It may be the worst best-kept-secret we've ever shared, but as owner of Antojitos Eric Flores explains, "It's pretty hard to keep a secret when you’re on a busy road and your green beetle is parked out the front all the time."

For frequent commuters along Mayfield's Maitland Rd you will have likely seen Antojitos VW Bug out the front of number 235, with this iconic location set to become the second edition of Newcastle's much-loved Mexican restaurant. 

Dropping into the currently barebones space, Eric explains how it's slowly coming together,

"It's already been a long process just to get it to this point, but we want to get it right the first time." 

"We kind of feel we have a duty to respect and honour what was here, and bring that neighbourhood shop back again."

That shop being the original site of Jim's Milk Bar (now located on Tudor St Hamilton),

"I put a post out on Lost Newcastle and it had hundreds of replies saying what the building had formerly been, and it turns out it was the original site of Jim's Milk Bar, prior to that it was a corner store."

For Antojitos devotees, you'll be relieved to hear Eric and the team will be bringing their tried-and-tested Mexican formula to Mayfield, 

"We want to carry on what we're doing in Newcastle West and bring it here to Mayfield."

"It's going to be more takeaway focused, but we may tweak a few things. All our values are still the same, we just want to continue doing what we’ve always done, which is, simple good food, good people food, which we always talk about.”

So why was Mayfield the lucky location? Eric explained,

"When we were looking at opening a second store we looked at a few different suburbs, but we kept coming back to Mayfield. There's good diversity here and we like the history of Mayfield, its blue collar past."

"We're joining some pretty legendary food and coffee venues over here, so we want to slot in and complement what's already on offer."

Whilst we don't want to give everything away, Eric does give us a few insights around what we can expect when the doors open. 

"It's really about getting back to what I grew up with in the States, where you've got a casual little hole-in-the-wall taqueria, nothing fancy, just great food for a reasonable price. We plan on keeping things simple but do it really really well. 

"Initially we'll be opening for takeaway only. We've got bigger plans down the track, but to begin with we just want to open the doors."

When it comes to the menu, it's going to be a similar offering to Newcastle West, however Eric suggests they're looking to bring on one or two new additions, 

"We're pretty excited as we don't often change our menu, it's pretty much stayed the same for the last 6 or 7 years. 

“Our philosophy has always been to try and perfect what we do, and then how do we make what we do better. With the new venue we feel there's some scope to do something different, and when we do it it usually stays on the menu, but we'll see what we can do in the kitchen.”

When it comes to the design and aesthetic, with Eric being hands-on all the way, you can be assured the space will have that signature Antojitos feel. 

Set to open later in 2023, stay tuned as more Antojitos Mayfield news comes our way.