Adelaide to Get a Taste of Mary’s Magnificent Burgers

Mary’s, a Newtown, Sydney favourite, is known for burgers – damn good burgers – and a hell of a good time. Adelaide, you’re in luck!

There’s always a queue snaking up the stairs of Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham’s burger bar, Mary’s, in the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown. There’s no secret to their success: it’s simply that the combination of excellent American-style burgers (no beetroot here, thanks) loud music and beer, all consumed in a dimly lit 100-year-old building, works.

And while it will be business as usual in Newtown, the guys are holstering their burger flips and heading for South Australia to share their Sydney stylings with Adelaide. They’re in town for the Adelaide Beer and Barbecue Festival (8 to 10 July), but before it begins they’re planning a bit of a welcoming party. Smyth and Graham are joining Duncan Welgemoed who runs the East End’s South-African-flavoured Africola for a real mash-up of a pop-up.

“We've met Duncan at a couple of Sydney events, like [sustainable food and wine festival] Rootstock, where we just clicked and knew we wanted to hang out properly. In hospitality, that translates to cooking together and drinking a few beers!” Graham told Qantas Travel Insider.

So what does a collaboration between a burger joint and a South African barbecue restaurant look like? Behold: the Mary-cola Gangbang. This, burger-lovers, is a burger stacked with peri-peri chicken, a Mary’s burger patty, “trashcan bacon”, cheese and Africola’s Boomshakalaka sauce. Its conception was, the Mary’s boys say, “one of those stop-and-think moments where you just know it's going to be a flavour banger”.

The pop up is hosted by Jack Ruby in downtown Adelaide on Monday 4 July.

Adelaide, prepare your tastebuds.