The two-hatted Ester crew are doing a Big Mac riff at tiny new wine bar

In the 19th century, Chippendale resident Mary O’Shea would roam the mudflats near Ultimo slaughterhouse, scavenging for scraps and offcuts to cook for herself and feed to her pigs. Locals called her “Pig Mary”.

Mat Lindsay, chef-owner of two-hatted restaurant Ester and wine bar Poly, first came across her story on a real estate pamphlet left in his mailbox. He thought it would make a great restaurant name, and very nearly called Ester after her. “But in the end, we went for something that was a bit easier to take,” he says.

Thirteen years on, he has found the perfect home for it: a drop-in-and-out wine bar two doors down from Ester in Chippendale, specialising in classic cocktails and porky snacks.

“The name is a bit tongue in cheek, but it’s really representative of what we do here,” says Pig Mary venue manager, Kendyl Parr. “You just walk in, have a snack, have a drink, keep it casual.”

The menu is built around the pig, using everything from ears to skin, shoulder, blood and fat. “There’s a generous amount of lardo on things,” says Parr. Take the gilda, which threads guindilla pepper, olive and anchovy onto a skewer with a ribbon of cured pork fat, then perches it, pintxos-style, on a slice of Ester’s fermented potato bread spread with rich, creamy butter emulsified with soft-boiled eggs.

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The bar occupies a former sandwich shop and carries on the tradition with a daily sandwich made on bread from A.P Bakery, which Lindsay co-founded. On Saturdays and Sundays it’s the Pig Mac, a Macca’s-inspired burger of blood sausage, cheese and tangy sauce, stacked on a triple-layer potato roll. Other days, it’s a bifana, Portugal’s late-night drinking snack.

Head chef Pete Campbell, formerly of fine diner Quay (now closed), stews pork shoulder in a paprika and chorizo gravy, stuffing the smoky, dripping slices into a roll with Turkish peppers and American mustard. “That comes with lardo draped over the top too,” says Parr.

Elsewhere, potato scallops are fried in sourdough batter and served with Mary Rose sauce, while puffy, seasoned pork scratchings come with a sweet-and-sour chamoy, a Mexican dipping sauce made from pickled fruit. Then there are pigs’ ear skewers, red-braised Chinese-style, set into a terrine, cut into fingers and deep-fried until the outside is crisp and the inside soft and jellied.

The small ground-floor space, designed by Anthony Gill Architects (who also did Ester and Poly), is painted deep crimson, with a giant black pig’s snout on the glass panel above the front door. There’s seating for 20, on stools at a bench inside or at tables out on the street.

Given the size of the venue, the drinks list is short and focused on classic cocktails. There’s a crisp, fluffy Garibaldi and a coconut sgroppino, in which Ester’s house-made coconut sorbet is whipped with sake and prosecco until silky, then served in a Nick and Nora glass with lime zest on top. The roughly 10 wines differ from Ester’s, but are “in the same ilk”: minimal intervention bottles from small, local producers. You can also request a bottle from Ester’s, and staff will fetch it for you.

And if you’re wondering where all the pork comes from, it’s not the slaughterhouse floor. “It’s mostly from Emilio’s Butcher in Rozelle,” says Lindsay. “They’re our preferred guys.”

Open Thu-Fri 5-11:30pm, Sat 12-11:30pm, Sun 12-6pm, Mon 5-10pm

42-46 Meagher Street, Chippendale, instagram.com/pigmary.au

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