Hacienda restaurant review 2024

Don’t be scared off by the creepy-crawlies or milk-themed drinks — this fiery new Mexican boasts killer city views and approachable food and drink.

Hacienda is a fiery new Mexican restaurant that’s opened at Southgate in Southbank.

Don’t squirm over the grasshopper in your chips, or butter.

Does an adult drinking a tall glass of milk give you the ick?

Hacienda may change your mind.

In a world of scary sounding dishes and bug condiments, this buzzy new Mexican joint holds your trembling hand, then gently whispers in your ear: “we’re about to have fun.”

Aussie chef Ross McCombe (Tetsuya’s, Sydney, The Ledbury, London, Quintonil in Mexico) spent seven, tequila-charged years in Mexico City running his own restaurant Cariñito Tacos before returning home to lead the Southgate project by Highgate One group (Ella, Richmond, Osteria 20, Hawthorn).

He still runs, and visits the Mexico City restaurant throughout the year, but on this Tuesday he was in Southbank.

Hacienda restaurant review 2023. Picture: Kit Edwards.

Making tortillas from scratch day; using a drawn out, scientific method he learned abroad.

At night, he’s on the pans and personally serving food to the “who even goes out on a Tuesday night” crowd.

It’s a gesture that doesn’t go unnoticed. And another? Hacienda doesn’t take itself too seriously.

The relaxed 80-seater dining room, awash with brown timber and warm tones, lets the stellar city views do the talking. Grab a seat on the balcony, or bounce along to the Latin bops inside. That beaming red neon sign near the kitchen declaring ‘para chuparse los dedos’ gives us a giggle when we whack it into a translation app on the phone.

Speaking of Espanol, there may be some unfamiliar terms that’ll prompt a quick Google before ordering. Even our waiter admits it can be daunting. But after that first bite, it’s clear McCombe wanted the execution of his cooking to be as inoffensive and delicious as possible.

Take those chips ($16), jostled in chapulines salt (powdered roasted grasshoppers he sources from his mate Juan Carlos in Mexico), served with sweet and sour ketchup. This could be the chicken salt of Mexico City; sweet, sodium-rich and spicy without any creepies or crawlies. The ketchup, the right amount of sweet and sour tang to future dunks.

You’ll be given a free snack of pineapple tepache on arrival. Picture: Kit Edwards.

Same goes for the ‘Mexican milk’ or horchata, an off-menu sip spoken highly of by our waiter, she runs to the bar and pours us a chaser to try.

A simple, ice-cold sweetened and spiced rice milk that’ll remove the kick from future spicy escapades.

Pork tacos ($25 for three), hunks of slow-cooked Western Plains pork see a mixed bag of suckling pig, smooshy fat and puffy crackle tucked into those tortillas with fine dice of apple and habanero, that have more fold and flex that typical soft tacos.

We’re at a three out of five spice level, folks, with a persistent tingle humming from first to last bite. Keep the tempo upbeat with the crab tostada ($28 for three), shatter-fine tostada frisbees piled with cold crabmeat, a zippy habanero mayo and radishes.

The crunch, chilly breeze, punchy spice and limey freshness — what fun!

Maybe you’ll crave something richer; grilled oysters bubbling with chorizo and burnt butter ($36/$64).

You’ll get a free sack of tortillas with the grills and larger thrills (which should be warmed, in my opinion) to snug or dip as you please.

Our waiter, who up until this stage hadn’t steered us wrong, suggests the picana; a medium rump cap steak mossed over in green peppercorn chimichurri alongside an indulgent mashed potato and gravy ($55).

Croquettes with truffle turns Mexican cuisine on its head. Picture: Kit Edwards.

Unless you fancy making sense of a Sunday roast taco, the meat is too tough to chomp inside the tortilla and needs cutlery to get the job done. She wasn’t wrong about those spuds, a 90/10 butter to veg ratio that’ll make the French smile with glee. Next visit the ‘lechon’ (suckling pig), or the beef short rib will be the go.

Yet Hacienda isn’t really the place to long for a main meal: get by on a cycle of snacks, fuelled by shots of mescal or lesser known raicilla (roasted agave) or sotol (grass spirit), a simple wine and beer spread or sangria.

Maybe a round of smashed avo nachos, tuna tartare tacos or suckling pig tortillas to line the tum.

For location and kitchen skill, Hacienda exceeded expectations: and it’s special to see McCombe’s passion for everything CDMX shine through in all he does. Bien Hecho!

Hacienda is perfect for after work drinks and snacks. Picture: Kit Edwards.