Café and restaurants are different propositions. One kick-starts the masses with caffeine and casual eats and, as the sun sets, the other allows one to forget the humdrum of the daily grind with something far better than we can muster at home. At least that’s the goal.

Whenever I hear of another café branching out and opening for dinner my eyes roll so hard into the back of my head I almost fall off my chair. They’re often as underwhelming as those spin off shows built around a character with a kooky catch phrase from a highly successful TV sitcom – great in the original context, but out of their depth and lost in a new setting. But Marrickville’s famed Cornersmith Café is an anomaly – it always has been.

With its penchant for pickles, fresh cheese and charcuterie, they were halfway to the dinner table already. And, not surprisingly, the recent foray into twilight has captured the very essence of why we step out in the evening. It’s fun and blurs the lines of wine bar and restaurant. The service feels like you’re in your best mate’s home and the sharing menu, although quite concise, is a hit list of must-eats.

Start with house-made pickles (obviously) and pay per gram. Match them with Kristen Allen’s light, creamy curd and a lick of stellar (organic) chicken liver pâté. Rich, velvety and bolstered by fermented cherries.

Steamed sweet corn lathered in Calabrian butter loaded with chilli and herbs is superb. Tarragon and fermented shiso help bring together segments of white peach and tomato, while a sweet, though not quite jammy, peach barbecue sauce is bang on with slivers of smoked Memphis-style pork. Wash it all down with a bottle of Heathcote Ephemera Vermentino and you can cross off another successful night out.

There’s nothing fancy about what Cornersmith is doing, but what they are doing is spot on.