Mexican street food you won’t typically find around Sydney is the main event atCoyoacan Social, the third eatery from social enterprise Plate It Forward. It opened in a bright orange shipping container at South Eveleigh on Monday April 17, betweenLucky KwongandRe–. The biggest hit so far is the birria taco – an adobe-marinated beef taco which comes with a dipping sauce of rich beef consomme that’s slow-cooked overnight and infused with coriander, garlic and spices.

“It’s really popular in New York,” says Shaun Christie-David, founder of Plate It Forward, whose other eateries includeKabul SocialandColombo Social. “But it originated in [Jalisco, Mexico], where our chef [and co-owner] Roman Cortes’s grandfather grew up.”

Every dish on the menu is based on one of Cortes’s family recipes. He grew up in Mexico City, where his mother taught him to cook from a young age. She now lives in Australia and chefs alongside him at Coyoacan Social.

Another of their hits is the flautusdeep (“flauta” means flute in Spanish). It’s a long, tube-shaped tortilla that’s deep-fried, then smothered in cream, cheese, salsa verde, lettuce and your choice of protein – 12-hour slow-cooked beef brisket; smoky chicken tinga; pulled pork marinated in achiote (a paste of annatto seeds, cumin, coriander, oregano, cloves, garlic and pepper); and nopalitos (cactus, capsicum, charred corn and onion).

All that spice calls for a cooling beverage. The drinks list offers three house-made, traditional combos. There’s a non-alcoholic Margarita, the horchata (a creamy rice milk infused with cinnamon) and the Jamaica (a hibiscus flower iced tea). All are booze-free.

Just like Plate It Forward’s other venues, Coyoacan Social is donating a meal for every meal bought. In this case, meals will go to Grupo Jovenes AA 24 Horas, an addiction recovery centre in Mexico City. It’s of special significance for Cortes, who began his own recovery journey there. Serving meals for a cause is integral to Plate It Forward’s mission. Since it was founded in 2020, it has donated more than 340,000 meals to communities in need, and provided more than 75,000 hours of work to 127 marginalised community members.

“Everything we do has to fall back onto the ‘why’,” Christie-David tellsBroadsheet. “When Roman and I started talking about working together, it was clear he had a really strong desire to be a role model. We have quite a few staff who are on their recovery journey, and he’ll be doing a lot of work with them. The fact that he’s now running his own business is a powerful statement.”

Coyoacan Social
Shop 8/1 Locomotive Street, Eveleigh

Hours:
Mon to Thu 11am–3pm
Fri 11am–3pm, 6pm–9pm
Sat 6pm–9pm

coyoacansocial.com
@coyoacansocial