Dingo Ate My Taco’s First Permanent Restaurant Opens in Abbotsford

The birria tacos that built a cult following from a food truck are getting a permanent zip code. Dingo Ate My Taco, the Tex-Mex operation that started feeding Melburnians in 2020, will open its first sit-down restaurant at 272 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, in June 2026 – and it is bringing back every breakfast taco and consommé-soaked tortilla that never made it onto the Chinatown menu.

The new venue, simply called Dingo, fills the former Range Brewing space and will run five days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Co-founder Katy Simkins said the decision to open a permanent home was about giving people the dishes they have been asking for since the truck first pulled up. “There’ll be birria tacos, breakfast tacos and all the things that we’ve done for years that people associate with Dingo that we don’t have on the menu at Taqueria Sin Nombre,” she said.

Simkins and co-founder Paul Walcutt launched the brand with chef Isaac Castellano in the first wave of pandemic-era food trucks, and the trio later opened the elevated Taqueria Sin Nombre in Chinatown in late 2025. The Abbotsford restaurant pulls Dingo back to its casual roots. “We want it to feel like you’re in a taqueria in Texas,” Simkins said.

Inside, the fit-out takes its cues from Marfa, the West Texas desert town known for minimalist art and the Prada Marfa installation. Orangey-pink tiles, steel counters, red stools and Coca-Cola crates fill the room, with the crew using leftover tiles from the Sin Nombre build. An open kitchen handles both the restaurant and a prep hub for the continuing food truck, which means the birria you order at the table and the birria you chase across the city finally share a single production line.

The full bar list is weighted toward agave. The team has sourced a house mezcal from Oaxaca, and the drinks card includes Margaritas, Palomas and a Mexican Martini alongside a dirty horchata made in collaboration with Proud Mary. For anyone whose sweet tooth was never satisfied by a food truck window, the new kitchen includes an oven – and with it, a burnt corn husk banana pudding that would have been impossible on four wheels.

The truck is not disappearing. The St Kilda Road kitchen that previously supported it has been replaced by the Abbotsford setup, so the mobile operation gets a permanent production base while the restaurant runs all-day service. That means the truck will keep popping up around Melbourne, but the most reliable way to find a Dingo taco is now to walk through the front door on Johnston Street.

If you liked the food truck but found its schedule unpredictable, Dingo is designed to solve that. It will trade five days a week, with breakfast available from day one – a first for the brand. Taqueria Sin Nombre, by contrast, keeps evening hours and a tighter, more refined menu. The new Abbotsford room is where the breakfast taco finally gets a permanent seat.

For anyone wondering whether all Dingo locations are the same, the answer is no. This new restaurant is deliberately a return to the truck’s greatest hits, while Sin Nombre remains the place for a more elevated taqueria experience. Booking details are yet to be released.

Public transport is the sensible choice for Johnston Street. Collingwood Station is within walking distance, and tram route 86 stops practically at the door. On-street parking exists, but it is limited, and the area’s popularity on weekends makes a car more of a gamble than a convenience.

Once you have a plate of tacos and a frozen Paloma in hand, the neighbourhood has plenty of reasons to stay. The Abbotsford Convent precinct is a short walk away, and Johnston Street itself now holds enough bars and small venues to turn a taco stop into a full evening.

The burnt corn husk banana pudding is not listed on any other Dingo menu – a small detail that tells you this is the venue the team has been waiting to open.