A taste of the good life at The Epicurean

With the festive season right around the corner, The Epicurean at Queen Victoria Market (QVM) has Melburnians covered with a range of international cheeses, specialty meats and antipasto for all the fixings of a festive feast.

In October this year, The Epicurean celebrated eight years at the Queen Victoria Market.

But co-owner Fiona had been working in the hustle and bustle of Melbourne’s largest market long before she opened her own deli with her husband Luigi.

Fiona started working in QVM’s Dairy Produce Hall just a stone’s throw away at The French Shop when her eldest son, Alessio, was about six months old.

Eventually, a deli further down the hall went up for sale, and Luigi – who comes from a family of foodies and loves to cook – decided to leave his high-pressure job in cybersecurity so that he and Fiona could open up their own business.

“He always says he couldn’t get me out of the market, so, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” Fiona laughs.

Alessio is now 23 and works with his parents at the shop.

“We really enjoy the work,” Fiona says. “We love food and we like working with food. My love is in the cheeses. My husband loves the antipasto and the meats. So, he works on one corner and I’m in the other.”

Connecting with customers is one of Fiona’s favourite parts of the job.

“It’s really about the interaction with our customers. Being with people is really, really important. We’ve lost a lot of that with the 24/7, the ‘serve yourself’, you know; how many customers can you push through in a minute?” she says.

There’s no longer that sense of knowing your shopkeeper and your shopkeeper knowing you. That’s still here at the market, and I think that’s our greatest commodity.

In the cheese cabinet at The Epicurean, you’ll find a wide selection of international cheeses sourced from the United Kingdom, France, Holland and Spain, as well as Australian cheeses. The shop stocks all manner of hard, blue and soft cheeses, as well as fresh cheeses including marinated feta, buffalo mozzarella and burrata.

The antipasto selection includes a selection of Greek olives as well as Italian varieties such as the small, subtly fruity Ligurian olive, the huge Cerignola olive from Puglia and both marinated and plain Sicilian olives.

The Italian olive selection is just one of the many personal touches at The Epicurean.

“Artichokes, we sell on-stem, because that’s the way Mum and Dad cook it. So that’s an ode to them. Dried black olives, because Dad makes those, so we sell those as an ode to him. And we sell lupini as well,” Fiona says.

“We always say when we’re selling our products, we’re actually selling us. So we need it to reflect us.”

Some of the deli’s standout offerings include bresaola, an Italian air-dried beef; a range of small batch hams; both rolled and flat pancetta, and ‘Nduja, a spreadable, hot salami from the Italian region of Calabria.

Among The Epicurean’s specialty products for Christmas are painted, artisanal carafes filled with extra virgin olive oil from Puglia.

You’ll also find Spanish Bravoleum olive oil, which is made from an early harvest of the Picual olive, picked under the full moon. The lower nighttime temperature is said to preserve the taste and aroma of the olives.

And, of course, there’s a selection of Panettone and Pandoro in flavours such as rum and chocolate, cherry, tiramisu and limoncello.

If you’re looking for some Christmas platter inspiration, here are Fiona’s top picks: Crémeux d’Argental, a double cream French brie, and Berrys Creek Riverine Blue, made from fresh buffalo milk in South Gippsland.

Fiona also recommends Royaal Grand Cru, a 12-month-aged gouda from Holland, paired with freshly baked bread, black Cerignola olives, New York pastrami, San Daniele Prosciutto and Bresaola dressed up with rocket, capers and good quality olive oil. What a treat! •