Rocking Encore

Mary’s Underground has transformed a night out, with good food and live music centrestage, writes DAVID MATTHEWS.

- David Matthews

Jake Smyth’s on the floor, hair ragged, busting out of his singlet. Karl Stefanovic, shirt unbuttoned to a few inches above his navel, is sharing shots of mezcal. When the Underground Brass Band’s version of New Orleans second line, R&B and soul isn’t blaring, it’s Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar backing up A$AP Rocky on F**kin’ Problems. The older patrons seem fine with it. The younger ones are dancing. Caitlyn Rees, GT’s 2018 Sommelier of the Year, is pouring wine. And the lobster is only $100.

We’ve said that entering Restaurant Hubert is the closest you’ll get to living out the Copacabana scene from Goodfellas. But walk down the stairs at Mary’s Underground, step through the red-lit doors, and be whisked away to a lo-fi Australiana version, where the pork chop is served with warrigal greens, and Tasmanian urchin has star billing at the raw seafood bar.

There’s another Hubert parallel. When it first opened on Bligh Street, Hubert was the first restaurant from a team that had mostly run bars. At Mary’s Underground, Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham, a pair who built a reputation on burgers and pub food at Mary’s, The Unicorn and The Lansdowne Hotel, have arrived at the same point.