Mexican munching

Trippy Taco

48 Smith Street, Fitzroy

IMG_2719

He says:
Ever since a drunken night in Tijuana, I’ve loved Mexian food (but no longer tequila).  The smell of the spices, the hands on-eating, the mess. It’s feel good food for the soul, and usually without the price-tag. I’ve driven past Trippy Taco hundreds of times on the way to work (I know, I still drive a car, pelt me with rocks), and have wondered about it almost every single time.

So this was the day I was going to meet my commuter culinary crush. The interior is rather cosy (probably why they’re moving to a new location), but I think that adds to the vibe. The only downside of this being the table space is sparse. The menu was concise, whilst still covering all your favourites, and the order at the counter service made it nice and informal. The food arrived pretty quickly, and it was great that you could watch them make it all behind the counter.

I’m usually the first to complain about a lack of meat, but to be honest Trippy Taco was so good I didn’t really miss it. The nachos, as you’ll see below, were amazing, as was the char-grilled Tofu in the Burrito. You don’t really jump to Tofu as an ingredient to put into a Burrito, but in this case it just really worked. I left as full as a goog, and will definitely be coming back. Even the insatiable carnivores should give Trippy Taco a go.

Almost a table

She says:
Last weekend Gerard and I headed out for lunch with my uni-friend K. We ended up at the classic Smith St vegetarian enclave Trippy Taco because every time we go past Gerard, having never been, asks if we can go to there. Trippy Taco is the sort of place that has a very Fitzroy-organic-biodynamic-collective feel to it, even though it doesn’t feel pretentious it’s still the sort of place that I feel I’m not cool enough to eat at. My personal coolness issues aside the compact restaurant has friendly service and is clean (if basic) with plywood floors and some tables.

Trippy Taco specialises in vegetarian mexican cheap eats. The food is cheap but definitely tasty and it is a good place to hang out and feel either creative and bohemian or really, really self-concious for not being nearly creative and bohemian enough.

I should note that the current Smith St location won’t be around for long with the Fitzroy-establisment soon making the move to Gertrude St (next to Birdman Eating only a couple doors from the corner of Smith).

We ate:
Getting into the communal-type atmosphere we ordered 3 dishes and shared everything.

First up we had the nachos ($14.50 for the large, there is also a small serve available for $9.50).  The giant messy pile of cheesy goodness involved homemade corn chips, cheese ranchero sauce, black beans, salsa, avocado and sour cream.  These nachos are as good as you’ll get (or at least as good as we’ve had) anywhere in Melbourne.  The homemade chips are a highlight.

Nachos

We also had the Original Tacos (meal size – 2 tacos – for $10), homemade corn tortillas stuffed with cheese, black beans, salad, salsa, avocado and topped with lime juice.  The tacos are solid performers but they are noticeably vegetarian.  I’ll leave it up to you to think about how we shared 2 tacos between 3 people (Gerard: It got messy).

Original trippy tacos

Our last dish was the Tofu Asada Burrito ($10).  The burrito was made up of a flour tortilla wrapped up into a bulging package of cheese, chargrilled tofu, salad, salsa and avocado.  While the tacos were good the tofu added to the burrito and really made sure that no one was craving something more carnivorous.

Tofu burrito

Trippy Taco on Urbanspoon

This entry was posted in Eating out and tagged . Bookmark the permalink. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.