There's a Mexican fever sweeping through Melbourne and I've caught it.
Before my late
night jaunt to Mamasita I had never tried decent Mexican fare (Old el
Paso and Taco Bill take note), now I can't get enough! I've recently indulged in two more of Melbourne's Mexican offerings, the
famous roving 'Taco Truck" (twice) and the relatively new, Fonda Mexican in Richmond.
For
those of you that haven't heard of it, the Taco Truck is a food van
that cruises around the inner north of Melbourne (mainly Brunswick and Northcote), utilising social media to let punters know of its locations for lunch and dinner. The
menu is simple (3 types of taco or tortilla crisps with guacamole) and the
food is fantastic; fresh, unpretentious and flavorsome. My first
experience was at Meredith 2011 and I have since driven all the way to
East Brunswick from outer south east Melbourne (a good hours drive) for another fix. Yes they are
that good. If you buy two, they'll
throw in some crispy tortilla chips for free, at $6 a pop you really can't go wrong.
Both times the same tacos have been on offer: chicken, fish and potato.
The first thing I noticed was the tortillas are made from corn and pleasingly chewy, nothing like those scarily pale and sad looking ones from the supermarket. The chicken includes
flavoursome pieces of grilled chicken, fresh corn, baby spinach and a smoky chipotle mayo. The fish is cooked to order in the van so retains that glorious crunch in the taco and comes with shredded cabbage and poppyseed mayo. While the fish taco doesn't have the same flavour hit of the chicken it's still very tasty and easily my favourite (which is pretty good coming from someone who turns her nose up at most finned foodstuffs). I'm yet to try the potato but have heard it is rather smashing.
Food
out of vans has always conjured up bad images of grease and food poisoning in my mind but thankfully there is a small band of people
trying to change that in Melbourne (Taco Truck mastermind Raph Rashid also runs gourmet burger van Beatbox Kitchen), delivering honest and tasty fresh
food. Vive le Taco Truck!
.............
Now
having been blown away by the quality of food from both the Taco Truck
and Mamasita, I had high hopes for Fonda Mexican, unfortunately it fell a
little short.
My husband and I wandered in on Labor Day in search of an early lunch. Being the first ones there we were invited to sit anywhere we liked and chose outside on the street (I later discovered there is also a small outdoor area out the back). The space is cheerful, painted in retro colours of lemon, orange and green. The decor is minimalistic but fun, old tequila bottles for water, drinks come in jars and awesome old school, red and white paper straws.
The menu is short but doesn't lack choice, snacks, salad, tacos, quesadillas and burritos. There is also a decent drinks list which includes several Mexican beers and soft drink. We ordered two kinds of taco (fish and pork) and a kangaroo burrito. The fish taco was similar to the Taco Truck with a
slaw and mayo combination, however the deep fried fish (couldn't figure out what
kind) was dusted in polenta rather than battered which added a nice
textual dimension to the dish and was presented in meaty chunks rather than a
single piece. I enjoyed it and could happily eat a few more given the chance.
My second taco, the pork and pineapple was a
major disappointment. I think a lot of this had to do with
the fact the pork and pineapple taco at Mamasita is amazing so in comparison this one just did not meet my expectations. It came with shredded slow cooked pork, white onion, pineapple pieces, coriander and an interesting sprinkle of crispy pork scratchings (deep fried flakes of pork crackling). The
pulled pork lacked the flavour punch of its superior cousin and was
too watery (yes watery, not juicy), the pineapple was a little unripe and lacked that sweet burst of flavour. I thought the amount of pork in the taco was too much,
making it difficult to eat and on further inspection discovered most of the filling consisted of a large
piece of fatty, slimy skin which I had to pull out. That kind of put me
off and I noticed somebody on Fonda's Facebook page complaining of the same thing. I did like the pork scratchings idea though, it added an extra element to the dish and provided some crunch.
 |
| Pork and pineapple taco (left) and half eaten fish taco |
The kangaroo burrito was also pretty average, generous in size but
overfilled with quinoa and very wet. Also the kangaroo fillet was so blue
it was still hopping, but that being said it didn't have that
unpleasant raw taste so just looked unappealing. We don't mind our meat quite rare but I think it would be a total turn off to some people. The burrito also came with some chunks of sweet potato, avocado, coriander and 'smoky relish'. That being said I really like the concept of a kangaroo burrito and with a few tweaks, perhaps a spice rub and some nice char flavour on the roo it could be a hit.
 |
| Kangaroo burrito |
The main downside with the food I found was an obvious lack of seasoning, something the aforementioned fellow Mexican eateries do so well. However the service and atmosphere is great and I like that they support the use of seasonal produce and
local ingredients (the burrito wraps are made fresh at Abbotsford
Convent Bakery). I think it's a given that all new eateries will suffer from teething problems and this place shows a lot of potential. I'd definitely return to eat the fish tacos if I was in the area and perhaps try a whole bowl of those funky pork scratchings but would I bother ordering a pork taco or roo burrito again? Probably not.
Follow the Taco Truck on Twitter: @tacotruckmelb
Fonda Mexican
248 Swan St, Richmond
No comments:
Post a Comment