New taste of Mexico in Bondi
Mr. Moustache, a new 50-seater bistro and cantina, has opened up on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, celebrating both the traditional and contemporary aspects of Mexico in a unique and stylish way.
Mr. Moustache was launched by a young, hip Mexican couple, Regina Bueno Ros and Bildo Saravia, a naturally hospitable pair who were inspired to showcase some of the great mezcals coming out of their country, as well as let people experience the cosmopolitan nature of their hometown of Mexico City.
“When we arrived here in Australia we saw that Mexico was being represented in a very folkloric way, under an American understanding of what Mexico is,” said Saravia.
When the couple were given the opportunity to open their own venue they jumped on it, and together with some creative friends with art and fashion design backgrounds develop the Mr. Moustache concept, which Bueno Ros describes as “a beautiful chaos of both of chic versus popular culture” from Mexico.
“The Mr. Moustache concept is inspired by Mexican President, Porfirio Díaz, who was obsessed with France – he even recreated many French buildings in Mexico – but it’s also influenced by Mexican ‘puestos’ (street food vendors),” said Bueno Ros.
“That’s what we created in every dish, all dishes are from the street but presented in a more fashionable, French-influenced, way. It’s also what we are doing with the drinks, of course the passion is around mezcal and showing why we believe that mezcal is much more complex than wine.”
Apart from stocking an impressive range of many premium artisanal mezcals, the team behind Mr. Moustache is also importing a number of mezcals themselves, including the El Jolgorio and Nuestra Soledad ranges.
The cocktail bar is headed up by former Café Pacifico and El Topo bar manager Brett Harris, who has crafted a number of twists on well-known cocktails such as Espresso Martinis, Old Fashioneds, Sours and Negronis, made with mezcal.
The bar also has mezcal flights and degustations available, along with some non-mezcal cocktails, and also mixes up its own ‘agua frescas’ (fresh waters) each day in various flavours including hibiscus, anis, watermelon, cucumber and mint.
“We are also mixing Mexican candies in our drinks. We Mexicans have a lot of lollypops with our drinks, so for example we have Martinis served with ‘cachetadas’ (slap) candies wrapped inside the glass,” said Bueno Ros.
“We just want to show what we love about Mexico City. We don’t want to say visually that we are a Mexican place, people can discover that when they come in. Our folklore will be in the food and the drinks not in the décor.”
Source: The Shout, 6 December 2013
