I would like to publicly apologise to anyone within a five-metre radius of El Primo Sanchez’s karaoke room around sunset three Saturday nights ago. That was an awful version ofSweet Child O’ Mine.
I would also like to apologise to my dining companions for insisting we try,and get through,all the house cocktails (there are a lot),and ask forgiveness from the chef for skipping the natilla custard with mezcal flambé ($16) because we ordered way too many tacos.
In short,sorry to everyone. Gee,it was a bit of fun,though.
El Primo is a sharp,slick and slightly swanky Mexican bar which opened on Oxford Streetin the last week of February. Pumping high-fidelity booze and tunes inside a 1940s corner hotel (once the Rose,Shamrock&Thistle),it’s the first partnership between the owners of cocktail bar Maybe Sammy (that always-packedprestige gin joint near The Rocks) and Public Hospitality Group,which bought the site in 2021.
It’s such a riot of colour and sound,I feel like I need a few minutes of sensory deprivation afterwards.
It’s not a quiet place. Enter through the old pub doors and you’re hit with an explosion of canary yellow,mustard,vivid oranges and royal blue as lights in a recessed ceiling pulse and change colour. Well-drilled staff shake margaritas and dance to modern salsa. I count 14 disco balls above the DJ booth,but there may be more. My favourite part is the“¡Emergencia! Press for tequila” button in the two-person karaoke booth,which is available for short sessions.
We slap it and two shots ($27) are delivered betweenCreep andJackson. (Again,apologies to the nearby tables. I’m told the room is soundproof,but insulation must have its limits.)
Pre-Radiohead,we kick off with fatty,spicy,whipped ’nduja surrounded by potato chips and topped with creme fraiche and chives ($18). Tasty stuff,albeit thoroughly rich – wedges,sour cream and sweet chilli for a new generation.
Naturally,there’s also tortilla chips and guacamole ($16),spiffed up with lightly fermented slices of green tomato and a toasty,house-made chilli sauce. With more lime and acid,it could be a knockout dish.
Chef Alejandro Huerta’s brief seems to be playful but elevated Mexican favourites,and he nails it with tuna tostadas (three for $22) featuring diced grapefruit-pink fish enhanced by a koji-fermented habanero mayonnaise of enormous flavour. There’s wasabi leaf and pickled turnip on top,too,but it’s all about that mayo.
Most tacos are $12 each and,considering El Primo’s staffing and fit-out costs and the quality of ingredients,I’ll go in to bat for that price. Plus,the chicken carnitas taco is so filling you could probably eat two and call it a day:juicy,boisterously spiced meat,all shredded and tangled and covered with jalapeno salsa,avocado and crisp-fried chicken skin.
Only the roasted Brussels sprout taco ($11) falls flat,largely thanks to a ricotta-like,hazelnut “cheese” which has an uncanny knack for smothering every other flavour it touches. You can probably skip the wild mushroom quesadilla ($16),too,which features real Oaxaca cheese,but needs proper seasoning.
Full marks,though,to muscular tiger prawns licked with flames and chilli butter (three for $38),and kudos to the dry-aged sirloin ($45) basted in mole de olla – a type of beefy Mexican soup – with crunchy,corkscrew-shaped fries ($11) on the side.
You could order a serviceable La Boca malbec ($14/$68) from Argentina at this point,sure,but I say embrace the Hog’s Breath silliness of those chips with a Charro Negro highball ($22) of tequila,smoked cola and lime. Fun!
The cocktails are mostly brilliant and tequila-based,by the way – even the espresso martini ($22) replaces vodka with Patron. After extensive investigation,I can especially recommend the bang-on Primo Margarita ($24) or Sanchez Paloma ($22) featuring tequila,lime and agave syrup,and mandarin soda so zesty it could be sherbet.
This is not a bar for everyone. At the time of writing,you can’t book. The merchandise list is longer than the beer selection. Perhaps you would just like a standard gin negroni,thanks very much,and not “our version of” with tequila or mezcal.
Did I mention it can get loud? Heck,I’m not even sure it’s a bar forme. It’s such a riot of colour and sound,I feel like I need a few minutes of sensory deprivation afterwards.
However,I return a week later,suspecting we missed a trick by not ordering that Spanish custard dessert. Apologies this time to my wife for eating way more than my fair share. (But good golly,it was delicious.)
The lowdown
- Vibe: Mid-century tequila jive on the Jalisco coast
- Go-to dish: Tuna tostadas (three for $22)
- Drinks: Polished cocktails ready to party,some wines and a daunting amount of mezcal
- Cost: About $100 for two,excluding drinks
This review was originally published inGood Weekend magazine