto began almost four years ago, and so did the collecting,” creative director Sarah Doyle tells Broadsheet. “[My husband and business partner] Elvis [Abrahanowicz] and I found the collection of ship plaques at a collectors’ market. They were being sold by the children of a man whose job was to make them for ships. Each time he made one, he’d create a duplicate for his own collection.

“Like so many of the artefacts in Mister Grotto, these pieces carry stories, and there’s often a sense of relief from those passing them on, knowing they’ll be enjoyed by many – like a museum of sorts.”

Deep-blue panelling wraps the walls, a row of warm pendant lights sways. Nooks are filled with bright flags, wooden sea creatures and hand-reels. A flock of duck decoys – “wooden, plastic and a couple of dodgy homemade ones that have clearly seen some action” – sits in one corner; and a collection of lures hang behind the bar, right next to a Seafood of Australia map, painted especially by Michael Wholley. Despite the treasure trove, it remains uncluttered.

The 30-seater’s menu is a pescatarian’s dream, and just as detail-oriented as the fit-out.

“It was a no-brainer for me,” head chef Mans Engberg (ex-Saint Peter, Kiln and Paris’s Au Passage) says of joining the team. “I haven’t been in a space where we can be so flexible with the offering.”

Mister Grotto follows the format the Continental Deli crew does so well: a quick sip works, but you can stay a while too.

Snack on a bowl of hand-cut, nori-salted crisps doused in bottarga or a nannygai empanada. Western Australian fishermen catch the nannygai using handlines, three hours off the coast at the continental shelf. In the bigger plates, de-boned fillets arrive with manchego and sweet corn. Meanwhile, meaty pipis swim in a frothy dry vermouth cream, ready to be mopped up by a crispy, crumbly cornbread brightened with lavender honey.

On the raw menu, cuttlefish cosies up to young coconut and ebi prawns gently cook in golden kiwi aguachile as they arrive to your table. The deep-sea crustaceans’ heads are skewered, grilled over coals then served on the side, the flavour-packed juice ready to hit the delicate meat.

“That’s what we felt Sydney was missing, to go to a place and have really premium seafood at an affordable price – [without] having to book three months in advance or have a really expensive set menu,” Engberg says.

The most-memorable dish when Broadsheet visited was a bright pile of shishito peppers, stuffed with yellowfin tuna sausage. “It’s a great way to use up the trimmings, because we get the whole tuna in and we use the lean part for the tuna tartare. You end up with a lot of sinew and skin and the bloodline.” It’s minced, seasoned, stuffed into the floral little peppers, which are shallow fried then served hot in a zingy chimichurri. We’ll be revisiting for the dish and a drink from the lengthy list, stat.

“From the idea to realisation, it’s been a pretty amazing process,” Engberg says. “Everyone that’s been involved with it made it what it is – the drinks, interior, food. It’s pretty special.”

Mister Grotto
208 Australia Street, Newtown
(02) 9123 5502

Hours:
Mon to Thu 5.30pm–11pm
Fri to Sun midday–3pm, 5.30pm–11pm

paisanoanddaughters.com.au/venue/mister-grotto
@mistergrotto