Hustlers has ridden into the Sydney CBD, bringing an intriguing dish of bone marrow mee goreng with it. The Asian restaurant and bar opened at 24 York Street on Thursday, June 15.

Hustlers’ bone marrow version of the Asian staple has travelled a curious path. Already the signature dish at co-owner Andrew Huynh’s Smithfield restaurant, Saigon Hustle, it has been refined for its city debut. “We’ve amplified it. It’s stronger in flavour,” he says.

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Huynh grew up in the Vietnamese community in western Sydney, but worked in central Sydney restaurants while a student at Sydney University. After a taste of corporate life, he decided he wanted to bring a city-style venue to the west. Saigon Hustle opened in 2020.

“People from the eastern suburbs and city would come and eat there and say, ‘Why don’t you open something here [the city]?’ ” he says.

The menu might be a little more refined, with more seafood, but Hustlers has some broad influences.

“My business partner is Thai, the chefs are from Korea, China and Vietnam,” Huynh says. So expect a bit of a Thai chilli kick and fish sauce in the kingfish ceviche, and Filipino dessert buko pandan and cheesecake combining in another dish.

As you might expect from a venue named Hustlers, the design brief was “gambling den”. Huynh explains they inherited the luxe three-years-new fitout from previous tenant Forty Licks, so they were able to keep the kitchen and some of the fittings, while transforming the room with new banquettes and playing card murals.

The kitchen is open until 11pm, after which it turns into a bar. Huynh hopes Hustlers, tucked away in an underground space in a precinct of the CBD collecting new venues including as The Charles and Tiva, will continue the great tradition of chefs and restaurateurs bringing their food and culture closer to town.

Huynh includes chefs Luke Nguyen and Dan Hong as pioneers of the movement. Drawing inspiration from the food and culture of the Hustlers’ team, Huynh wants to recreate those staples “with a twist and contemporary elements”.

Open lunch and dinner Tue-Sat.

Lower ground level, 24 York Street, Sydney, hustlerssyd.com.au