The only thing you really need to know about Scott Pickett’s new deli, nestled on the corner of the Queen Victoria Market, is that there are brains on the menu.

Sure, there’s pretty excellent rotisserie chicken that’s vying for your attention. Oh, and a brilliant prawn bolognese that snuggles against pillows of gnocchi in a bowl of umami- stoked dreams. And great oysters to slurp, elegant charcuterie to snack on, and big fat Oritz sardines on toast.

But it’s those brains that pay such clever homage to the market locale, all gloriously crumbed, creamy nuggets of nose-to-tail goodness. For a market is no place for the squeamish, after all.

The menu’s charms, however, welcome all with open arms. Drop by for thick-cut bacon rolls slathered in HP for breakfast, duck in for a quarter chook with a few roast veg for lunch, or settle back with a bottle and some cured meats long after dark.

The food is fantastic. A dish of toasted bread fingers draped with lardo ticks off the fried-fat-salt triumvirate with complete class.

And a terrific tartare with bottarga and pomme paille offers a sumptuous spin on steak and chips.

The deli is as sleekly handsome a space as we’ve come to expect from Pickett (ESP, Estelle Bistro, Saint Crispin), as is the warm hospitality and service from a team drilled in getting the little things right.

There’s good booze to wash it all down, with a clever selection of cocktails that pack an artful punch, such as a jalapeno-spiked White Pickett Fence, or a bacon, bourbon, banana-driven 3B, as well as beer and wines. And if you don’t have time to stop, you can also pick up worldly groceries – plus that great roast chook – to take home.

Yes, it’s got brains. Pickett’s Deli is very smart indeed.

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