Latin American

Smith and Daughters

Non Alcoholic Cocktails

(No Way Rosé, Coco No Vod-co with Watermelon, Coco No Vod-co with Pineapple, Chill Niño)

Each were deliciously refreshing!

★★★★☆

Nachos Cargados

(slow cooked jackfruit carnitas, chipotle salsa, molten spicy cheddar sauce, pickled jalapeños, guacamole, coriander cream, blue and white corn chips)

Nearly every table around us had a plate of these nachos so we knew straight away that we had to order some. The blue corn chips turned out to be a lot crispier than the regular ones, while the jackfruit carnitas provided a nice meaty texture. This was good for vegan nachos but I couldn’t help but think how much better this could have been with cheese!

★★★☆☆

Quesadilla

(spiced black bean and cheese quesadilla served with chipotle salsa and avocado cream)

Delicious quesadilla served with AMAZING avocado cream!

★★★★☆

Champiñones Al Ajillo

(button mushrooms simmered in a creamy Spanish sauce of Pedro Ximenéz, garlic and smoked paprika, served with toasted bread)

This flavoursome dish was wonderfully rich yet light, making these mushrooms very addictive.

★★★★☆

Dulce De Leche Doughnuts

(Spanish doughnuts filled with dulce de leche cream)

The dulce de leche cream didn’t exactly fill these sugar dusted doughnuts but rather sat on top of them.

★★★☆☆

Overall:

What a fantastic vibe this place has! The dark stone walls, vintage prints and tattooed staff gave this place a definite punk rock feel. Service was friendly and the food pretty tasty considering that everything here is vegan.

Smith and Daughters

175 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, VIC

(03) 9939 3293

http://www.smithanddaughters.com/

El Chino

El Nachos Montana

(corn chips, grilled mozzarella, salsa mexicana, organic black beans, guacamole, jalapeños, sour cream)

★★☆☆☆

Sweet corn on the cob

(charred corn with smoked paprika, sour cream, parmesan, chilli)

★★☆☆☆

Conchinita pibil

(organic pulled pork, slow cooked in achiote chilli, orange, pickled Spanish onions, and apples)

★★☆☆☆

Mexican rice, organic black beans, warm tortillas

★★☆☆☆

Pork taco (pulled pork, chilli, orange, pickled Spanish onion)

Beef taco (beef in chipotle and smoked paprika, salsa verde, coriander, lime)

Prawn taco (pan fried prawns, purple cabbage, salsa mexicana, and chipotle aioli on blue corn tortilla)

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

Awesome courtyard out the back, friendly staff, unexceptional food. And why is this place called ‘the Chinese’?

El Chino

214 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North, VIC

(03) 9078 7974

http://www.elchino.com.au/

Popol Nah

171 Lygon St, Carlton 9347 3293

Empanada vegetariana

Chickpea, sweet potato and silver beet in baked pastry with crema fresca

= Good

Patatas bravas

Crispy baked potatoes with tomato sauce and aioli

= Excellent

Anafre de chorizo

Cheese fondue, chorizo and corn chips

= Excellent

Albondigas

Lamb and beef meatballs in a tomato sofrito

= Good

Ensalada de vegetables

Shredded zucchini, kale, cucumber and extremely sour pickled vegetables

= Not bad

Pollo con adobo

Fresh baked chicken breast in adobo with grilled corn and pumpkin

= Not bad

Arroz en leche

Rice pudding, caramel and banana

= Not bad

Prana chai with agave syrup

= Good

Overall:

Popol Nah (The People’s House) offers a tasty selection of fresh Latin American food as well as Latin American drinks. I sampled their Chicha Morada (a drink made from purple corn, pineapple, cinnamon and cloves) which tasted strange at first but turned out to be delightfully refreshing. Service was lovely and the decor was funky and artistic. All in all I was very happy with this Groupon voucher purchase so I will definitely be coming back to sample the rest of their menu and devour more of their terrific cheese fondue.

Radio Mexico

11 Carlisle Street, St Kilda 9534 9990

Corn on the cob

Calabaza picante taco

Albondigas

Quesadillas

Thoughts:

Corn – every time I venture to a new Mexican place, I always try the corn. (On a side note my favourite places so far in terms of Mexican grilled corn are The Black Toro and Mamasita) So I found the corn here to be wonderfully sweet and smoky, with just the right amount of cheese on it (ie. enough to flavour but not overpower) = Good

Calabaza picante taco – a delightful combination of spicy roast pumpkin, corn, goats curd and pepitas (chipotle roasted pumpkin seeds) = Good

Albondigas – mildly spicy meatballs (that contained beef, pork and rice), salsa, homemade crema, served with green rice. This was my first Mexican green rice experience, and I am hooked! This rice was full of flavour and was simply delicious! = Good

Quesadillas – corn tortillas with a cheese filling that gets toasted on the barbeque. There are two filling options available: the first being potato and chorizo, the second being bean, corn and roasted capsicum. Both were tasty but I probably enjoyed the vegetarian one more = Good

Overall:

Quick service, relaxed atmosphere, a funky place serves up some pretty tasty Mexican food. Note that this place does not take bookings.

San Telmo

14 Meyers Place, Melbourne 9650 5525

Beef, egg and olive Empanada

Humita (Polenta, corn and basil chips) with chipotle mayonnaise

Ceviche – Peruvian style lemon cured white fish with chilli, sweet potato and onion

Mejilla de Cerdo: Braised Berkshire pork jowl ‘cheek’ with crackling

Bife de lomo: Riverina black angus eye fillet (150 day grain fed)

Hinojo: Fennel, chicory and orange salad with malbec vinaigrette

Flan: Dulce de leche crème caramel with salted peanut praline

Thoughts:

Beef, egg and olive Empanada – really good Traditional Argentine fried pastry. Note that the portion size is tiny so you may not want to share this and have one all to yourself = Good

Humita – Dense chips that have a interesting flavour, great chipotle mayonnaise = Good

Ceviche – fresh raw fish that had a sharp and spicy taste = Good

Mejilla de Cerdo – marvellous melt-in-your pork (as most of it was fat) with super crunchy crackling = Good

Bife de lomo – a tender, juicy cut of beef that had a nice smokey flavour to it = Good

Hinojo – we originally did not want to get a salad but became persuaded by our waiter who insisted that we needed something to accompany our steak. It was an okay salad, light and citrusy = Not bad

Flan – Heavenly! Rich crème caramel, crunchy salted peanut praline with a huge dollop of caramelised dulce de leche = Excellent

Overall:

A bustling place that serves exciting Argentine food that is designed for sharing. Be sure to try one of their steaks so that you can experience the unique smokey flavour that comes from their authentic parrilla (Argentine charcoal grill). The decor here was definitely bovine inspired: cowhide and leather everywhere! Service was quite good, with our waiter being highly knowledgeable of all the dishes on offer.