Pincho Disco: Collingwood's New Latin American Sensation

An electrifying name like Pincho Disco is a lot to live up to. But Collingwood’s new Latin American bar and restaurant, which opens on Friday November 17, is up to the challenge.

Split across two levels, Pincho Disco offers a choose-your-own-adventure dining experience. Walk in at street level and you’re greeted with an open kitchen view and a bar just to the right. Choose between booth seating, a large chef’s table, or a bar stool looking into the kitchen (where you’ll be served directly by the chefs). Upstairs, there’s a second bar, as well as more tables and booth seating.

The venue is the latest from the Kickon Group (The Terminus Hotel, The Continental Sorrento and more). The colour-soaked interior, designed by Melbourne architecture firm Studio Tate, features gold walls, bright silver tables and banquette seating covered in bright pink and baby blue geometric fabric.

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The menu, in head chef Diego Cardenas’s words, “goes all the way from Mexico to Argentina” and features “traditional recipes with an Australian twist”. The chef is from Bogotá, Colombia and worked in kitchens in Colombia, Peru and Spain before moving to Melbourne in 2019. He developed Pincho Disco’s food offering with Kickon’s culinary director Jake Furst.

There are, of course, pinchos – bar snacks that are often served on sticks and typically more substantial than tapas. You’ll find pinchos and anticuchos (Peruvian skewers) made using Wagyu, Skull Island king prawns and chorizo from Victorian charcuterie makers Salt Kitchen.

Cardenas says his menu highlights Latin America’s coastal regions and admits to having a strong affinity for Peruvian cuisine. This passion shines through in dishes like the ceviche with passionfruit (a local stand-in for the Peruvian fruit granadilla).

The menu also includes aguachile (a cold seafood dish from Sinaloa and Nayarit in Mexico), cassava or yuca chips and Argentinian chipas (a cheese bread). Proteins include spatchcock, dry-aged beef and rainbow trout cooked on the Josper grill and in the Mesiano woodfired oven. For dessert, expect to find tres leches cake, rice pudding and a banana-custard mille-feuille.

Dustin Sarten, who curated the drinks list, says, “It’s Latin American-inspired… so lots of upbeat drinks.” There are cocktails on tap, including Grapefruit Margaritas and Espresso Martinis, as well as a rotating list of cocktails to share.