Our story · Est. 2026
A little piece
of Mexico,
by the lakes.
We aren't here to impress.
We're here to feed you like family.
We bring the warmth of a Mexico City cantina to Lakes Entrance: long tables, loud laughter, salty rims, and air that already smells like holiday.
Mi casa, tu casa.
Meet the chef
This story didn't
start in Mexico.
It started in Colombia, in 2012. That's when our chef started studying cooking back home. His first real taste of restaurant life was working as a waiter at a Mexican restaurant, Rancho Garibaldi, in Colombia. That's where the curiosity quietly began.
He studied gastronomy in Colombia and pastry in Melbourne, adding an Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Management and a Diploma in Social Media Marketing along the way. He worked across Spanish, Israeli, Asian and Mexican kitchens, picking up everything he could.
Fast forward to 2018, he moved to Australia. In 2019, he was working at a Mexican restaurant called Juana Taco in St Kilda, with an Aussie twist. One Christmas, their Mexican chef cooked a proper, authentic pozole. One bowl, and he knew: there was something here.
Everything he's learned, from that first bowl of pozole to every kitchen since, led here, to Lakes Entrance in 2023, and to La Catrina.
What we set out to do
One more
chair.
We're here for the locals who pop in twice a week, the holiday-makers off the boats, the kids who order the same quesadilla every visit, and the friends who close the place down on a Friday.
Fed by tradition.
To bring the soul of a Mexican cantina to the Australian coast: fed by tradition, served with celebration, shared like family.
Honesty, always.
Real flavour, no shortcuts. House-made salsas. Slow-braised meats. If a shortcut would taste worse, we don't take it.
Our promise.
Bold flavour. Honest hospitality. A reason to stay one drink longer.
Behind the pass
Hot light. Steam.
A little mess.
Torn tortillas, dripping consommé, and a thumbprint of salsa on the rim.
See the menu417A Esplanade · Lakes Entrance
Come sit
with us.
Right on the water, a short walk from the Myer Street Jetty.
Dinner Tue – Sat · Lunch Saturday
Hours & everything else