A quick night out called for some tasty Mexican. I had heard ‘Fonda’ come up on conversation one too many times to not check it out. Staying close to home, we headed down the Fonda on Chapel Street, the newest addition to the Fonda family. With their first successful venture in Richmond, the Chapel Street location opened last year with equal amount of hype.
ATMOSPHERE & SERVICE
Melbourne has it’s fair share of converted warehouses, and Fonda is no different. The space looks rather small from the outside, however walking in, they have done a fantastic job with the space. Funky black accent wire lighting hand from the high white ceilings giving an amazing contract as you walk in. Brick walls are painted white and large windows bring in a ton of natural lighting to create the illusion of a bigger space.
The service was friendly and attentive throughout. This is the type of restaurant where you order your meal at the bar and take a number so there’s isn’t too much interaction with staff, however we were greeted and seated promptly and food arrived quite quickly.
FOOD
The best thing about this Mexican restaurant compared to others is they stay try to the food and don’t try to complicate an already amazing dish by putting their own twist on it. The food is simple, authentic and very reasonably priced here.
We started with the ‘Tortilla Crisps’ served with sides of guacamole and smokey salsa. The tortillas were crunchy, salty and worked so well with both the guacamole and the spiced salsa. Definitely the perfect starter for us!
Next we ordered two mains to share since we weren’t overly hungry. I ordered the ‘Pulled Pork Quesadilla’ served with shredded smoked chipotle spiced pork, tomato, quesco fresco and fresh lime. I was told this was one of their most popular dishes, and I can definitely see why. The tortilla was fluffy and held the cheese and meat in without becoming soggy (huge faux pas for me).
MC ordered the ‘Grilled Chicken Ensalada’ served with quinoa, rocket, black beans, coriander, fresh corn, sweet potato, shaved cabbage, minted peas, pepita seeds with a tasty lemon vinaigrette. The chicken was cooked perfectly and the flavours and textures worked amazingly together to create a fresh, tasty salad.
Overall I really enjoyed our dinner at Fonda. The atmosphere is laid back and funky, and the food was tasty yet quite inexpensive. We will definitely be heading back to enjoy their jugs of cocktails and a few more of those amazing quesadillas soon.
*Hero photo sourced from Fonda website*