Las Palmas Taco Bar

55 Front Street
Santa Cruz
CA 95060


The first stop on the trip south along the coast was Santa Cruz where we had lunch at Las Palmas Taco Bar, not far from the ocean. It is a fairly unprepossessing building surrounded by roads and a carpark, but we were hungry!

We both choose the regular veggie burrito featuring large flour tortilla, beans, onions, guacamole, sprouts and salsa verde. The filling was heavy on the beans, but satisfying.

Our burritos did take a while to arrive, but we did order just after a few other groups and at $3.50 each they were a great value way to sate our hunger.

Fiesta Mexican, South Yarra

175 Toorak Road
South Yarra
VIC 3141

We were due to meet up with mates in South Yarrra and decided to grab some Mexican first, opting to give Fiesta Mexican a go. It's close to the station on Toorak Road and was busy on the Saturday evening when we arrived.

Their website claims that it is the most authentic Mexican in Melbourne, the fit out certainly had some central american touches, including the carved cow skull lamp shades....

...and Aztec influenced murals on the wall.

The pollo de quesadilla, an oven baked, pressed 6” flour tortilla filled with diced skinless chicken breast, cayenne, cumin with Egmont and ranchero salsa was served with mango salsa and leaves.

I had the vegetarino combo, featuring a roast vegetable enchilada, black turtle bean taco, mushroom flauta, brown rice and mango salsa. All the components were fine, but the platter felt fairly lackluster when compared to La Tortilleria in Kensington.

I don't think we'll be rushing back to  Fiesta, while the service was fine, the food seemed overpriced and relatively bland when compared to our local favourite.

View Foodscrazy restaurant map in a larger map

Little Miss Mexico, Adelaide

188 Grenfell Street
Adelaide
SA 5000

Adelaidean friends took us along to  Little Miss Mexico which is through an archway off Grenfell street. It's a pop up bar and restaurant with a bit of a food truck vibe, and it will be closing very soon - 28/4/14!

'Inside' is actually mostly outside with little shelter from the elements, but this wasn't a problem on the warm Saturday lunch time we visited. A lot of the furniture was fashioned from shipping pallets, the overall feel being a sort of laid back and grungy/hipster cool, with central American elements.

The menu was fairly straightforward, with a few specials also on offer.

The six of us made our choices then we ordered at the bar and the food arrived as it was ready. The chicken quesadillas with corn and fennel salsa and sour cream were 'lovely' if a little heavy on the cheese.

Both the beef burritos ordered went down well, they were packed with the meaty sauce, rice and 'slaw with a little guacamole, sour cream and salsa.

I had the veggie burrito featuring a mix of kale, beans and tomato, along with the rice, 'slaw, guacamole, sour cream and salsa. It was wholesome and satisfying, with the components complimenting each other well.

The special was a Mexican Scotch Egg, made with a chorizo sausage meat, which was a winner with Stu.

The hot wings were suitably spicy and pretty plentiful for the $10.

The char grilled corn with smoked chilli mayo was another winner, it was a good thing we'd ordered more than one serve!

The food was great value overall, even if the drinks were a little on the pricey side... The place is certainly super laid back, and if you can get there before it shuts (or at a resurrection!) it's certainly worth a go.

View Foodscrazy restaurant map in a larger map

La Tortilleria

72 Stubbs Street
Kensington
Victoria 3031

Tucked away from the main street through Flemington La Tortilleria is none the less easy to spot with a brightly coloured exterior amongst the surrounding offices and industrial units.

The side of the building sports a large mural too.

Inside the space is pretty small with the front section squeezed between a counter/bar area and windows into the tortilla production area, as this is not only a restaurant, but a maker of authentic Mexican tortillas, rather than the imitations more normally available. The tortillas can be purchased here as well.

When we first arrived there was a gas flame roaring beneath this huge mixing pot, later I missed the chance to snap the contents being stirred with what looked more like a spade than a spoon!

The entire establishment had what felt like a genuine Mexican feel to it, even if it was a little kitsch at times, including the salt and pepper pots...

A set of shelves were packed with Mexican groceries and topped with a skull.

We ordered some drinks, a Tecate beer which I hadn't tried before and enjoyed  and Margarita, which apparently didn't taste very strong, but appeared from its effects to be pretty potent.

We were brought a few tortillas some chilli sauce and salsa with our drinks which was a great introduction of what was to come.

We ended up selecting a set menu of 6 dishes for $30 a head, and I went for the vegetarian version. First to arrive was the guacamole totopos, homemade tortillas chips with guacamole and the same two dips we'd had earlier, all of which we devoured rapidly.

