El Planta

Just off Fish Lane in South Brisbane, this family-run kitchen has spent the better part of a decade proving that Mexican food loses nothing when the meat comes out. Corn tortillas are pressed and griddled to order, then loaded with jackfruit, roasted mushroom or cauliflower rather than carnitas. The menu wanders past the usual taqueria repertoire into dishes you won't find elsewhere in the city, and the margaritas have their own following. The room is small and busy, the mood closer to a neighbourhood cantina than a themed operation. Everything is plant-based, though the cooking rarely announces itself as vegan; the flavours carry it. A short walk from QPAC and South Bank, it fills quickly on weekends, which says most of what needs saying about a place that has quietly outlasted trends since opening on Hope Street.