Melbourne’s Mexican food scene has grown significantly over the years, with favourites including Mamasita, CDMX and La Tortilleria expanding the variety of Mexican food found in Melbourne.

Recently, we’ve seen new Mexican restaurants and bars open, adding to the already rich culinary scene. Here are three new Mexican places to try, including a casual Fitzroy eatery and two large-scale restaurants and bars.

El Columpio, Fitzroy

El Columpio, Spanish for “the swing”, sits somewhere between a taqueria and a cenaduría (the Mexican word for a neighbourhood restaurant). It embodies Ricardo Garcia Flores’s nine-year dream of introducing what he considers to be “true Mexican food” to Melbourne.

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Flores started his Melbourne hospitality career as a dishwasher and kitchenhand at Movida’s Paco’s Tacos, moving to a role as a kitchenhand at Movida Aqui, where he prepared tapas.

His venue El Columpio is stripped back and his cooking is staunchly traditional; Flores doesn’t do adaptations or substitutions and isn’t interested in the “evolution” of Mexican cuisine, as he puts it.

The casual spot’s signature is pozole, a hearty hominy-based Mexican soup. But you’ll also find tacos made using Maseca-brand corn tortillas and generously filled with slow-cooked suadero beef or pork mixiote, where the meat is marinated and cooked in parchment.

Hotel Nacional, CBD

This new Hardware Lane venue in the former Campari House space was inspired by the south of Mexico.

The five-storey venue currently features a restaurant and rooftop bar, and a second-floor late-night bar with a 3am liquor licence is due to open towards the end of the year.

Hotel Nacional has an entirely gluten-free menu that managing director Taylor Granchi told Broadsheet is modern Mexican, as opposed to trying to be traditional.

Chef Sergio Tourn uses European cooking techniques with Mexican flavours to turn out snacks including corn ribs with Tajin seasoning, and house-made chorizo served with salsa tatemada (roasted red salsa) and corn chips. There are also birria tacos, chicken served with red mole, burrito bowls at lunchtime on weekdays, and desserts including a corn husk meringue with corn-infused cream and persimmon.

There’s a large selection of mezcals including Don Amado, plus tequilas, sotols and other Mexican spirits. The cocktail list has 10 different Margaritas with variations including spicy, smoky, frozen and coconut.

Bar Mexico, Preston

This two-storey venue on Preston’s High Street opened in mid-June in what was once a shoe factory (and most recently, Northside Food Hall).

The menu is overseen by siblings Neven Hayek and Sandrow Yalda, who have been serving tacos and quesadillas from a repurposed shipping container at Grazeland’s El Taco since 2019.

While there are El Taco dishes such as papas fritas (chips with Tajin and house-made aioli) and nachos, the duo has been able to get more creative thanks to the kitchen, which is considerably bigger than the one at El Taco.

There is a “taco feast” plate where you will be given 10 corn tortillas, slow-cooked pulled beef, adobo-marinated chicken and a bunch of sides to build your own tacos; birria quesadilla, which is filled with slow-cooked beef, cheese and onion, and is designed to be shared; and desserts including hot churros with a chocolate dipping sauce, and dulce Azteca (vanilla-bean ice-cream, marzipan crumble and pistachios served in a waffle basket).

Additional reporting by Moira Tirtha and Ciara Duffy-Quinn.