Just Open: El Atino, Richmond

Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Madrid … Melbourne. That's the trajectory chef Martin Zozaya's career has taken, landing him at new Richmond venue El Atino & Co.

Zozaya was head chef at No Q No, a "Med-Mex" restaurant in Madrid, but El Atino's breakfast and lunch menu is a mixed Latin bag: Argentinean bife de chorizo (not the sausage – sirloin, cooked sous vide then char-grilled), pisco sour-cured salmon, chilli prawn tacos and causa limena​, a Peruvian dish of cold mashed potato seasoned with chilli paste and filled with seafood salad and rocoto chilli mayonnaise.

French toast dulce de leche jaffles are a cross-continent culture mash that's likely to be a Melbourne crowd-pleaser.

Owner Alfredo Pimienta says the idea of the cafe and food store is to give Melburnians a genuine experience of Latin American cuisine in a relaxed setting, as well as a place to buy authentic ingredients: chimichurri​, arepas (flatbreads), tortilla flour, chipotle chillies and more.

The fitout by Buro Architects eschews the day-of-the-dead taqueria cliches, shooting for a casual cafe feel with bare timber and schoolroom chairs, while the coffee is Melbourne classic from Coffee Supreme.

Open Tue-Sat 7am–3.30pm; Sun 8am-3.30pm.

366 Bridge Road, Richmond, 03 8529 4222