Newtown comes to Adelaide next week and you don't want to miss the menu the neighbourhood's hospitality stars are bringing with them.
Mary’s Newtown announce menu for Africola collaboration
Jake Smyth, Co-owner of Newtown burger joint, Mary’s, is looking forward to his second ever trip to Adelaide.
The Mary’s x Africola x Young Henrys x Jack Ruby pop up event is happening on Monday, July 4 from 6pm at Jack Ruby – 89 King William Street, Adelaide. Mary’s will also be serving up at the Beer and Barbecue Festival, which kicks off from July 8-10 at the Royal Adelaide Showground.
The menu for the pop-up has been described to CityMag as the following:
Mary’s Burger
Richard Gunners Fancy Longhorn beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and Mary’s Sauce
Africola Peri Peri Burger
Duncan’s Peri Peri chicken with boom chakalaka sauce
Mary-cola (ingredients shown in
picture one)
Mary’s Trashcan bacon sandwiched between a Mary’s patty and Duncan’s Peri Peri chook with Cheese, Boom Chakalaka and Mary’s Sauce
Supa Hot and Cheese Gems
Gems, Mpumalunga fire sauce and Young Henrys Beer cheese.
“I’m coming to see a whole bunch of South Aus this time. I’m driving up with my mum, doing the Oodnadatta track, and then driving from Uluru down into Adelaide,” Jake says.
“I’ll probably be charged though, spending like six days in a car with my mum, I’ll be ready for a fucking beer.”
Jake and his Mary’s colleague Kenny Graham are bringing Newtown to Adelaide for the Adelaide Beer and Barbecue Festival, but before the main event, they’re introducing themselves to the city in idiosyncratically Mary’s style: serving burgers while surrounded by loud music, low light, and a ton of Young Henrys on tap.
The pop-up, hosted by Jack Ruby, is a collaboration with Africola’s Duncan Welgemoed, and will be a Newtown showcase of sorts, which Jake and Kenny think will be right up Adelaide’s activated alley.
“We really [want to] give people a snapshot of what’s happening here, and not that we’re ever going to put our hand up and go… ‘hey everyone, look at us, look how cool we are,’ we’re just a bunch of guys who just happen to get on really well with a bunch of guys from your part of town,” Jake says.
“I think Adelaide and the surrounds… the guys from the Basket Range and the natural wine, they’ve led a huge charge in your area, where it’s been a little more food-based in Sydney… but we ended up in the same place of people really wanting to celebrate life and fuck off the old rules and the established ways of drinking and eating, so I think that’s really strong there.”
The event’s short menu will feature Duncan’s Africola Burger, a peri peri chicken burger with boom chakalaka sauce, and it will be Adelaide’s first opportunity to experience a Mary’s Burger without travelling interstate.
But the main event food-wise is the Mary-cola, a crosspollination of peri peri chicken, Mary’s beef patty, boom chakalaka and Mary’s sauce topped off with the Mary’s crew’s refined trashcan bacon.
It’s sure to be an experiential burger, but for Jake and Kenny, the pop up – like their bar in Newtown – is about more than just the food.
“You’ve kinda gotta understand what we do here, and it’s not rocket science,” Jake says.
“It’s burgers and fried chicken, a beautiful old hall with the lights turned down a bit, the music loud, and we just take a lot of care and attention with each of those steps.
“With our pop up… as far as food is concerned, it’s almost like the burgers work here… they’ll be delicious on the day, but they’re something to do while you’re drinking, you know? The food’s there to be simple and not cause stress, so we can have fun with people when they turn up, rather than us try and prove who Mary’s is.”
With great food and beer, live local tunes, and a soft promise that Jake and Kenny will hassle some of their SA wine mates to hand over some limited release vino, all housed within the Jack Ruby basement, Adelaide should probably invite Newtown over more often.