Sydney Favourite Ricos Tacos Has Opened Its First Bricks-and-Mortar Outpost in Chippendale

After spending time at Gelato Messina Rosebery, Rocker and Grifter Brewery, Toby Wilson and his adored Sydney taco truck Ricos Tacos have found a permanent home in Chippendale. Located on Meagher Street, the new bricks-and-mortar outpost sees Ricos expand its always-reliable menu, and allows Wilson to experiment with new dishes and flavours.

Wilson began serving up tacos to Sydneysiders in 2016 at Ghostboy Cantina, which first set up in the Dixon House food court before moving to Tio's. From there, he went on to become a prolific member of the Sydney hospitality scene, starting Bad Hombres in Surry Hills, and also running kitchens out of The Duke of Enmore and The George, before taking his tacos on the road with the Ricos food truck.

At the centre of the menu in Chippendale is, of course, the tacos. You'll find Ricos classics like chorizo, potato and egg, with a rotating list of specials and one-off creations mixing things up. The most exciting addition to the menu at the Chippendale restaurant is tortas. These Mexican sandwiches generally come on long crunchy bread rolls similar to those used with banh mi; however, Wilson's version more closely resembles a burger, with his tortas served on soft milk buns. Inside the buns you'll find the likes of house-made chorizo paired with black beans, fermented chilli, charred tomato salsa and pasilla mayo — or beer battered fish with a healthy serving of the mayo, as well as salsa roja and salted cabbage.

Another fresh set of eats that Wilson has brought to Ricos: a brunch menu. The restaurant initially opened late in 2021 following a hasty ten-day renovation in order to open a takeaway window during lockdown, and this initial setup offered breakfast and lunch, giving Wilson and co the opportunity to experiment with some new early-morning items. The result has been the addition of breakfast tacos, crispy-brown hash browns, and rich stacks of pancakes topped with chorizo syrup and butter.

Now open for dining with a simple but playful interior complete with a mural by Mike Delaney, Wilson's former business partner at The George, Ricos is only looking to grow from here. Eventually, the plan is for the opening hours to be pushed back, moving breakfast to brunch and introducing dinner.

Once evening service is up and running, beers from Ricos' good friends over at Grifter will be added to the menu, as well as seltzers from Cantina OK!, but for now patrons can quench their thirst with a hibiscus iced tea that Wilson has created in collaboration with Tea Craft. "In Mexico, one of the most common drinks you'd get at a taco joint would be a hibiscus iced tea. So I asked Arthur at Tea Craft to play around with it and make me one that had lemon myrtle in it," Wilson says. "It's refreshing and herbal and sweet, and it has a lot more complexity than what it's like without the lemon myrtle."

Some exciting collaborations are also on the horizon. Wilson teased the possibility of getting members of the No 92 Glebe Point Road and Maiz crews in for team-up. "They're never really super-lucrative nights, but it's just great to share knowledge and stuff," he says. " You might even pick up one ingredient that they put in the salsa that you never tried before and it changes things. And at the very worst, you get to hang out with a mate."

Ricos Tacos is located at 15 Meagher Street, Chippendale. It's currently open 8am–2pm Thursday–Sunday, with plans to expand into dinner hours.

Images: Nikki To