Newtown’s new Mexican dining room and bar, COMEDOR, has officially open its doors in a 100-year-old warehouse on Australia Street.

The modern Mexican venue is inspired by head chef Alejandro Huerta’s Mexican heritage and the special moments around his family’s dining table married with venue manager Kieran Took’s love for agave spirits. 

The warehouse is owned by Newtown local Walter Shellshear, who has been travelling to Mexico for over three decades, falling in love with its food and people. When Shellshear met Huerta and Took, the trio decided to create COMEDOR together.

The name means dining room in Spanish, a concept that is not defined by a cuisine but rather by connections to community, gathering around a central space and sharing good times. 

Huerta’s vision is to showcase his unique take on Mexican gastronomy with traditional influences of what he learnt from his mother and grandmother, and modern techniques he learnt working in some of the best restaurants in the world like Pujol in Mexico City and Noma in Copenhagen. Most recently, Huerta has been serving up tacos at El Primo Sanchez and has also worked at No.92 in Glebe, Chica Bonita in Manly and Mexican Society in Adelaide. 

Huerta said: “I love my culture and Mexican food, but I don’t like doing the same thing everyone else is doing. I want to make sure COMEDOR is seen as a place where you go to have a great time and experience new flavours, and I’m looking forward to being able to really show who I am and what I’m passionate about.” 

The dinner menu is designed to be shared with smaller dishes such as ‘scallop, corn miso vinaigrette, wattleseed, saltbush’, ‘Kingfish tostada, nduja, pineapple, spring onion’, ‘Skull Island tiger prawn, fresh tortilla, clam and morita sauce’, ‘Goldstreet dairy jersey cheese, salsa roja, nopales’, ‘roasted sugarloaf, chilli butter, chive oil, toasted buckwheat’. More substantial dishes include ‘linguine, pipis, chilpachole butter, nasturtium’, ‘dairy cow steak, mushroom glaze, enoki, XO’, ‘pork chop, salsa verde, chilacayote, purslane’, ‘mole coloradito, squash, zucchini flower’ and ‘Murray cod, fermented black bean sauce, honey, radicchio’. For dessert there is the ‘persimmon and manchego tart’ and ‘chocoflan, dulce de leche, light creme caramel’.

Kieran Took (ex-Tio’s and Big Poppa’s) is behind the beverage offering and has used Huerta’s food as a guide to create a drinks menu that sings with the food. A self-professed agave enthusiast, Took has sourced a range of agave spirits such as tequilas, mezcals, sotols and raicillas, which all have their own complexity and personality based on varietal, region and condition. 

Took said: “Alejandro and I have been able to work together to create a cohesive dining experience that blends a fresh Mexican perspective with a laid back Australian attitude to create a safe space to find your new favourite agave based spirit. The stories behind these traditional Mexican spirits can be just as enticing as the cocktail itself. Make sure you ask me about Raicilla when you stop by – I promise tequila is just the beginning!”

Cocktails include the ‘Raicilla Fresca’, a refreshing and sharp spritz made with cold pressed strawberry juice, cucumber and Raicilla Estancia – a forgotten Mexican spirit that broke off from the tequila tradition but is made in a similar way; the ‘Margarita de Nuez’, a nutty and fresh Tommy’s style Margarita with Tromba Resposado, rose almond and cardamom, and the ‘Mezcal Colada’, a take on the Pina Colada using agave spirits like Mal Bien, Nodo Tequila, coconut, pineapple and honeycomb.

Those looking to explore new agave spirits can choose their own adventure. For example, there’s the ‘Tequila Cascahuin Tahona Blanco’, a white tequila from a distillery that Took has visited himself that is entirely made using a centuries old process where a tahona wheel made of volcanic stone is used to squeeze the juice from the agave fibres; and the ‘Flor Del Desierto Veneno’, a sotol crafted by Gerardo Ruelas, a third generation Solotero from the oldest distillery in Chihuahua, which is aged in bourbon barrels for three months with rattlesnake venom – not for the faint hearted! 

The wine list focuses on full bodied whites and juicy reds to enrich the spice and acid on the menu, but also has its fair share of chilled reds and some more adventurous juices to spark your daring side. Took has also developed a range of house-made sodas including a Mexican-style Cola, tangerine, passionfruit, watermelon, lime, pink grapefruit, cherry and raspberry lemonade.

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