Windsor’s The Black Toro serves up Mexican snacks you won’t want to share
The dishes at Windsor’s newest mod-Mex restaurant are designed for sharing, but diners may not necessarily want to share off the small bites menu, which includes heavenly croquettes and fabulous tacos. Here’s where you can dig in.
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The Mex minds behind Glen Waverley’s family favourite The Black Toro have taken the bull by the horns to open a second spot in woke Windsor.
It means a doubling-down on the bestsellers — croquettes, charred corn and peanut butter cheesecake — but this is no slow-moving replica.
The Chapel St site is where Maskel’s modern Armenian diner Shukah stood for two years.
While he says Shukah was popular (and a new location is potentially on the cards for late 2020), the cuisine was too unfamiliar for the strip and not the right fit for attracting drop-in diners.
Looking for a second Black Toro address, this 65-seater opened in July.
The narrow main room has had a few cosmetic procedures — made more moody with a new dark-painted ceiling and warmer with the addition of woodwork — but the biggest change is the dramatic Day of the Dead mural upon entry.
The mod-Mexican menu is designed for sharing, bar the snacks.
Not that you necessarily want to share the jalapeño and cheese croquettes ($4.50 each), heavenly squishy-centred, crisp-shelled morsels delivering the perfect amount of heat.
Ditto the wood-grilled corn ($6 each), scorched cobs that are juicy to the bite and slathered in lip-tingling chipotle aioli.
The short rib tacos ($14) were also fabulous, two hard shells housing a tiny dice of beef bound in a spicy mayo topped with batons of radish for refreshment.
Larger plates extend to a crispy pork hock ($42), chicken al pastor ($30) and the lamb barbacoa ($42), a free-range shoulder marinated with red peppers, chillies and achiote (Mexican seasoning), then wrapped in banana leaf and cooked slow for 12 hours.
The tender, smoky meat slips straight off the bone to apply to tortillas with pickles, salsa and sauces. Hearty and delicious.
Less successful though were the porcini mushroom doughnuts ($12), four fat nuggets with a gluey centre like uncooked fritter batter. Avoid.
Bounce back with dessert — perhaps the peanut butter cheesecake ($15), a deconstructed delight of peanut butter cream, chocolate ice cream and honeycomb fragments, or the churro taco ($15), a cinnamon churro piped into a flat “taco” disc that’s fluffy and light on the inside and crisp on the outside, with salted caramel and malted-milk ice cream.
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Sweet tooths need only apply though, both are intense.
Service got the job done but with no real warmth. Although the strip is full of fast-casual eats, service needs to be more than a dump-and-run situation to inspire return visits.
With so much goodwill for the original Black Toro since its 2012 opening, let’s hope this sibling charges into southside hearts.
THE BLACK TORO
104 Chapel St, Windsor
Ph: 9521 3858
Open: Lunch Fri-Sun, dinner Wed-Sun
Go-to dish: Jalapeño and cheese croquettes