What's the best taco in Sydney?

There's no single answer, but Sydney's best tacos share three traits: hand-pressed corn tortillas, properly balanced salsas, and a cook who treats the fillings with respect. Our pick for birria is Tommy's in Darlinghurst, where they're slow-braised and served with consommé.

Where can I get $5 tacos in Sydney?

Tommy's Darlinghurst runs $5 Taco Wednesdays — every taco on the menu is $5, all day lunch and dinner.

What's birria and where can I try it in Sydney?

Birria is a slow-braised beef or goat stew from Mexico, served as a taco with a side of rich consommé for dipping. Tommy's Darlinghurst runs Birria Thursdays weekly — three tacos for $27.

Best Tacos in Sydney — a Darlinghurst Local's Shortlist

Published 18 April 2026 · 8 min read

Tacos lined up on a plate at Tommy's Mexican Darlinghurst

Sydney has quietly become one of the best taco cities outside Mexico. Chefs are pressing tortillas to order, curing their own chillies, and arguing about which Jalisco village makes the best mezcal to drink with a birria. This is our shortlist — biased, incomplete, and honest.

What makes a great taco

Three things, in this order:

The tortilla. Hand-pressed, nixtamalised corn. Supermarket tortillas are structurally dead — they crack, they taste of cardboard. You can tell the difference in one bite.
The balance. Fat, acid, heat, crunch. A taco without acid is a sandwich. A taco without crunch is lunch. Get all four and you have dinner.
The filling. Counter-intuitively, this matters least. The best protein in a bad tortilla is still a bad taco. Start from the bottom up.

The shortlist

1. Tommy's — Darlinghurst

We'll declare the bias up front: this is us. But the menu has earned the mention: Yucatan chicken with achiote and charred pineapple, lamb barbacoa slow-cooked until it pulls, baja fish with a proper beer batter, and the birria on Thursdays that's currently the reason we have to add tables. Tortillas are pressed to order from fresh corn masa. See the full menu.

Order: Three birria, one Yucatan chicken, a Tommy's margarita. $5 Taco Wednesdays if you want to try the range cheap.

2. The taco trucks of Sydney

The best tacos in town aren't always in restaurants. Look for the trucks that park outside breweries in Marrickville and Alexandria on weekends — they often have the rawest, most traditional cooking in the city. Follow them on Instagram, because locations move.

3. Inner-west taquerias

Newtown, Enmore, Marrickville: the inner west has the widest range of taco spots. Not all of them nail the tortilla, but a few do. When they do, it's transcendent.

The tacos you should actually order

If you're new to tacos beyond beef and chicken, start here:

Birria — slow-braised beef, rich consommé for dipping. The internet's favourite taco for a reason.
Al pastor — pork marinated with chilli and pineapple, roasted on a vertical spit. Mexico City's signature.
Baja fish — beer-battered fish, crema, slaw. The beach taco.
Yucatan chicken — achiote-marinated, earthy, bright. Underrated.
Cauliflower al pastor — vegan, and arguably better than the pork version when done properly.

The weekly deal playbook

Tacos are a mid-week dining hack. Most restaurants in Sydney run a taco or taco-adjacent deal on Tuesday or Wednesday. Our own is $5 Taco Wednesdays — every taco on the menu, $5, all day. Then Thursdays is birria. Friday is the Fiesta Menu at $59pp. If you plan the week right, you can eat like a king for under $100 total.

Ready to try?

Come and test the list. The hardest thing about Sydney's best tacos is that the rooms are small and the locals know. Book a table at Tommy's. Walk-ins welcome, but Friday and Saturday book out fast.

Hungry?

Reserve a table or browse the full menu.

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