Melosi Deli stocks a head-spinning range of pasta, pickles, cheese and olive oil, but the real stars of the show are the smallgoods and panini.
Entering Melosi Deli verges on overwhelming. Located within a Penrith industrial precinct, its gleaming aisles of mostly imported Italian goods – pasta, biscuits, crackers, juices, olive oils, beans, vinegars and canned and bottled tomatoes – spin the head.
There are fridges and counters filled with Italian, Greek, Dutch, Danish and French cheeses, pasta, cultured butters and – the stars of the show – cured meats, many of which are from the family-run Montecatini Specialty Smallgoods, which is behind the two-month-old deli.
Start on the right with air-dried salted beef, pork sausage and traditional sopressa infused with pitted green olives, Italian black summer truffles or fennel and garlic. Or at the back with pickled and fermented vegetables including chargrilled capsicum and marinated olives from a Melosi family recipe.
Standing in the middle of it all is Roland Melosi, whose Italian smallgoods heritage starts in 1929, when his grandfather, Giovanni, left his home and family and the rule of Mussolini for Sydney. Giovanni opened a fruit and vegetable shop on Oxford Street in Paddington, saved money to bring his wife and children to Australia and soon sent his son, Wily, to learn the ways of salami at two local smallgoods producers.
In 1949, G.Melosi & Sons, the family’s smallgoods business, opened in Yennora. It achieved great success and was sold in 1992. In 2009, however, Montecatini Specialty Smallgoods, co-run by Roland and his son Giovanni, was founded, named after Wily’s Tuscan birthplace.
“My grandfather and family members built the Yennora factory by hand,” says Melosi. “They had a shopfront there and Italians used to catch the train from Fairfield and other suburbs to buy their meats and smallgoods there. That’s how it all took off.”
Almost 75 years later, Melosi opened the new shop because delis are rare in the Penrith area, and he knew locals wanted more than supermarket offerings. His prices are also significantly cheaper than delis elsewhere.
“Last week, we had our best Saturday since we opened and the shop was just full of people saying, ‘Oh, thank goodness you’re here’,” he says.
Deli manager Zoran Glavonjic says he’d barely stacked packets of gbejniet friski – creamy Maltese fresh cheese – before all but two were snaffled by customers.
Almost every kind of Montecatini product is here, plus varieties from Borgo Salumi, Zammit Smallgoods, Pastoral Smallgoods, Barkly Smokehouse, Stapleton Meat and more.
“It’s not just Montecatini,” says Melosi. “We stock it if it’s the best”.
He would know. Melosi is a longtime judge at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show and received the Australian Meat Industry Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.
“I’m pretty proud of that,” he says, tapping the award, now displayed on a counter.
The other reason to visit Melosi Deli is for some of the finest made-to-order panini around. Offered in 10 varieties, the sandwiches are layered with meats, cheeses, olives, antipasto, bread and red capsicum relish from the deli.
For first-time visitors, Melosi recommends paninis “one, two and five”. The first (my vote) features Italian prosciutto, truffle salami and provolone piccante cheese with grilled eggplant and a beautifully sweet capsicum relish.
Chunky, voluptuous and oozing flavour, it’s a magical sandwich. Not far behind are number two and five’s salubrious combinations of beef pastrami, pickles, mustard and Jarlsberg; and porchetta, marinated red capsicum and provolone dolce, respectively.
There are hefty arancini (ricotta and lasagne) too, wedges of halva flavoured with cocoa hazelnut cream or pistachio, and five kinds of imported Turkish delight that pulsate with pistachio, pomegranate, walnuts, hazelnuts and coconut.
You can take your panini, a slice of halva and a coffee outside to eat at wooden tables framed by native trees and towering slabs of rust-red iron, part of the Manufactor dining hub that houses Melosi Deli. My other tip is to go on Saturday: Roland is there to explain everything there is to know about cured meats, and hopefully stop your head spinning.
Three more delis to try
Raineri’s Continental Deli
The Five Dock delicatessen opened in 1981 and serves outstanding, queue-making sandwiches filled with cheeses, cut-to-order cured meats, and marinated eggplant and capsicum.
97 Great North Road, Five Dock, facebook.com/raineri.delicatessen
Paesanella Food Emporium
Take the stairs or lift from Paesanella Cafe for pasta, bread, sauces, general deli goods and a cornucopia of Italian cheeses. Founded by Italian migrant Umberto Somma in 1962.
150-152 Marrickville Road, Marrickville, paesanella.com.au
Yangga Korean Deli
A family run deli and cafe offering Korean snacks, stews and soups, including kimchi radish salad, raw marinated crab and fermented soft squid. Fridges are stocked to the hilt. Try the spicy dried squid strips and oxtail soup.
Chatswood Chase Shopping Centre, 345 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood and Rhodes Central, 6 Walker Street, Rhodes
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