Melbourne’s Mexican Food Scene Is Growing - And We’re Proud to Be Part of It
Something exciting is happening with Mexican food in Melbourne.
For a long time, many Australians’ idea of Mexican food was limited to hard-shell tacos, mountains of cheese and the kind of Tex-Mex flavours most of us first discovered at home.
That’s changing quickly.
Across Melbourne, a growing collection of chefs, taquerias, restaurants, market stalls and food trucks are showing just how diverse Mexican food can be - from al pastor cooked on a trompo and traditional tamales to regional moles, tostadas, birria and house-made tortillas.
Recently, The Age’s Good Food took a closer look at that movement, naming five Mexican food businesses currently worth having on your radar.
We were incredibly proud to see Tacos LA among them.Mexican food in Mordialloc
But even more exciting for us was seeing the wider Mexican food community in Melbourne being celebrated.
A New Generation of Mexican Food in Melbourne
The article highlights how much Melbourne's Mexican food scene has evolved in recent years.
Restaurants such as Maiz y Cacao are introducing Melbourne diners to dishes and flavours from regions including Oaxaca and the Yucatán Peninsula, while Chabela has helped put dishes such as huaraches - thick masa bases topped with meats and other ingredients - in front of a wider audience.
El Columpio has built a following around tacos and traditional dishes such as pozole, Santito is nixtamalising corn and pressing tortillas in-house, and Cumbe has introduced Melbourne diners to dishes including torta de chilaquiles.
Further down the coast, Mule in Torquay is combining Mexican techniques with local Australian produce and live-fire cooking.
They aren't all trying to make the same version of Mexican food.
And that's exactly the point.
Mexican cuisine is enormously regional, and the food created by Mexican communities around the world - particularly in places such as California and Texas - adds even more layers to the story.
Five Melbourne Mexican Spots to Know
The Age singled out five businesses that demonstrate just how varied Melbourne's emerging Mexican food scene has become.
Super Taco - Melbourne CBD
Hidden away on Crossley Street, Super Taco takes inspiration from the simplicity of Mexican taquerias.
Its compact kitchen revolves around a grill, fryer and trompo, the vertical spit famously used for tacos al pastor.
Alongside al pastor, the menu includes options such as skirt steak, fried fish and cauliflower tacos, plus a DIY salsa bar.
It's another great example of how a small menu and relatively simple cooking setup can produce seriously good tacos.
Miko Tacos - Point Cook
Over in Melbourne's west, Miko Tacos bring something completely different to the table.
Founders Junior and Lolovai Finau originally began sharing food influenced by their Samoan and Tongan backgrounds before tacos became one of the biggest drawcards.
Their menu now includes charcoal chicken, lamb and slow-cooked beef birria tacos.
And then there are the creations that are considerably harder to categorise.
Think birria ramen and birria balls combining slow-cooked beef, rice and cheese before being coated in crushed Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
Traditional? Not exactly.
Fun? Absolutely.
And it's another example of food cultures crossing paths in Melbourne and producing something entirely their own.
Dingo Ate My Taco - Abbotsford
Dingo Ate My Taco has spent years building a following through food trucks and pop-ups and now has a permanent home on Johnston Street in Abbotsford.
Their food celebrates Tex-Mex, a cuisine with its own genuine regional history connecting northern Mexican cooking with the food traditions of the southern United States.
Expect things like cheese-crusted tacos filled with house-smoked brisket and breakfast tacos with chorizo and potato.
They've even expanded into desserts at the new venue, alongside filter coffee and horchata, Mexico's much-loved cinnamon-spiced rice drink.
Tacos LA - Mordialloc
And then there's us.
Tacos LA is Angel Farias' expression of the Mexican food he knows from growing up around Los Angeles and Southern California.
Angel is a Chicano chef whose cooking reflects the relationship between Mexico and California - a food culture shaped by generations of Mexican families, migration, incredible produce and the proximity of the Pacific.
That might mean a crunchy prawn tostada inspired by the food Angel grew up eating just south of Los Angeles, or tacos influenced directly by different regions of Mexico.
Our menu also travels to the Yucatán Peninsula, where citrus and achiote play an important role in dishes such as our pulled pork and chicken.
After years of pop-ups, festivals and food-truck locations around Melbourne, Tacos LA finally found a permanent home for Mexican food in Mordialloc.
We're still constantly experimenting, cooking and introducing new specials.
For Angel, part of the reason for starting Tacos LA was simple: there was an opportunity to show people another side of Mexican food.
We've genuinely had customers tell us:
"I don't like Mexican food."
Then they try the food.
And suddenly the conversation changes.
That's one of the things we love most.
El Unico - Carlton Farmers' Market
El Unico, created by first-generation Mexican-American Abe Pedroza, has taken another route entirely.
After beginning as a series of pop-ups around Victoria, El Unico can now be found each Saturday at Carlton Farmers' Market.
The speciality is tamales.
Mexico has hundreds of varieties of tamales, with different fillings, preparations and regional traditions.
Abe makes his own family traditions, including pork with guajillo chilli and a vegetarian version with silverbeet and queso fresco, wrapped in corn husks and steamed.
They're also served alongside atole, a warm drink made with cacao and thickened with corn masa that has a long history in Mexico.
If you've never explored Mexican food much further than tacos, it's exactly the kind of dish worth seeking out.
There's More to Mexican Food Than Tacos
We love tacos.
Obviously.
But one of the most important things happening in Melbourne right now is that people are beginning to realise Mexican food doesn't start and finish with them.
There are tamales.
Tostadas.
Pozole.
Mole.
Huaraches.
Chilaquiles.
Achiote-marinated meats from the Yucatán.
Seafood dishes shaped by Mexico's enormous coastline.
Northern Mexican food.
Oaxacan food.
Mexican-American food.
Chicano cooking.
Tex-Mex.
And countless family recipes that don't necessarily fit neatly into any restaurant category.
The more Melbourne diners become curious about these foods, the more opportunity there is for chefs to cook dishes that previously might have been considered too unfamiliar.
That's good for everyone.
Mexican Food in Melbourne Is Just Getting Started
For us, being included in The Age alongside Super Taco, Miko Tacos, Dingo Ate My Taco and El Unico isn't about competing to decide who makes the "best" version of Mexican food.
We're all doing different things.
That's what makes the current moment exciting.
More restaurants mean more people discovering Mexican food.
More curiosity means chefs can dig deeper into regional dishes.
And more diversity means Melbourne gets closer to understanding just how massive the world of Mexican cuisine really is.
We're proud that a little piece of Los Angeles, Mexico and Angel's own story has found a home here in Mordialloc.
And we're even happier to see so many other people pushing Mexican food forward alongside us.
Read the Full Feature in The Age
We’re proud to have Tacos LA included in The Age’s Good Food feature, Five ‘Flamin’ Hot’ new Mexican restaurants to add to your radar, Melbourne.
The feature looks at five Melbourne businesses helping broaden the city’s understanding of Mexican food, from tacos and birria to tamales and regional Mexican cooking.
And when you are ready for some LA-style Mexican food in Melbourne’s south-east, come and see us in Mordialloc.
Nos vemos, raza.
-Tacos LA Looking for more stories from Tacos LA? Read more Tacos LA stories on our blog.
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