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If Honcho were in Melbourne, it would earn plenty of superlatives. Best value tasting menu? Perhaps. Certainly one of the best Mexican restaurants around. Best margarita menu that gets creative (quandong margarita, anyone?) without veering into tacky tiki? Probably.

But Honcho isn’t in Melbourne, it’s in Mansfield. Owned by hospo long-timers Bonnie Rogers and chef Tristan Keene (who also own the nearby pan-Asian restaurant The Fields), the idea came about thanks to Keene’s love of cooking over fire and the building’s history – it was once a fire station. The couple has visited Mexico, and Rogers spent some time in Brazil when she was younger. All of this drove them to open Honcho in July 2023. Keene is backed up in the kitchen by head chef Cody Louis and sous chef Rowan O’Halloran, while Rogers oversees the drinks and front of house, along with a capable staff.

That old fire station has been thoroughly modernised. With its whitewashed brick walls, it feels light and airy and very much like the chic Mexican restaurants that dot the Yucatan coastline in towns such as Tulum, where modern Latino cooking reigns supreme. The bar and open kitchen dominate the back of the room, while the front opens onto patio seating abutting the street.

There’s a sense of fun with the massive cocktail list that’s often missing in Melbourne’s more self-serious drinks scene, a playfulness that doesn’t shy away from fruity maximalism while keeping flavours balanced. There are nine margaritas on offer, which range from classic to wildly creative. On the creative side: a fantastic mezcal and blood orange version called the Doomsday ($23), which packs a subtle spicy punch thanks to the addition of habanero.

While Melbourne is in the throes of a taco boom, it’s a bit of a mystery why the more ambitious Mexican cooking is mostly happening regionally.

The menu is far from traditional, but it isn’t fusion either – it’s modern Mexican, a style of cooking that’s all the rage in Mexico and California right now.

The calamari ($24) comes with hibiscus salt and jalapeno mayo; a side of charcoal-roasted zucchini ($16) has smoked yoghurt and salsa macha, a rich chilli oil from Veracruz made with dried chillies and nuts – it’s like the Mexican version of crispy chilli oil.

About that tasting menu: for $65 a head you get a massive amount of food, including many of the restaurant’s best dishes. Guacamole, ceviche made with trevally and served with pistachio pico verde, corn ribs, queso fundido, pork al pastor tacos, cucumber salad, and the highlight of the night, slow-roasted falling-apart lamb barbacoa served with warm flour tortillas from La Tortilleria.

I have a few quibbles: the guacamole ($15 when not part of the set menu) was a little too smooth and loose, a little too floral in taste. The queso ($24) was so loaded with peppers it lost some of the melty fun inherent in the dish. But overall, this is a ludicrous amount of delicious food for a very good price.

There are a few things not on the set menu that would be a shame to miss, however, such as the birria spliff ($11), a clever combination of smoked beef and queso cheese rolled into a cigar and served with a consomme dipping sauce.

The emphasis on cooking over fire means that many of the larger proteins have that wonderful smoky or charred quality. The half charcoal chicken ($36) comes with tomatillo salsa and pickled onion, and the 330-gram scotch filet ($52) is cooked on the special asado grill.

While Melbourne is in the throes of a taco boom, it’s a bit of a mystery why the more ambitious Mexican cooking is mostly happening regionally (see also: Pancho in Ballarat).

I’m glad to see it, no matter where it takes place. The emergence of Honcho is just one more piece of evidence to bolster my theory: if you’re looking for delicious fun, the small towns of Victoria are increasingly where it’s at. There has never been a more important time to celebrate excellence in our regions either.