It’s Friday night and every table at Ricos Tacos has a reserved sign. Seems like news spread fast that one of Sydney’s most popular taquerias has swapped Chippendale for Redfern.
The restaurant, which founder Toby Wilson first opened as a food truck outside Messina in Rosebery, has taken up new residence at Cleveland Street’s Norfolk Hotel, joining Public Hospitality Group’s growing troupe of Sydney venues. And the taco joint’s new owners tend not to move quietly (see: El Primo Sanchez).
The space is loud with neon lights, disco balls and hand-painted walls depicting talking goats, dancing tacos and two pigs cheerily boiling a human on open flames.
The narrow restaurant quickly opens out into a leafy courtyard where tacos rattle out of a recycled shipping container. If you arrive early, the mezzanine-level dining room – ‘Club Ricos’ – will be dark, lit only by the fuzzy glow of two tiny TV sets airing a ’90s Mexico-Brazil soccer replay. When the lights come on and the tables fill out, the space transforms into a retro sports bar, noisy with pool and foosball games, the walls plastered with bygone Mexican soccer stars.
Wherever you’re seated though, the food comes fast. If you go to the bar after you order, it’ll probably beat you back to your table.
The tacos arrive in twos. They have five styles, plus one weekly special, ranging from fan-favourite ‘Rico’s fish’ to the intriguing but subdued chicken with almond coffee mole. The battered fish is rich and salty, coated in shallots and coriander and carrying a tangy cream sauce. The chicken is a little less flavourful, with its sesame-sprinkled coating working hard to make up lost ground. The regulars also include the spit-grilled pork ‘al pastor’, chipotle beef barbacoa, and cauliflower and tahini.
But the headline isn’t a taco at all. The zucchini flower quesadilla – packed with melted cheese and topped with salty shredded pecorino with a sidecar of charred salsa roja – is far from a courtesy play for veggies.
Elsewhere, the menu includes a throwback to Rico’s food truck days in the form of a twice-fried hash brown, which arrives square and flat like a beer mat, tingling with chipotle salt and salsa roja. Another eye-catcher is the kingfish tostada, stuffed with ceviche, coconut, mint, cucumber and salsa macha. There’s also half a roast chook available, and a set of tortas (Mexican burgers) filled with schnitzel, fried fish or hash brown.
The desserts are two good things: big and cheap. The ice-cream sandwich is dense, rich and a double serve. The chunky cube of chocolate ice cream is wedged between two wafers and caked in chilli, cinnamon and cacao nibs for a pleasingly warming finish.
If that’s not your bag, you’re unlikely to find better churros around town. A snap of the crisp sugared shells reveal a soft springy centre, delicious both solo or doused in the accompanying salted de leche.
To drink, you can plunge your hand in an Esky stacked with Mexican lagers (Tecate, Modelo Especial) and choice tins from Sydney neighbours, including Cantina OK!’s Sparkling Margarita Seltzer. There are also dozens of tequilas and mezcals to choose from, and a list of original cocktails with classics available on request.
Highlights here include the frozen “Kiwi Helado” – pulled from a churning slushy machine and singing with tequila, coconut puree, kiwi juice and lime – and the “Smoked Watermelon Cola”, with mezcal, bacardi, coconut water, lime, pasilla chilli and coke, a slice of fresh watermelon doing little to sweeten the smog. If it’s on special, though, go for the “Margarita Poblana”, a potent punch of tequila, mezcal, jalapeno, poblano chilli, coriander, cucumber and lime.
Whether you’re in the market for a Marg on the mezzanine, a taco on the terrace, or simply want to relive the heyday of Mexican soccer in minimum resolution (or all of the above), Ricos' latest reinvention appears to have all boxes ticked. Commiserations, Chippendale – your loss is undeniably Redfern’s gain.
Time Out Sydney never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique.
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