Touché Hombre - My Taco Is Better Than Your Taco

Mexican restaurants seem to be gaining in popularity in Melbourne, which is fantastic as it's another cuisine style that I like. I love the vibrant flavours of Mexican food and when done well, is extremely addictive. Another player entering the Mexican food scene is Touche Hombre, created by young entrepreneur Davis Yu. It was with much pleasure that I got to attend a bloggers dinner at the restaurant and meet Davis, who talked to us about his idea behind the restaurant.

Disclaimer: I dined courtesy of Touche Hombre at a blogger's dinner event.

Upon entering the restaurant, I thought, here's another funky new hipster restaurant. There was the stripped down industrialised fitout with exposed brick walls, distinctive lights, wooden fittings and a DJ playing music on his equipment. Thankfully, the restaurant is not all hipster like and pokes fun at itself. There's a neon "Who Ya Gonna Call" sign, “héroes de medio caparazón” (Google is your friend) tag on their menu and you only have to look at their website to see how much tongue in cheek fun they're having. Thank goodness because I think we have wayyyyyy too many hipster places in Melbourne already that make me wanna burn my 3/4 length unpleated organic fibre light blue chinos and matching cap. Instead, the restaurant has a funky fun vibe, which as Davis said, is definitely quite loud so be warned. Don't go and complain about the music. If you feel the need to complain about the music, this probably isn't your type of place.

We started, and continued, the night with many cocktails. I liked the some of the margaritas, while not liking some of the others which I felt had a very strange flavour. Give them a try and work out which ones you prefer yourself. For food starters, we tried Spiced Chicken Tostadas, Grilled Corn with Cheese, Ceviche and Lamb Ribs. I felt the Tostadas and Grilled Corn were pretty good, but could have had more flavour. The ceviche with the fish and mussels worked well with the spices and condiments. The lamb ribs were definitely my favourite with soft fatty meat literally falling off the bone.



Next up were a trio of tacos. We tried a Soft Shell Crab Taco, Breakfast Taco and Grilled Chicken Taco. I didn't much care for the soft shell crab taco. The batter on the crab was far too thick, doughy and oily and totally masked the taste of any crab. The peas and mint really didn't match in terms of flavour for me. The breakfast taco was my favourite and extremely exciting in terms of flavour. There was such a good mix of flavours and textures and packed full of zing. The grilled chicken taco was quite nice, but could have been amped up with more flavour, maybe a strong marinade for the chicken and more chimichurri sauce.


We tried all three desserts, Ice Cream Sangas (their fun names). The Chocolate and Chili Peanut Cookie was excellent, except for the chili haha. I know, I know, some of you love the chili in chocolate but I really dislike it. I think I've only tried it once where it worked for me. The Dulce de Leche sanga was definitely more to my liking, strawberry parfait mixed with pistachio and sandwiched in a dulce de leche outer. Lastly, the Rice Pudding and Cinnamon sanga was also good, with caramel parfait matched with rice pudding and cinnamon sugar.


Overall, I felt the food had some some good, some great, and some not so good. For me personally, the flavours can be increased in some of the items. The breakfast taco would be the standard to bring the other tacos up to. The desserts were all very good and refreshing. The ambiance in the restaurant is definitely fun, but can also get loud. It's great for a group of friends to go to rather than a romantic dinner for two. Wait staff sounded like they knew what they were talking about and had a sense of fun to them. Overall, I would recommend this restaurant as a stop for a light snack or a full on shared meal.

Here are some reviews from other bloggers who were also at the event.
Off The Spork
The Chronicles of Ms Ihua
Popcorn and Toast
Eat Play Shop