There’s a tiny taqueria in a city laneway, steamy farmers’ market tamales and Cheetos-crusted birria balls.
Quincy Malesovas
August 28, 2026
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I’m writing this from Mexico City, the air thick with the sweet smell of corn tortillas griddled to order and stewed meats waiting to be piled into them. With seven main culinary regions, Mexican food is far more diverse than many Australians might guess, with Old El Paso as their main point of reference.
Tiny taqueria Super Taco on Crossley Street. Eddie Jim
But an increasing number of regionally informed Mexican restaurants in Melbourne are raising the bar. Last year, Maiz y Cacao relocated to the CBD, introducing dishes from Oaxaca and the Yucatan Peninsula, while Chabela shone a light on huaraches, blue-corn masa discs piled with grilled meats.
El Columpio, the Johnston Street favourite for tacos and pozole, expanded to St Kilda with a seafood-focused offering. Santito levelled up our tortilla game, nixtamalising and pressing them in-house, and Cumbe brought us torta de chilaquiles: sandwiches filled with saucy tortilla chips. Then there’s Torquay newcomer Mule, serving a flame-driven menu pairing local ingredients with Mexican technique.
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Mexico may be a world away, but the flurry of openings reflects increasing cultural exchange, with Australians visiting Mexico in greater numbers, alongside a small but growing Mexican diaspora desperate for a taste of home. Mexican-American Abe Pedroza, who runs pop-up-turned-market-stall El Unico, says the business began “almost out of necessity, because of the lack of authentic Mexican food options in Melbourne”.
Angel Farias, owner of Tacos LA, also opened his business to fulfil a niche and broaden ideas of what the cuisine can be. He says customers have told him they “don’t like Mexican food”, only to change their minds after trying his cooking.
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The shift has been propelled by growing global awareness of Mexican food. We’re still seeing the effects of the birria boom of 2020. At Miko Tacos, founded by Samoan and Tongan couple Junior and Lolovai Finau, it turns up in ramen and Hot Cheetos-coated birria balls, while Dingo Ate My Taco co-owner Kady Simkins half-jokes that she can’t take it off the menu.
Meanwhile, Maiz y Cacao chef-owner Miguel Rios says customers have been coming in asking for mole ever since Eva Longoria highlighted it on her show Searching for Mexico. As curiosity grows, restaurants are gaining confidence to go beyond the familiar. Here are five to add to your radar.
Super Taco
In Mexico, it’s common for restaurants and street vendors to work with very minimal cooking gear. This CBD taqueria follows that philosophy, relying on just a deep fryer, a grill and a trompo – the vertical spit introduced to Mexico by Lebanese migrants – to churn out four varieties of taco and a few snacks. The al pastor makes use of the trompo, while skirt steak, fried fish and cauliflower offer options for non-pork eaters. There’s also Mexican sparkling water Topo Chico to cool you down if you overindulge at the DIY salsa bar.
8/26 Crossley Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/supertacoau
Miko Tacos’ birria balls are coated in crushed Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.Miko Tacos
Junior and Lolovai Finau started their western suburbs food stall as a way to share home-style dishes drawing on their Samoan and Tongan heritage. But their tacos, a family favourite, drew the most demand. Today, they’re the main attraction, made with charcoal chicken, lamb or slow-cooked saucy beef birria. For fun, try the birria-topped ramen or birria balls – spheres of slow-cooked beef, spiced rice and cheese coated in crushed Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
20 Altitude Drive, Point Cook, mikotacos.square.site
Dingo Ate My Taco’s new venue in Abbotsford.Dingo Ate My Taco
Tex-Mex may bring to mind hard-shell tacos and cheese-smothered everything, but Dingo co-owner Kady Simkins says it’s a legitimate regional cuisine that pairs northern Mexican food with southern American barbecue traditions. After years of food trucks and pop-ups, Dingo has put down roots at a new Johnston Street venue serving cheese-crusted tacos filled with house-smoked brisket, alongside breakfast tacos such as chorizo and potato. An oven, a first for the business, has unlocked a whole new slate of dessert options, served alongside filter coffee and horchata, the cinnamon-spiced rice milk drink.
272 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, dingoatemytaco.com/abbotsford
Mordialloc is now home to LA-inspired food truck Tacos LA.Tacos LA
California offers another unique spin on Mexican cuisine, shaped by the state’s Mexican diaspora, coastal climate and strong agricultural industry. Chicano chef Angel Farias draws on that cross-section, cooking dishes like crunchy tostadas topped with prawn inspired by those he grew up on just south of LA. After popping up at festivals and food truck hubs around Melbourne, he’s settled into a permanent home in Mordialloc, where he’s serving tacos and rotating specials. The menu also looks to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula through dishes like pulled pork and chicken marinated in citrus and achiote, a seed used across Latin America for its orange colour.
1/9 Kareela Street, Mordialloc, instagram.com/tacos.la
El Unico
El Unico’s tamales.
What began as a pop-up at restaurants around Victoria is now a permanent fixture at Carlton Farmers’ Market each Saturday, showcasing the dishes Abe Pedroza grew up with as a first-generation Mexican-American. His core focus is tamales, the stuffed cornmeal parcels that number more than 300 varieties across Mexico. He makes his true to family tradition, filled with either pork and guajillo chilli or silverbeet and queso fresco, then wrapped in corn husks and steamed. They’re served alongside atole, a spiced cacao drink thickened with corn masa that’s a popular choice with tamales in Mexico.
Carlton Farmers’ Market, 60 Lee Street, Carlton North, instagram.com/el.unico.melbourne
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