Mary’s Brings Nigerian Flavours to Collingwood, From Morning to Night

Old Raffles Place was a fixture in Collingwood for 25 years, known for its char kway teow, chai tow kway and other Singaporean classics. Now it begins a new chapter under Mary Akindele, who’s brought bold Nigerian flavours, warmth and a sense of heritage to the corner site with Mary’s.

This is her second venture. The first, St Kilda’s Sam’s Cafe, opened in 2021 and was named after her late father Samuel. Where Sam’s is a neighbourhood cafe known for coffee and toasties, Mary’s leans into Akindele’s Nigerian heritage.

“Food for me has always been about memory and identity. It connects me back to my family, but it also helps me create something new here,” says Akindele, who grew up in the UK and came here as a backpacker.

Skim the breakfast menu’s headings and you’ll see plenty of familiar phrases: avocado toast, chilli scramble, corn fritters. But many dishes have a Nigerian core. Alongside vegan feta, the avo toast features ata din din, a bright, spicy sauce made mainly from tomato and red capsicum. The same sauce appears in the chilli scramble, and the corn fritters come with ayamase, a closely related sauce starring green capsicum. There’s also plantain bread with honey whipped cream, and airy, yeasted puff puff pancakes, soaked in maple and hibiscus syrup, and garnished with fruit and whipped ricotta.

“The menu is designed to be accessible,” Akindele says. “You can come in for eggs, bacon and avo if that’s what you want, or you can indulge in a reimagined Nigerian breakfast like the scramble. Both belong on the same table.”

At lunch and dinner, the food leans into big, generous plates. Jollof rice comes smoky and rich. Seafood egusi (a staple West African soup or stew thickened with ground melon seeds) features flathead and prawns in a nutty sauce. Then there’s suya meat skewers marinated in a spicy peanut sauce, made here with beef using Akindele’s own recipe. “Suya is one of Nigeria’s most loved street foods,” she says. “My version carries those flavours, but it’s also shaped by my intersections, my heritage, my travels, and now my life in Melbourne. It’s authentic to me.”

The drinks list is still growing, with a cocktail menu on the way - including a Nigerian-inspired Espresso Martini made with malt and zobo, a ginger, clove and hibiscus brew. Malt, a sweet, fizzy, non-alcoholic barley drink popular across West Africa, is also available on its own, alongside a refreshing iced hibiscus-and-mint tea. The wine list, curated with Loch Paton of Chronicle Wine Bar, includes bottles like Alpha Box & Dice riesling, Brave New Wine orange and Konpira Maru pinot noir.

The space runs as a cafe during the day before closing mid-afternoon and reopening from 5.30pm for dinner. The effect is two venues in one: bright and casual by day; louder, spicier and more communal by night. The fit-out reflects this duality too, with terracotta walls, green tiles and timber that give the room warmth, while the open kitchen brings noise and energy to the fore.

Mary’s arrives as part of a wider rise of African and Black-owned businesses across Melbourne. They honour heritage while standing firmly as modern, exciting players in the dining scene. “I don’t want this food to be seen as niche,” Akindele says. “It’s Nigerian, it’s mine and it belongs in Melbourne alongside everything else.”

Mary’s
68–70 Johnston Street, Collingwood
No phone

Hours
Thu 7.30am–2.30pm
Fri 7.30am–2.30pm & 5.30pm–9.30pm
Sat 8.30am–2.30pm & 5.30pm–9.30pm
Sun 8.30am–2.30pm

marys.au