Visit a neighbourhood spot for lesser-seen traditional dishes or a five-level CBD venue where the good times (and spicy margs) are already flowing.
Some of Melbourne’s favourite Mexican restaurants are fiercely bound by tradition. Others buck it entirely, using the time-honoured cuisine as a jumping-off point and incorporating flourishes from across Latin America, the US and beyond. Here are three vastly different openings, which represent a cross-section of Melbourne’s evolving Mexican scene.
El Columpio, Fitzroy
Ricardo Garcia Flores is a purist. So, at his recently opened Johnston Street restaurant, El Columpio, the proud Mexican does things as they’re done back home. “It’s like you’re eating in Mexico,” he tells Good Food. “I’m not changing a thing.”
At a glance, the menu looks small, Flores admits. But every dish is special in Mexico, where it’s common to find restaurants dedicated to one specific dish, he says. The recipes Flores uses are steeped in history, and he has a story for each. During his uni days, for example, he learned to make the mixiote (pork cooked in maguey leaves) on El Columpio’s taco menu while working for one of Mexico City’s masters of the method.
Flores says diners are excited to find pozole on his menu. Seldom seen in Melbourne, the traditional soup is made from hominy (dried maize kernels), chicken and pork, and comes with a hot sauce he makes using five different Mexican chillies.
He also serves handmade tamales, lamb barbacoa tacos (with a flavour-packed consomme for dipping) as a weekend special, and custard-y Mexican flan napolitano.
Flores worked his way up from dishwasher to kitchenhand across several of MoVida’s Melbourne restaurants before opening El Columpio earlier this year.
Since arriving here, he’s seen a growing appreciation for – and understanding of – real-deal Mexican food. “Australians, they love to travel to Mexico [and] they know about the food,” he says. “Their reaction [to the restaurant] is amazing … they can’t believe there is a pozole!”
Open Tue-Thu 5pm-9pm; Fri noon-9pm; Sat 10am-9pm; Sun 10am-8pm
Level 1, 52 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, instagram.com/elcolumpiomelbourne
Hotel Nacional, CBD
There’s a lot going on in Hardware Lane’s latest arrival in the old Campari House, care of some of the team behind Latin-inspired bayside eateries Repeat Offender and Rufio.
The suave Hotel Nacional spans five levels – all replete with warm terracotta hues and textured walls – while the cherry on top is a rooftop bar with centrepiece cacti, a retractable roof and a mezzanine with 270-degree city views. “We want you to get up here, get a marg, and mentally be somewhere else,” says co-owner Alex Greco.
Your margarita choices are 10-fold (will it be frozen passionfruit or a beer-spiked “lagerita”?), 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 head chef Sergio Tourn grabs influences from all over. He says the slow-cooked lamb “honours the flavour” of Mexican barbacoa but has some added sweetness from American-style barbecue sauce.
Another standout is his chorizo, made in-house and served with roasty salsa tatemada, spring onion and corn chips. Also expect classics like baja and birria (braised and shredded beef) tacos, and lunchtime burrito bowls for the office crowd.
Open daily noon-midnight
23-25 Hardware Lane, Melbourne, hotelnacional.co
Bar Mexico, Preston
Neven Hayek and Sandrow Yalda – the siblings behind the El Taco stall at open-air Spotswood food hall Grazeland – 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 room for 300 punters.
Snacks such as jalapeno poppers lean Tex-Mex, while the popular birria comes in both taco and quesadilla form. There’s also a build-your-own taco feast with all the trimmings.
And to drink? Green-habanero spicy margs on tap and more than 50 tequilas (like those from third-generation maker El Cristiano) from importer Agave Lux. A twice-the-size companion venue called Hotel Mexico is slated to open in Yarraville in August.
Open Wed 5pm-10pm; Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri 4pm-late; Sat noon-late; Sun noon-9pm
39 High Street, Preston, barmexico.com.au
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