A note on the words: a tostada is a tortilla fried flat and crisp, so it works as an edible plate, while tacos arrive on soft tortillas. Salsa covers everything from raw chopped cruda to salsa macha, a chili-and-nut oil, and the salsas are usually named for the chili in them — habanero, ancho, morita, pasilla, árbol. Ceviche is seafood cured in citrus, and aguachile is its chili-spiked cousin. Suadero is beef from around the belly, barbacoa is meat cooked slowly by steaming, carnitas is pork cooked in its own fat, chicharrón is fried pork skin, and arrachera is the cut sold in English as skirt steak. Among the drinks, a michelada is beer mixed with lime, chili and tomato or Clamato, a bottled clam-and-tomato juice; Tajín is a chili-lime-salt seasoning used on glass rims and fruit; horchata is a sweet rice drink; and a raspado is shaved ice. On the plate, queso fresco is a mild fresh cheese, maitake is the frilled mushroom known in English as hen-of-the-woods, and egoma is a Japanese perilla.
Table of Contents hide
OXOMOCO on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Mexican-food lovers, thank you for waiting! It is Hangover Meshi time!
This time it is a Mexican place newly opened in Roppongi called “OXOMOCO.” The main restaurant is in New York, I hear, so perhaps it is a Tex-Mex sort of place. Apparently it is quite famous over there, and after biding their time they opened their first Japanese location in Hiroo — and then went and moved it to Roppongi! Which means there was nothing for it but to go. It is on the first floor of Roppongi Hills!
We went à la carte and fired off whatever we felt like eating!
Right then, first up: beer!
Somehow, at a Mexican place, you want to go for a Corona, do you not!
The chips are tostadas made with heirloom corn. Two more pieces cost 400 yen! Since there are six flavors to work through, we first broke these four up into small pieces by hand, then went around dipping them in the sauces.
There are six salsas: raw cruda, tart oxomoco, hot habanero, bitter brava, peanut árbol, and macha with crushed nuts folded in. They give you a sheet explaining them, which makes it easy to follow!
Going once around the set, the same chip tastes different every time, which is fun! These sauces are basically the ones used on the tacos you order later, so having them first gives you a good sense of what is coming!
Small potatoes, fried, with chipotle mayo over the top. Chipotle is a smoked chili, so the smoke arrives before the heat does, creeping up from behind the sweetness of the mayo.
This is the ceviche that had us all saying, “that’s small for the price!” lol
You break it up and eat it in one bite. So when ceviche goes Mexican, it arrives sitting on a tortilla chip! The spice and the acidity work nicely together. It is small, but genuinely delicious. It leaves you wanting a little more.
Herbed ricotta on a purple tortilla, with maitake confit laid on top.
And there is no meat in it at all!
The maitake has lost its water and shrunk, and biting into it brings out a depth like dashi. The dried-chili salsa clings to it, and rather than heat it gives a raisin-like sweetness and a smoky aroma. All those flavors tangling together make it seriously good. It is a taco with no meat in it, and yet it satisfies completely.
I wanted something spicy, so I ordered these peanuts in their coat of spices! The level of heat is just right.
At 3,000 yen, the most expensive taco on the list! But the staff recommended it, so I ordered one. Suadero is beef from around the belly, simmered for hours in fat, and I am told it is a standard at street stalls in Mexico City! Taking a bite, it is tender enough that the fibers come apart! Chew and the sweetness of the fat comes out. The seasoning itself is not heavy. The bite of the chopped onion and the acidity of the green sauce go extremely well with it.
Laid on top of each one is a Japanese green chili, grilled skin and all. Behind the fragrance, a green heat lingers. Squeeze the lime over it and the outlines sharpen. The opposite of the maitake taco: this one puts the meat right up front.
Let us have some lamb too! So we ordered the lamb barbacoa.
Barbacoa, apparently, is a dish where the sheep is steamed and roasted in a pit dug into the ground. And it is where the word barbecue comes from! Huh, so that is what barbacoa meant.
The meat is shredded right down to the fibers, and there is not much of the smell you associate with sheep. Instead, the more you chew the more the sweetness of the fat comes through. The bitterness of the watercress and the faint bitterness of the flowers, the bite of the onion, and the green sauce and the lime on top make for a really interesting flavor. Delicious!
At the end, we went and ordered a main course too!
