This Mexican food is so good, I want to go out on the street and start dragging people in

We should perhaps see it as a blessing that the Mexican food scene in Melbourne is of high enough quality these days that somewhere as good as Brunswick’s Mercadito could fly under the radar. Even though I’m someone who has spent far too many hours (and words written) obsessing over the taco scene in this country, I somehow completely missed the Sydney Road opening a few months back. While running errands one Saturday afternoon I stumbled upon the restaurant, its long, unassuming room so empty I wondered if it was open.

Mercadito is a project from Simon Rizk, a former cafe owner who saw a gap in the market. Early on, he brought on Bruno Carreto of Los Hermanos fame to consult on the menu, though Carreto is no longer involved. The offering here is less street food and more considered, shareable feasting. You can certainly come for a couple of tacos, but you’ll get more out of it if you bring a crowd and order half the menu.

When was the last time I had much to say about a bowl of guacamole? I can’t remember. Usually it’s fine but unremarkable, or bad but in a boring, watery, too-salty kind of way. At Mercadito, it’s presented in a bowl topped with lines of chopped red onion, coriander and green chillies; you mix it up and pile it onto chips, the ratio of fatty avocado to onions and herbs just right.

Quite a few dishes on this menu aren’t yet common in Melbourne, and certainly aren’t done as well as they are here. A shrimp tostada is all bouncy prawns, crunchy lettuce and tart green pico de gallo piled onto crisp cracker-like tortillas. Aguachile made with snapper marinated in lime juice, avocado and cucumber is balanced, zippy fun.

The long-braised meats here are fantastic, and can be had in a number of formats. I loved the lime-heavy chicken sopes, thick rounds of masa that have an almost fudgy texture.

Conchinita pibil (slow-cooked pork), deeply flavoured with a variety of smoky chillies, is available as quesadillas dorados, filled with cheese and beans and griddled to a crisp, or as tacos.

Lamb barbacoa should be ordered as a platter, wherein you get a bowl of the tender stewed meat, plus tortillas for wrapping, salsa, coriander, and onions. At $34 for the platter it’s easily enough to feed two people – add a bowl of guac and a couple of cocktails and that’s dinner sorted for under $100.

About those cocktails: In a world of too-sweet margaritas, the drinks here are refreshing in every sense of the word. Rizk takes it easy on the sugar and allows the fruit and liquor in his drinks to do the talking, to great effect. A spicy pineapple margarita tastes of good tequila, lime, ripe pineapple, and a zing of jalapeno, while a mezcalita de sandia is a bracing slurry of fresh watermelon and mezcal.

During that first visit, in the empty room, I kept looking up at my partner and exclaiming, “this is … really good?” Which perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise these days, given how far our Mexican food scene has come. But I wanted to go out on the street and start dragging people in, because that scene is only as good as consumers allow it to be.

Mercadito isn’t reinventing anything, but they are doing things just differently enough that it feels like a small but significant step forward, as well as a delicious discovery.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.