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For almost a decade, La Popular Taqueria has been serving the kind of Mexican food owner Daniella Guevara Muñoz grew up eating in Mexico City. Now, the Port Adelaide favourite has been awarded one of its biggest local accolades yet.
La Popular Taqueria has been named Best Specialty Restaurant at the 2026 Restaurant & Catering Australia Hostplus Awards for Excellence, a win that Daniella said touched the entire team.
“It put a big smile on all of our faces. We didn’t think we’d win, so it was a nice surprise for all of us.”
But before Daniella and husband Kor-jent van Dijk were running one of Adelaide’s best-known Mexican restaurants, they were marine biologists.
The pair originally moved to Australia to work on the Great Barrier Reef before eventually landing in Adelaide, where Daniella began sharing the food of her childhood through intimate underground dinners called Mi Mero Mole.
“We are forever grateful for the continual support we’ve received since opening almost 10 years ago. We love this city.”
Those early underground dinners soon built a loyal following and, with support from Renew Adelaide, Daniella and Kor-jent transformed a former computer repair shop in Port Adelaide into a permanent home for the food they wanted to share.
La Popular officially opened in October 2017, serving dishes inspired by the taquerias, street stalls and family-run restaurants of Mexico City, the Yucatán Peninsula and other regions across Mexico.
“I think the fact that we’ve never compromised in our mission to showcase real Mexican food, the food I grew up with in Mexico City, has made us stand out.”
“La Popular Taqueria is our love letter to Mexico, and I think our diners appreciate that.”
That commitment to quality and authenticity has also earned the venue the Mexican Government-backed Sello M, an official certification recognising businesses that genuinely represent Mexican gastronomy and identity. La Popular is one of only a small number of Australian restaurants to hold the certification.
That commitment to authenticity can be tasted in the tortillas, made completely from scratch using Australian-grown corn.
“We make everything from scratch, including nixtamalising our own corn to make tortillas, as we want the food to be as close to what you get in Mexico as you can get.”
For new diners, Daniella recommends the Let Us Feed You menu, where visitors can build their own tacos from a selection of fillings while working their way through La Popular Taqueria favourites including Baja fish tacos, tortilla soup and flautas de papa.
One dish particularly close to Daniella’s heart is cochinita pibil, an oven-braised pulled pork filling marinated in achiote and spices, cooked in banana leaves and finished with pickled onion and habanero salsa. It was the first taco filling she made after moving to Australia and remains the dish that immediately transports her home.
“Every time I pull it out of the oven, I have to make myself a taco, it’s so delicious and just takes me back home every time I bite into one.”
Nearly 10 years after La Popular Taqueria first opened, Daniella says Adelaide’s Mexican dining scene has changed considerably. She hopes the Port Adelaide restaurant has played at least a small role in showing diners there is far more to Mexican cooking than the versions many Australians once knew.
With its latest award now added to the list, La Popular Taqueria’s formula remains much the same as it was from day one, make it from scratch, keep it traditional and let the food speak for itself.
La Popular Taqueria
Where: 226 St Vincent St, Port Adelaide SA 5015
