The Underground isn’t about burgers, or fried chicken, or potato and gravy (although if you stay late and stay at the bar, it can be). What it is about, though, is the same principles that have made the Mary’s team so celebrated: sound flavours, solid execution, and an unrivalled commitment to good times. Loud, dark, brash and buzzing, this venue (once home to The Basement) thrums with excitement, with jazz bands on stage every night, and classic cuisine taken in fun directions. Strawberry clams served raw on ice with a chaser of fermented tuna vinegar. Hot little dinner rolls with a wickedly silky duck-liver parfait sharpened with pickled cumquat. Chocolate-mandarin bombe Alaska burning blue with flaming mezcal. Cocktails (Rum Uppercut! Left Hook! Rock ‘N’ Rose Jab!) are tall and punchy, and former GT Sommelier of the Year Caitlyn Rees has put together a winning wine offer that’s decidedly low-intervention, but sidesteps funk in favour of wines from makers who know their product. On the floor, meanwhile, the team has clearly imbibed the brief that having a good time is more about being engaged than pleases or thank yous. The rôtisserie duck, pasture-raised, dry-aged and served with a persimmon sauce and slivers is plenty engaging, too. Throw in the late-night license, and the prospect of lobster Australienne, and Mary’s is a new model for Sydney dining coming right when we need it.
