Visit a neighborhood spot for lesser-known traditional dishes or a five-level CBD joint where the good times (and the spicy margins) are already flowing.
Some of Melbourne's favorite Mexican restaurants are steeped in tradition. Others go all out, using traditional cuisine as a starting point and incorporating flourishes from Latin America, the US and beyond. Here are three very different openings, representing a cross-section of the evolution of Melbourne's Mexican scene.
The Swing, Fitzroy
Ricardo Garcia Flores is a purist. So, at his recently opened Johnston Street restaurant, El Columpio, the proud Mexican does things like they do at home. “It's like eating in Mexico,” he tells Good Food. “I'm not changing anything.”
At first glance, the menu seems small, Flores admits. But each dish is special in Mexico, where it is common to find restaurants dedicated to a particular dish, he says. The recipes Flores uses are steeped in history, and she has a story for each one. During his university studies, for example, he learned to make the mixiote (pork cooked with maguey leaves) from El Columpio's taco menu while working for one of Mexico City's method masters.
Flores says diners are excited to find pozole on their menu. Rarely seen in Melbourne, the traditional soup is made with hominy (dried corn kernels), chicken and pork, and comes with a hot sauce made from five different Mexican chilies.
It also serves handmade tamales, lamb barbecue tacos (with a flavorful consommé for dipping) as a weekend special, and Mexican custard with custard.
Flores moved from dishwasher to kitchen through several MoVida restaurants in Melbourne before opening El Columpio earlier this year.
Since arriving here, he has seen a growing appreciation and understanding of real Mexican food. “Australians love to travel to Mexico [and] they know about food,” he says. “His reaction [to the restaurant] it's amazing…they can't believe there's a pozol!”
Open Tuesday to Thursday from 5pm to 9pm; Friday noon-9 p.m.; Sat. from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m
Level 1, 52 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, instagram.com/elcolumpiomelbourne
National Hotel, CBD
There's a lot going on at Hardware Lane's latest arrival in the former Campari house, curated by some of the team behind Latin-inspired bayside restaurants Repeat Offender and Rufio.
The mellow Hotel Nacional spans five levels, all filled with warm terracotta tones and textured walls, while the cherry on top is a rooftop bar with central cacti, a retractable roof and a loft with 270-degree views of the city “We want you to come in here, get an edge and be somewhere else mentally,” says co-owner Alex Greco.
Your margarita options are 10-fold (will it be frozen passion fruit or a beer-spiked “gerita”?), or you can try a sotol, the distinctive spirit distilled from a desert shrub and cured with rattlesnake venom.
The gluten-free menu is broadly Mexican-inspired, but Argentinian chef Sergio Tourn takes influences from all over. He says the slow-cooked lamb “honors the flavor” of Mexican barbecue, but has a hint of sweetness in the American-style barbecue sauce.
Another highlight is their chorizo, made in-house and served with tatemada roast sauce, spring onions and corn chips. Also expect classics like baja and birria (stewed and shredded beef) tacos and lunchtime burrito bowls for the office crowd.
Open every day from noon to midnight
23-25 Hardware Lane, Melbourne, hotelnacional.co
Bar Mexico, Preston
Neven Hayek and Sandrow Yalda, the brothers behind the El Taco stand at Spotswood Grazeland alfresco dining hall, are running the kitchen at a new Mexican-inspired bar.
The aptly named Bar Mexico, which opened on High Street in Preston on June 13, has taken over the former Northside Food Hall site, evoking 'Hacienda style' with vibrant murals and overhanging greenery in a space that has space for 300 punters.
Appetizers such as jalapeño poppers are Tex-Mex, while the popular birria comes in both taco and quesadilla forms. There's also a build-your-own taco party with all the toppings.
And to drink? Spicy green habanero margins on tap and more than 50 tequilas (like those from third-generation maker El Cristiano) from importer Agave Lux. A complementary two-times-larger property called Hotel Mexico is scheduled to open in Yarraville in August.
Open Wednesday from 5pm to 10pm; Thursday 5pm-11pm; Friday 4pm-late; Sat. late afternoon; Sunday noon-9 p.m
39 High Street, Preston, barmexico.com.au
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