Next up were the empanadas, stone ground corn dough parcels in this case filled with cactus with cheese, a surprisingly tasty combination.

The third plate featured both a frijoles quesadilla stuffed wuth white cheese and beans and a tostadita de tinga re-fried black beans, chicken for the carnivores,  lettuce and 'crema', both of which were both simple, satisfying and full of flavour.

Finally we received a couple of tacos, beef and pork for the meat eater, with small chunks of meat rather than mince.

The veggie tacos had a melange of vegetables in a tomato based sauce which tasted better than it photographed.

We enjoyed all the dishes we tried, they felt wholesome as well being packed with flavour. The vibe was very friendly despite being pretty packed, we were glad we'd booked a table. The bill came to around $80 with a few drinks and this is another reason for us to cross the Maribyrnong to sample some of the excellent authentic dining options in Flemmington.

View Foodscrazy restaurant map in a larger map

Nautigals - Mexican

57-59 Great Ocean Road
Apollo Bay
Vic 3233

We first ate at Nautigals in 2012, and on our most recent visit it has moved to a Mexican menu on the evenings it is open for. It's worth checking as outside holiday periods if it will be open, as it is often open as a daytime cafe only in the week.

The Mexican theme hasn't been taken too far, although we did spot this sombrero. We ate in the courtyard, which was pretty quiet when we arrived at around 7 on a Saturday, but it soon filled up. 

We shared the bean paste tacos for entree, topped with chopped tomato, red onion and avocado, they were super tasty and disappeared in no time.

The chicken enchiladas topped with a little tomato sauce, cheese and guacamole and served with sour cream and jalapenos, a simple green salad and chips were great value for under $20.

The grilled sweetcorn was some of the best the better half had ever had, sweet, soft and juicy with an awesome spicy sauce. She is a corn fan and has tried plenty of it at different Mexican spots, and this was apparently a winner!

I had a veggie burrito which again had a sensible amount of cheese melted over it, so hopefully didn't raise my cholesterol levels too high. The flavours and textures were authentic and satisfying, and the plate certainly filled me up.

The service was casual and friendly, but still pretty efficient. The meal came to $78 including a few beers and we'll certainly be popping in again when visit Apollo Bay next, if they are open for dinner.

View Foodscrazy restaurant map in a larger map

The Reverence Hotel, Footscray

28 Napier Street
Footscray
VIC 3011

The Reverence Hotel occupies the site of the former Exchange Hotelwhich we'd never visited, on the corner of Napier and Whitehall streets. After reading about the changes, including an article/interview with the owners on Footscray Life, we finally managed a visit fairly early on a Saturday evening.

Given the amount of live music on at the Reverence, and it generally not being quite our favourite styles, we got there before any of the bands kicked off.

It was fairly quiet inside, but there were several tables with diners tucking into or ordering meals.

Towards the back, the outdoor courtyard area was busier...

In general it had the feel of a cool grungy pub, which has been missing from the Footscray area, it's great that one has finally arrived!

We ordered our meals at the bar and helped ourselves to cutlery and salt and pepper!

There were also several options when it came to Mexican hot sauces, I the Cholula, for no particular reason.

The menu features a range of Mexican dishes and some pizza's, we stuck with the Latin American options. We had the empanadas for entrée, one each of the chorizo and potato and the vegan chorizo and potato, pastry parcels lightly deep fried served with a side of house made aioli. Slightly surprisingly the waiter didn't know which was which, but we think we worked it out, and they were certainly tasty and enjoyable.

We both went for taco platters for main each with two 'gourmet' tacos served with mexi rice and the weekly salad special, which featured rocket, roast pumpkin and walnut on our visit. I had the vegan pulled pork pan fried with smokey paprika, coleslaw and coriander served with chipotle lime mayo, lime wedge and the black bean taco a spicy bean mix with spinach, guacamole, capsicum, coriander, chipotle lime mayo. I was again surprised by how well the vegan meat dish worked and enjoyed this healthy Mexican combination of flavours.

The better half also went with the black bean option, along with the slow cooked beef taco, which had been pan fried with smoky paprika and house made tomatillo sauce, spinach, capsicum, coriander, served with guacamole and chipotle lime mayo which was also enjoyed.

The food order came to a very reasonable $36 and the service very friendly if a little haphazard and slow. I'm sure we will return to try some of the other Mexican dishes and maybe the Pizza's.

View Foodscrazy restaurant map in a larger map