Alex Rodriguez and his wife, Yess, are the heart of Tacontento. Photo: Tenele Conway.
The Croatian Club is transforming the space around the club as a permanent base for food trucks, and a third food truck is arriving hot on the heels of its second opening, Tacontento.
Located in the leafy inner suburb of O’Connor, the Croatian Club, which was established in 1969 to keep Croatian culture alive for Croatian migrants in Australia, sits on a corner block with loads of street frontage. Being private land, they are able to offer spaces to food trucks without the need for a hawker permit and are using this to build a community of food trucks serving food from around the world.
The first food truck to be based here was Jangdokdae Korean Food, which was opened in early 2024 by Michael Oliver and Yoonhee Jang. Surrounded by picnic tables and festooned with party lights, the food truck serves up traditional Korean food, including Korean Fried Chicken, and they pride themselves on the extensive menu, which can be tricky to churn out in such a small space.
“It’s all Yoonhee, I just man the fryer,” Michael jokes, crediting his wife for her expertise with Korean cooking.
The Korean food truck run by Michael and Yoonhee was the first to set up at the Croatian Club. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Michael has a prime spot right at the front of the club and points out that the alcohol licence for the Croatian Club covers the food truck seating, so people can grab a drink inside and enjoy it with the wide array of food on offer from the trucks based there.
It was Michael who recommended that Alex Rodriguez, the owner of Tacontento, a food truck serving Mexican food from his home state of Guerrero, approach the Croatian Club about a space for his portable taco van, a move he made in August 2024.
Alex was serving his tacos in a nearby park but was restricted by what Michael calls outdated hawker permit rules, which require you to stop serving at sundown, a serious limitation during the shorter days of the cooler months.
Alex and his wife, Yess Gonzalez, who hails from Hidalgo in Mexico, came to Australia to start a family, and while Yess’s qualifications as an accountant secured their visa into the country, Alex’s law degree wasn’t transferable.
After a stint working as a cleaner when arriving in Australia, Alex bought his food truck and started Tacontento as his plan B to the highly physical work. He’s been able to utilise recipes from his family, and from his home state to deliver real Mexican food to Canberrans from his two food trucks, one that primarily stays at the club and the other that travels around events.
Stopping by for a recent dinner, Alex greeted us with two large cups of horchata, a rice milk-based drink rich with cinnamon and deliciously sweet.
Alex’s birra is the dish to travel for while the weather is cool. Photo: Martin Conway.
It set the tone for a meal that stayed true to how street food is served in Mexico. A notion that was verified by some enthusiastic customers who had just returned from Mexico and were thrilled to have found Alex and his crispy tacos.
When you think of crispy tacos, don’t be fooled into thinking you are getting an Old El Paso-style taco shell. Alex’s tacos are made with authentic masa corn tortillas. They are stuffed with slow-cooked fillings including chicken, beef, chorizo and potato and then rolled into a tube, fried to order and topped with lettuce and sour cream.
A serve of three crispy tacos can come in one flavour, or you can mix your batch to try three flavours, and they are hot, rich and super crunchy.
Alex also makes quesadillas with hot and soft tortillas encasing beef or chorizo.
While the weather is cool, the dish you are going to travel for is Alex’s birria. It’s not on the menu every day, so check ahead, but this traditional Mexican stew is served in a cup and is a richly spiced, slow-cooked beef stew that is packed full of flavour and contains incredibly tender beef that Alex has simmered for hours until it falls apart. To accompany the stew, you also receive a serve of three tacos of your choice for dunking into the birra, and a side of coriander and onion to tip into the stew for pops of fresh flavour to cut through the richness.
The tacos from Tacontento are crispy with slow-cooked fillings. Photo: Martin Conway.
Expanding his repertoire of Mexican dishes, Alex is currently taking instruction from his mother, who is visiting for an extended period, and he has incorporated her sweet Mexican flan into his menu as a dessert option.
As we enjoyed Alex’s birra and tacos, the owner of Five Passions Artisan Bakery stopped by. Fabio is in the final stages of paperwork to open up a permanent home for his traditional pizza business at the club. Five Passions is building a name at markets and events around Canberra with its traditional Italian breads, focaccias and pizzas. They’re a welcome addition to this multicultural space that’s now becoming a food truck dining destination.
Each food truck operates their own hours. Check out their Facebook and Instagram pages for details: Jangdokdae Korean Food, Tacontento and Five Passions Artisan Bakery.
