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I’m a sucker for an international supermarket, and I know I’m not alone. For me and fellow foodies, few holiday rituals beat trawling the aisles for exotic treats, mystery tins and the occasional unidentifiable dusty packet of something delicious. And now, mercifully, we don’t need to travel to Europe for the hit. This spring, the family responsible for bringing Broccolini and Calypso mangoes to Australia back in the 1980s have bestowed another gift upon us from the sun-soaked shores of Italy – this time in the form of a gloriously well-stocked supermarket: Super Mercato.
Hiding within the walls of Double Bay’s Cosmopolitan Centre, Super Mercato is the supermarket we’d find if Erewhon and an Italian fine food store had a baby. With a focus on healthy, high-end produce, its beautifully designed shelves are stocked with a carefully curated line-up of gorgeous Mediterranean foodstuffs and locally sourced Australian produce. And with that, Sydney’s summer dinner parties have had a serious upgrade.
From pre-prepared pasta sauces from Barbetta to Perello olives and top-tier dips, cured meats, olive oils, butters and fermented products (as well as stacks of fresh Australian-grown fruits and veggies), the focus here is on seriously high-quality food that makes you feel good.
And feeling good is crucial. Anthony and James Simonetta, who founded Super Mercato alongside their dad Michael and their friend Simon Hamilton, are very much in the business of helping Sydneysiders to feel their best. The team also co-founded Xtra Clubs, a sauna brand built on the belief that wellness shouldn’t be inaccessible. Wellness is woven into the Super Mercato ethos, with every product carefully vetted against its quality and ingredient standards before earning a place on the shelves.
“I’ve been researching for years, always taking photos of food I loved and calling producers and brands. Building out our product range took about a month of visiting suppliers warehouses and trialling all of their best products, we gave them our selection criteria (local producers, small batch, organic where possible) and just filled our office with snacks – I didn’t eat breakfast or lunch for weeks, but we wanted to make sure that everything we stocked we genuinely loved.” James told me.
And then there are the smoothies. With chef Sandro Di Marino at the helm, the Super Mercato kitchen pumps out what I’m willing to argue are Sydney’s best superfood smoothies: four hyper-Instagrammable flavours packed with protein and superfoods, and guaranteed to level up your post-Pilates routine. The deli section is also stocked with an abundant selection of salads and paninis – including a chunky, Sicilian-style tuna salad and a perfectly-balanced buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomato panino. My tip? Arrive hungry, fill up a basket and head straight for Nielsen Park for a picture-perfect picnic.
With its thoughtful layout and beautifully curated shelves, shopping at Super Mercato is a genuine pleasure. But what really gives the place its heart is the family story behind it, which makes you feel like you’re a part of Sicilian tale of triumph. This isn’t just another business chasing a buck, but a family passion project rooted in a longstanding love of connecting Aussies with the bounty of Italia.
You’ll find Super Mercato at Cosmopolitan Shopping Centre, Knox St, Double Bay. It’s open from 7am-7.30pm Monday through Friday, and 7am until 5pm on Saturdays (closed on Sundays). You can find out more over here.
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