Smith & Deli

Shannon Martinez’s pioneering plant-based cafe and grocer Smith & Deli’s second location has landed on Degraves Street. It adds an all-day, vegetable-focused offering to the perennially busy CBD laneway connecting Flinders Street to the rest of the city.

The new shopfront will function as an “upscale cafeteria” with a rotating selection of hot dishes you can mix and match on your own market plate. You might find anything from red lentil dhal to crispy tofu with Thai basil, cauliflower cheese to roasted carrots with tahini and date molasses.

Many of Smith & Deli’s most popular items have made their way to the CBD, including the McMuffin-esque Egg Martinez, pies and sausage rolls, and the jam doughnuts. Also find grab-and-go salads and sandwiches, and ready-made freezer meals to take home.

Later in the day, the deli morphs into a tapas bar, serving the kind of plant-based snacks you might’ve found at South Yarra’s now-closed Lona Misa, where Martinez was a consultant. Think dips and pickles, “cheesy” croquetas and Spanish tortilla, and even kofta. And to drink? Gilda-topped martinis and the kalimotxo, with cherry wine and treacle cola.

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