The Thousands

Springsteen might have said it best: ‘I know a pretty little place in southern California, down San Diego way.’ It’s as much a state of mind as it is a geographical reference – a Latin American idyll of crystalline waters and beachside beers, even for people who’ve shuffled through the dust of a Mexican sea town. But we’re in Sydney, an urban sprawl that has apparently decided to refuse summer. Appropriately, here’s a cantina that’s inside.

Tio’s has been set up by Alex and Jeremy, two stalwarts of Shady Pines, and you see the lessons they learned there manifest: the bar is long, your drinks served through windows; a good drinking snack (in this case, homemade popcorn); and the entry point beer – a $5 Rio Bravo can – comes salted and limed.

In fact, the salting and liming could be metonymy for the feel of the place: it borrows from Mexicana enough to be charming, without going whole-hog corny. There’s tequila, but the idea is to learn about it, not shoot it and then wear your tie as a headband. If sipping on a straight añejo is too much, try one of the house specials. Did you know tequila goes with condensed milk a la a Vietnamese ca phe da? You probably know about tequila sunrises, palomas, and micheladas. They’re all there or coming. As for food: popcorn with your drinks, or grilled corn and a bloody mary on Sundays. It’s a bar.

Tio’s Cerveceria is pretty dark inside – dark enough for candles. If we had sun, this’d be a great bolt hole on burning days. It isn’t a place where you could close your eyes and be beachside in Tulum, but you might be in a bar on the main drag.