El Publico Highgate review: April Ooi visits Mexican bar on Beaufort Street for tacos and tres leches cake

If you asked me if I was an adventurous eater, I’d say yes. I’ll eat chicken feet, pork trotters, frog legs — any meat really. So it feels arbitrary to say that bugs are where I draw the line. My recent visit to El Publico was my first encounter with bugs as a menu item. The long-running Mexican bar and restaurant has a garnish of crickets as an add-on to their starters. I ordered my guacamole and chips ($15) without the crickets, but my friends kept telling me I was seriously missing out. The rest of the menu is a lot tamer. The tacos come single serve sans the rib eye chicharron ($30), which is a platter of fried ribeye, guacamole and four house-made tortillas. Crisped in fat and oil, the chunks of steak were just as delicious on their own. There was a generous portion of meat, so it’s safe to say we were hitting our iron levels for the day. We ordered the baja fish taco ($9) and asada taco ($9), which were fresh but not as saucy as I’d like. However, the birriadilla ($11) cured all cravings, with its fall-apart beef birria, cheese crust and rich dipping consomme. There aren’t many mains to choose from but I always prefer a small but mighty menu over a bloated one. The porchetta al pastor ($38) was a large shareable plate of crunchy pork belly on top of smoked mash potatoes and pineapple salsa. The crackle was irresistibly crisp and the salsa was a nice sweet touch. El Publico’s menu has the longest list of tequila I have ever seen. I’m not brave enough to do shots but I had their very potent margarita ($20), which balanced sweet, sour and salty in the best way. The tequila sunrise ($16) wasn’t as wild as the margarita, but equally yummy. Dessert was a tropical tres leches cake ($17). I had my first tres leches cake last year, and now order it every chance I get. The gooey milk-soaked layers of soft, sweet sponge was rich and good for sharing. I think I would have liked it more without the tropical syrup, but that’s just personal preference. El Publico remains a vibrant spot in Highgate’s dining landscape. It’s been kicking since 2012 and I’m glad I finally got to try it. I can see it becoming a good spot to add to my dining out rotation, so there’ll be many opportunities to work up to the crickets. El Publico 511 Beaufort Street, Highgate OPEN Wednesday 5pm-9:45pm; Thursday 5pm-10pm; Friday-Saturday midday-11:30pm; Sunday midday-9pm CONTACT 0418 187 708, elpublico.com.au BOOKINGS Yes THE VERDICT A longstanding Mexican favourite serving tacos and share plates with everything made from scratch. 16.5/20