Birria on the Brain? Hit These Three New Sydney Taquerias

The back half of the year has delivered Sydney some ripper new Mexican spots. And the immediate fanfare at each screams that it’s something we’re all into.

In July, couple Alejandro Huerta and Galia Valadez moved to the Blue Mountains, the Michelin-credentialled chefs now captaining the kitchen at Blaq in Blackheath, where the menu’s not definitively Mexican but definitely imbued with its heritage. And last month, El Primo Sanchez upsized in Surry Hills – with more room for standout cocktails, snacky set menus and karaoke-fuelled partying.

But those two flashier openings bookend three little taco joints. One brightens up a Chippendale corner, another’s from a mother-daughter duo and a third marks the first bricks-and-mortar space for a food truck. All of them are for you if you’ve got birria on the brain. Here are all the details.

Radio Taco, Chippendale

This mighty 12-seater from a trio of experienced hospo figures – Pablo Galindo (Carbon, Taqiza, Bar Lucia), hailing from Mexico City; Héctor Vallés (Ola Lola), originally from Chihuahua; and chef Aldo Lara (ex-Rockpool, The Dolphin, The International) – is laser-focused on ultra-rich, slow-cooked birria. Last month, within a week of opening, it was selling out daily.

It’s slow-cooked in 120-litre pots with chillies imported from Mexico, no shortcuts. The 48-hour marinated beef is the recommended order, but the mushroom birria is so great it even shocked the team. There’s chicken too, and a traditional goat birria is in the works.

The birria’s multi-day cook time is in service of a tight menu of Jalisco classics. You want the crispy queso tacos with a side of birria consommé for dunking, but that birria wins in burritos, nachos and even a ramen, where noodles swim in the deeply flavoured broth.

67 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale

@radiotacoau

Papi’s Birria Tacos, Darlinghurst

How did the Papi’s Birria founder describe the response to the opening of their first bricks-and-mortar space? “Ballistic.” Lawrence Diaz’s food trucks attract crowds to Haberfield and Carlton, and now to a permanent Oxford Street space. And everyone’s here for his cheesy tacos straight off the grill (and his Tijuana-style al pastor).

The signature tacos – perfected by literally eating birria “every single day for three months” – are filled with “the holy trinity of beef” (chuck, rib and osso buco), and the accompanying 30-ingredient consommé is punchy, with charred tomatoes and at least three kinds of Mexican chilli. The tacos’ three-cheese mix is bronzed and blistered by the time it reaches your plate.

Beyond birria is a vego-friendly nopales serve, six-hour Michoacan-style carnitas (flavoured with Coca-Cola, beer and oranges) and Tijuana-style al pastor. Plus, fruit cups ramped up with Tajin and chamoy (sour and spicy Mexican condiments), churros and a zingy house-made agua fresca.

147 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst

@papis.birria

Olotl, Newtown

Blanca Perera’s childhood was steeped in the bustle of kitchens. Her grandparents opened their first restaurant in Actopan, Hidalgo. When her mum Blanca Mejia was a teenager, the family moved to Mexico City and opened another restaurant. By the time Perera came along, they’d opened a third. Now, together with her mum, she’s cooking her family recipes at Olotl.

The new space arrives after the pair spent close to a year as a weekend-only taqueria above Campos Newtown. The signature mole verde taco uses Perera’s great-grandmother’s recipe, with an incredible 31-ingredient blend of nuts, chillies and veggies slow-cooked over the course of a day. But the birria taco – made with beef instead of the traditional goat – is a crowd favourite. The meat arrives on cornflour tortillas, the bedrock of everything at Olotl.

The unbelievably soft rounds are crafted from scratch – and, as Howard Chen writes, easily some of the best corn tortillas you’ll find in the southern hemisphere. Every weekend, the team rolls out 590 of them.

Vegetarians can also tuck into braised shiitake mushroom and cheese quesadillas, nopales numbers or the off-menu vegan mole and birria. Head in on the weekend for a rich Mexican cacao (made with Frido Cacao) and sweet conchas.

12 King Street, Newtown

Additional reporting by Ben Hansen, Howard Chen and Lee Tran Lam.