Fonda Mexican

Fonda

Disclosure: I dined courtesy of Fonda.

There’s a new Fonda in town, sister restaurant to the very popular one in Richmond. I was invited to lunch there recently to try out some of the new dishes.

Lunch was hosted by co-owner Tim McDonald, and we ended up having an interesting conversation about the niche that Fonda fits into – casual, inexpensive, quick, but still good quality food. We chatted about how you could go across the road to a fast food “Mexican” chain OR go to Fonda and spend just a few dollars more and eat in a nicer space for better quality food.


Fonda

The building, which Tim advised was the reason for opening a second location (“it was too good to pass up”) is gorgeous – large areas of white painted brick, black accents, large windows to the street that let in lots of natural light, and funky furniture.

Drinks

We started with some refreshing aguas frescas, which literally translates to “fresh waters”.

There are three aguas frescas on the menu – they are light non-alcoholic drinks made with a blend of sugar, water and a combination of fruits, cereals, flower or seeds. And as the menu states, they’re “designed to save you from getting spiced out of town”.

The three flavours are all $6, and there’s horchata (made with rice water, cinnamon, vanilla and evaporated milk), Pineapple (with young ginger and milk), plus Jamaica (made from Hibiscus flowers and fresh basil).

They were all good, but I absolutely loved the pineapple one in particular – it was super refreshing with a slight ginger kick.

Soup

One of the new items on the menu is the Aztec soup ($5), a thin soup filled with shredded chicken and topped with parsley, tortilla crisps and a squirt of fresh lime juice.

Salad

A new ensalada (salad) is the Roasted Japala Pumpkin ($14), which contained organic chickpeas, green lentils, curd, sprouts, parsley and quinoa. Such a nice mix of textures, and a combination of sweetness, nuttiness and tanginess. I really enjoyed it.

Quesdilla

This is one of the new quesadillas and it’s totally on trend: pulled pork ($14) with shreds of smoked chipotle spiced pork, tomato, quesco fresco and fresh lime in a toasted tortilla.

Quesdilla inside

Inside the quesdilla. Porky cheese alert!

Flan

And finally we had Mexican Flan ($6) for dessert – made with fresh vanilla, Shultz organic milk, and topped with praline made with salted pepitas. I thought it was pretty good with a nice flavour and texture, and I liked the crunchy praline on top.

Fonda

Fonda Windsor is a completely beautiful space with very reasonably priced food. I’m pretty sure they’ll do very well in that spot.

For more on lunch, check out My second helping.

Fonda Mexican
144 Chapel St
Windsor
Phone: 03 9521 2660
Web: fondamexican.com.au

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