It’s been a long time between slabs of malty rye bread, but now one of the mainstays of the menu at the late Café Paci pop-up has a permanent home.

Since 2015 when chef-owner Pasi Petänen closed the doors on that first solo outing, in East Sydney’s former Café Pacifico (hence the name – the result of erasing the last four letters on the sign for a play on his own name), he’s been doing gigs around town until settling on this site in Newtown. Architect George Livissianis, designer to the star restaurants, has made clever use of the narrow space. With a sort of cruise-line chic in its detailing, a commanding shiny blue bar flanks the kitchen, while opposite a banquette runs the length of the room under vast mirrors.

That gorgeous potato and molasses rye bread, a nod to Petänen’s Finnish heritage, heads up a European-accented carte that runs seamlessly from small plates to large with no relish sacrificed in the name of inventiveness. France’s famed Paris-Brest dessert is reimagined as a ruffle of velvety chicken-liver parfait sandwiched in crisp choux pastry with sweet-savoury onion jam.

The devilled eggs, meanwhile, are destined to be a fan favourite, the buttery filling precisely spiced and topped with a briny hit of trout roe.

The work has been taken out of globe artichoke, the raw leaves shredded and brightened with anchovy, parsley and hazelnut and topped with shavings of comté, while Nordic stalwart cured fish is recast as pickled local kingfish in sweet-sour buttermilk and showered with shards of crisp potato. With its yielding pearly flesh, whole flounder or dory in a sauce Florentine makes the case for cooking on the bone. The buttered spinach doesn’t hurt either.

Another hit from the pop-up, the carrot sorbet coated in frozen yoghurt atop a disc of salty liquorice cake is proving equally popular here.

Wines are a strong suit, with sommelier Giorgio De Maria pouring from an urbane, largely European list with a natural bias to his native Italy.

It’s stirring stuff. And the fans – can we say they’ll be Pacified? No? Well, at least they’ll be secure in the happy knowledge that Café Paci is here for a good time and long time.