Chilpa by La Tortilleria restaurant review: Kara Monssen visits Highett’s Mexican eatery
Bayside residents chalked up a win in the neighbourhood eating stakes when this Mexican food heavyweight opened its second suburban outpost.
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There’s guac on my face, coriander in my friend’s smile.
My fingers are sticky from salsa-soaked tortilla chips. Beef falls out the back end of my taco.
We dunk, swipe, squelch, slurp and there is so ... much ... cheese.
Oh look, more tequila! It’s all in the name of messy fun at Highett’s Chilpa, the second restaurant by taco titans La Tortilleria.
It’s been a long time between margs for owners Gerardo Lopez and Diana Hull.
The duo started Melbourne’s Mexican (restaurant) wave about 10 years ago, showing us there was more to Mexican food than sunny supermarket kits and fluoro fishbowl cocktails.
Their tortillas are made from scratch, using a white corn that’s grown in NSW and processed to resemble something that looks, feels and tastes as close as what’s sold on Mexico City streets.
Now La Tortilleria has the restaurant monopoly of all things tortillas and corn chips.
But a lot can change in 10 years.
Gone are the days of milling tortillas with the Molino (a volcanic stone mill) kitchen-side at their first Kensington store.
They now have a sparkly factory taking on the grunt work, pumping out 200 tonnes of the stuff annually and feeding folks as far afield as China.
Highett’s OG Mexican eatery Hot Lips Hacienda was also using their goods right up until Lopez and Hull took over the 75-seater last month.
When I heard our amigos were moving bayside, I wondered what would change. Would we get new dishes, a spin on the cuisine, perhaps a different chef?
Though after watching the locals fill out the restaurant on a Friday lunch, it became apparent nothing needed to.
Hot Lips regulars may recognise Yvis Flores on the grill. She stuck around as head chef during the restaurant takeover, and continues to sling a version of Hot Lips’ open taco sandwich (Alambre de Asada) at Chilpa ($15), which layers three tortillas on a plate piled with melted cheese, pineapple marinated beef cheeks, green peppers and a heavy serve of white onion.
Anything goes getting it from tray to lips, and while the choice of meat cut was chewier than I hoped, I appreciated the stringy, salty cheesiness of the mess.
Guadalajara’s famous beef birria tacos ($15 for two) also get a go – snug with three cuts of tender beef, guac and a lip-tingling chilli, accompanied by a cup of consommé born from the low and slow cooking process. Tradition encourages you to dunk the taco, sip the soup, repeat.
If you get the chilaquiles ($10) or saucy nachos like we did you’ll soon hit a cheese and meat slump. The prawn ceviche ($27) may take the edge off, fresh with coriander, avocado and cucumber salsa, but goes too far the other way with hefty cumin, green chilli and lime.
Though that shouldn’t stop the party.
There is a lot to love about La Tortilleria: the value for money, apt service, simple but effective drinks list. And as I remove the last of the salsa from my hair and lean into a lunch-induced slumber, I long for the day a Chilpa would open in my neighbourhood.
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