Before roasting, they seem to coat it with a chili paste called chintextle. The black surface is not from scorching — it is the color of dried shrimp and pumpkin seeds ground into the paste and then cooked.
It is on the bone, so I worked the meat off and ate it: the skin is fragrant, the flesh moist. The red sauce spread underneath is made with pasilla chilies, and a smoky bitterness arrives before any heat does.
Mmm, this is good.
The red rice that comes alongside. Long grains, stir-fried, with fried bits and green onion scattered over the top. It is loose and separate, and letting it soak up the red sauce from the chicken is just right.
The main also comes with purple tortillas, brought out wrapped in cloth. The tortillas up to this point had been fairly firm ones, but these are the soft kind.
Tear off some chicken, pile on the rice, scoop up some sauce and wrap it — delicious!
Argh, my mistake! I wondered what a michelada was, ordered one at the very end, and it turns out to be a Clamato drink!! I love this stuff. I wish I had been drinking it from the start.
Michelada. I had better remember the name.
So there we are: a Mexican place newly opened in Roppongi, the one everyone is talking about out of New York. I thought it might be Tex-Mex, but it turned out to be properly Mexican, and it is a good spot where you can eat delicious tacos in a very stylish space. Nice to have a place like this open nearby. I expect I will be back more than once! If a stylish Mexican place sounds interesting, give it a look!
May you meet something delicious today too!
OXOMOCO, Roppongi: menu
Snacks
The snacking section. All four items are vegan.
Six salsas & tortilla chips
Chili, lime
Mercado Jamaica style, garlic, chili
Appetizers
Roasted cherry tomato, queso fresco
Romaine lettuce, corn croutons
Basil oil, jalapeño (one extra piece 600 yen)
Spanish mackerel and grilled eggplant purée in spicy tomato juice
Fried potatoes, chipotle mayo
Tostadas
A fried tortilla packed with toppings. You pick it up with your hands.
Soy-marinated tuna, avocado, salsa macha, radish
Mayonnaise, salsa oxomoco
Salsa brava, endive salad
Tacos
Prices are for two pieces. You can add them one piece at a time (the figure in parentheses is the price for one extra piece).
Maitake confit, herbed ricotta, morita & ancho salsa, Jerusalem artichoke & trumpet mushroom chips (one extra piece 900 yen)
Chicharrón, salsa cruda (one extra piece 1,000 yen)
Edible flowers, watercress, huacachile (one extra piece 1,100 yen)
Halloumi cheese, salsa macha (one extra piece 1,300 yen)
Grilled chili, huacachile (one extra piece 1,500 yen)
Mains
Honey chili, salsa pasilla, crispy red rice
The mains come with tortillas, so you can roll your own tacos as you like.
Signature Course (6,500 yen per person)
For two or more. It is built to bring out the signature dishes one after another.
Desserts
Ganache, walnut crumble, espresso ice cream
Smoked strawberry, raspado
Beer
Beer, Clamato, lime, Tajín, chili
Cocktails
Tequila and mezcal are the backbone. All five gins are domestic (four from Kyoto, one from Hachioji).
Tequila, grapefruit, lime, agave, Tajín, hibiscus, Mediterranean tonic (7%)
Tabasco vodka, tomato, lime, lettuce, taco seasoning, syrup (7%)
Junmai nigori sake, cinnamon, almond milk, lemon, soda (8%)
Pineapple-steeped Don Julio Blanco, tomato, elderflower, lime, sage, pepper (20%)
Umeshu, mezcal, guava, tonic, cucumber (8%)
Tequila, Cointreau, lime, agave (shot 600 yen)
Don Julio 1942, chocolate rum, orange liqueur, espresso (15%)
Also on the list: Mezcal Penicillin 1,500 yen, Mezcal Darjeeling Cooler 1,400 yen, Asian Innocence 1,300 yen, Peach Frozen Margarita 1,500 yen, and five cocktails made with domestic gin at 1,200 to 1,300 yen.
Wine
Note: from the menu at the restaurant at the time of the August 2026 visit. Prices include tax. On weekdays from 17:00 and all day on weekends and holidays, a separate 10% service charge applies. The lineup may change, so please check the official site or the restaurant itself for the latest.
OXOMOCO (Mexican / Roppongi Station, Nogizaka Station, Azabu-juban Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★★☆ 4.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
