Fonda Mexican

Note: scheduled post. Still on holiday. Back soon though. Boo!

I’ve heard that Fonda, a Mexican style cantina in Richmond, is always busy, with lines down the street. I don’t spend much time in Richmond, so I can’t confirm whether or not this is true, but with the popularity of Mexican food in Melbourne, I can believe it.

Before we went on holiday, Alastair and I had an early dinner with Hazzie and Gazman. We rocked up at 6pm and were seated straight away – hooray to not lining up. We quickly looked through the menu and ordered at the counter.


For beverages, Fonda has Mexican beers ($8-$9), Jarrito soda ($4.50) and horchata ($4.50).

I fell in love with horchata when we visited Spain many years ago. I was absolutely hooked and I drank it almost every single day we were there (often several times a day). We were in Spain for about a month, so that was rather a lot of horchata.

From what I’ve gleaned from the internet, Spanish horchata is made with tigernuts, while Mexican horchata is made from rice. It’s not the same. 🙁 I knew it and I ordered one anyway. Fonda’s version is made with rice, water, cinnamon, vanilla and evaporated milk. And actually, I did enjoy it – it’s like rice milk with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla.

The four of us shared a serve of corn tortilla chips ($6) with guacamole and smoky salsa. The chips were good.

As well as the chipotle chips ($6) – chips drizzled with chipotle aioli.

Alastair and I also had a fish taco ($6) with chipotle aioli, pickled carrot/onion and cabbage. I thought it was okay. I didn’t find it that exciting – it was a bit like having a fish finger in a tortilla. It needed more sauce or something.

We had heard that the burritos were quite large, so also ordered just one to share between the two of us. The grilled chicken burrito ($14) was filled with quinoa, salsa verde, corn, queso fresco and cabbage.

Thankfully it was served cut into two halves, because it was a big, fat burrito. Tastewise, like the taco, I didn’t find it that exciting. Definitely one to share by the way – it was very filling.

Haz and Gazman had one of the quesadillas ($12). It looked really good – there was so much cheese inside it.

I thought Fonda was okay. It wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t wowed by it. I would’ve liked the flavours to be amped up more. But if you’re early (ie 6pm) and after a quick meal, Fonda is the place to be. We entered, ordered, ate, and were out the door within thirty minutes.


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Fonda Mexican
48 Swan Street
Richmond
Phone: (03) 9429 0085
Web: fondamexican.com.au

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