Sonora

The guacamole ($17) at Sonora Mexican is incredible: a textural adventure through avocado, green peas, togarashi and guava scooped onto corn chips dusted in flaky black salt. Team it with mezcal and beers—Modelo Especial ($12) and Young Henry’s Newtowner ($12) - as you kick back and enjoy an impressive live music offering that uses loop pedals to create layers of sound. This quirky Kings Cross basement (Potts Point if you’re being fancy) has thus far managed to fly under the radar, but with Roy McVeigh taking over the kitchen, I suspect you’re about to hear a lot more about it...

Drawing upon his time in top-rated destination restaurants from Bathers Pavilion to Darley’s and the Berowra Waters Inn, as well as his extensive travels, McVeigh has put together a cracking Mexican-inspired menu. The kiss of the grill is evident on beautifully rendered pork mojo tacos ($8/each) teamed with duelling house-made salsas for those who fancy extra oomph. Wrapped in warm flour tortillas, duck carnitas ($32) is equally impressive with robust pulled duck meat cut by blobs of hibiscus, hazelnut crumbs and chipotle. We punctuate each dish with a different mezcal from their extraordinary list. 

 Mezcal de Leyendas ($20) made using Cenizo agave from Durango is smooth and buttery with cedar sauna intrigue. I also liked Yoowe ($16) made using Bacanora agave in (the restaurant’s namesake) Sonora. It starts smoky but ends on seasonally appropriate peppermint candy cane. Lobo de la Sierra ‘Maximiliana’ ($20) made on Maximiliana agave in Jalisco has the best aroma: a hint of funkiness and caramel creaminess with a big pine note on the tongue. Save the Origen Raiz ($20) made on Chacaleṉo agave in Durango for the beef. This mezcal has a hot green pepper burn that will cut through the richness of McVeigh’s Rangers Valley wagyu rump cap ($58) presented in a heavily reduced charros sauce offset by raw mushroom. Put your mouth back together with the brown butter drizzle cake ($17) - its intense sweetness cut by frozen yoghurt -then float off into the rest of your Saturday night.