First Look: Pig Mary Opens With a Dialled-In Bar Menu and Ester’s Cheddar Pie

On day four, all 12 seats at Pig Mary are full. Venue manager Kendyl Parr is flitting inside and out, delivering icy Martinis to people sitting in the window and bowls of crunchy “pork scratchings” to bar seats overlooking the kitchen. Then, she’s scooting over the Chippendale laneway to Ester, collecting a cheddar pie from the woodfired oven and bringing it back across to a couple sitting curbside. The scene is as you’d expect of a follow-up to Ester: a big vibe.

Chef-owner Mat Lindsay oversees the service, while head chef Pete Campbell (ex-Poly) is firing in the little kitchen – sending out tidy orders from a concise, snacky menu that’s already dialled in.

Gildas start. Fat, glossy olives are sliced in half and skewered alongside lardo, guindilla peppers and an anchovy, making a fine crown for a toasted slice of Ester’s potato bread spread generously with egg butter. Then there are those chicharrón-style scratchings, spiced pork rind chips served with a zingy apple chamoy to dip. It’s the makings of very fine drinking food.

The menu is on the meaty side, but veggies hold their own when Broadsheet visits. The teeniest zucchinis arrive with their flowers on, hot and slightly crisp from the grill. They’re lined up on a plate of devilled gribiche, the rich egg sauce zipped up with pickles while also packing a bit of heat. Then, there’s the stack of potato scallops. Hooley-dooley. Spuds are sliced thick, dunked in a sourdough batter and fried till golden. The outer layer is lacy and ultra crunchy, finished with an Ester spice blend that begs to be dunked in the tomatoey Pig Mary Rose (a play on Marie Rose) sauce.

The bar’s namesake, Chippendale local Mary O’Shea, who was known for searching for offal and scraps from Ultimo’s slaughterhouses to feed her pigs in the 19th century, gives a clue to the menu’s focus. You want pork? You got it.

The centrepiece is an exceptionally saucy bifana. The Portuguese sandwich is a staple in its homeland – served alongside beers in bars across the country. At Pig Mary, the bifana arrives pooled in a smoky gravy. Campbell stews pork shoulder with chorizo and paprika, spooning it into AP potato rolls with Turkish peppers and lardo – each bite cut with the generous swipe of American mustard. It’s bar food, with Ester’s signature depth and flair.

There’s a snacky dish using Ester’s blood sausage, where the pork mince is fried off on the grill, ready to top coins of slow-braised leeks. Rozelle favourite Emilio’s Butcher is supplying classic ham – “almost like Christmas ham,” according to Parr – served in slices alongside a savoury parmesan doughnut and a spot of mustard. “You want to tear the doughnut up, drape the ham over and slap it back,” says Parr.

Beyond the pig is a four-part serve of “lamb sticks”, skewers of meat as thin as a pinky finger, arriving crispy with a sweet-and-salty jerk spice mix; plus golden rounds of cheddar pie (its hand-stretched dough blistered and spotty from the oven) straight off the Ester menu and direct from the Ester oven.

They’re ferried the short distance from Ester, along with any bottle off Ester’s list if you’d like. Though you’re wise to start with Pig Mary’s icy house Martini, gin or vodka, or opt for a beer, served with a small glass and the option to spike it with Picon.

Pig Mary is for walk-ins only, with a casual daytime offering in its future, too. The venue arrives at a time when Sydney’s top kitchen teams are choosing to do the bar thing. Fine-diner Sixpenny will soon have Bar Lira, just 140 metres up the road; and Aalia just added a wine room next door.

Pig Mary
42 Meagher Street, Chippendale

Hours:
Mon 5pm–10pm
Thu & Fri 5pm–10pm
Sat midday–4pm, 5pm–10pm
Sun midday–4pm 

@pigmary.au