Cantina Bar, Balmain


The Media Gun and I live bang on the Rozelle/Balmain border which means we are spoilt rotten when it comes to cafes, bars and restaurants for a local bite to eat. One of my favourites, a fairly recent addition to the boasts of Darling Street, is Cantina. 

Balmain’s Cantina is from the same folk who masterminded The Corner Bar in Rozelle and is, in my opinion, far superior than its Rozelle cousin. In terms of decor, you can see the family resemblance between the two venues. Cantina uses it’s small space well, with eccentric Mexican decor including ‘Dia de Muertos’ bunting in multi colours, Mexican wrestling masks, and old films being projected straight onto the bare brick wall.


The real winner of this place though is the food and the staff. The guys that work here appear to care about their job, the food, and the customer. They are friendly and attentive without being intrusive, and they are efficient. 


The food is great for grazing over with drinks. Beef Churrasco supplied melt in the mouth beef sticks with a perfectly balanced chimichurri, while the Pulled Pork Sliders have since left me with such a craving that I've been dreaming about them since.  By the looks of it, other punters had similar such feelings. The place was full to bursting on a Wednesday night, and most seemed to be in search of a pulled pork sliders combined with perfectly mixed cocktails. 

The ideal end to the evening were the divine Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce. Crispy and sugary on the outside and fluffy and light on the inside - superb. They should set up a take away stall outside selling these alone – they’d make a fortune.


Cantina Bar, 350 Darling Street, Balmain 2041. 

No comments:

Post a Comment