Coming Soon: El Columpio to Bring Rare Tequilas, Mezcals and Mexican Dishes to Richmond

Ricardo Garcia Flores’s restaurant El Columpio in Fitzroy serves some of Melbourne’s best Mexican food. His second location, a breezy St Kilda kiosk, does too. Now, Flores is opening a third El Columpio, this time on Bridge Road in Richmond.

The Fitzroy original is all about traditional Mexican dishes served in a casual setting. The St Kilda spot leans into seafood and is more takeaway focused, with the signature being the torre de mariscos seafood tower. Flores says the Richmond spot will be one big party: a bar first and a restaurant second, conceptually and in practice.

“I’ll be sourcing all sorts of rare, traditional Mexican mezcals, tequilas and wines, I want to steer away from the commercial ones you’d normally find,” Flores says. “The superstar will be a massive menu of Margaritas and Mezcalitas with house-made syrups.”

The plan is to approach the cocktail menu with a modern lens, hopefully creating some combinations that aren’t normally found in Melbourne. But the beer list will be local, and Mexican wines will be supplemented by local drops.

“If someone can have a new cocktail with a traditional Mexican spirit they haven’t found in Melbourne before, we think that’s a lot of fun.”

The Bridge Road space formerly housed Annie Lewis Winehouse, a neighbourhood wine bar. There’s room for about 50 people, with some streetside tables also on the cards. Flores says leaning into the drinks feels natural “with the great vibe in the area and the building”, but the food isn’t an afterthought, either.

El Columpio Richmond will first open as a bar while the kitchen fit-out is finalised. From there, Flores says he plans to expand on the seafood tower concept from St Kilda by adding more varieties of seafood, vegetarian options and a range of salsas. There’ll be red, green and black towers with different ingredients and salsa spice levels.

“We’ll use ingredients we haven’t in the past: octopus, new chillies, different kinds of salsas – the concept of a black salsa is really hot in Mexico right now and we’re building on that here.” Along with the towers, Flores wants to help popularise alambres (grilled meat and vegetable skewers) in Melbourne.

“The idea is to serve things that Melbourne has never seen before, so there’s a lot of planning, planning, planning going on,” Flores says. “The hot food from the grill is going to be amazing, it’s the most exciting opening for me … the concepts are really modern, coming straight from Mexico.”

El Columpio Richmond is expected to open at 138 Bridge Road, Richmond in early 2027. The bar will open first, followed by the kitchen in the first half of 2027.