‘Give them all a go’: Emilia Fuller’s slice of South America in Footscray
Press PLAY to hear Emilia Fuller’s full review
Papelon
Unit 190/81 Hopkins St
Footscray
Papelon is owned by Venezuelan, Reveka Hurtado and heavily features Venezuelan food… I’m thinking of Venezuela, the 188 people that have been killed in the quake from Wednesday and the many residents who’ll be feeling the effects.
Melbourne is basically going to stop at midday today, because when the World Cup’s on, nobody is pretending to care about much else. This might sound like I’m backing the other side – but I assure you – but one thing I do know whatever happens after those 90 minutes, I know you’ll be thinking about Latin food, so I thought ahead and found an authentic spot in Footscray that’s perfectly timed for the occasion. And just to save everyone the search, I couldn’t find a Paraguay-specific restaurant in Melbourne, but Papelón is a very good Latin American answer to the problem, especially with their World Cup setup and special Paraguayan dishes for the game.
Papelón is right out the front of Footscray Market, diagonally opposite the old Franco Cozzo store, so it’s hard to miss if you know the area. It’s got that vibrant, welcoming, slightly chaotic energy that Footscray does better than almost anywhere else in the city. The restaurant was started by Reveka Hurtado, who built it from catering into a proper bricks-and-mortar home, and it has that lovely sense of being run by someone who actually cares about the food and the people eating it. It feels less like a polished concept and more like a place with a pulse.
What makes it especially fun for today is that they’ve gone all in on the game. Big TV, Latin crowd, proper snacks, and Paraguayan specials to match the match. They understand the World Cup is not just about football, it’s about excuses to eat, drink and behave slightly unreasonably at lunchtime.
We started with the tequeños, which is the dish equivalent of a crowd-pleasing opener. They’re Venezuelan cheese sticks; golden, crisp pastry wrapped around molten cheese, crispier than you’re imagining – got quite the crunch to them.. It pairs with papelón syrup (their namesake) is a rich, unrefined liquid sweetener made by simmering raw sugarcane blocks in water. Then came the trilogía de tostones, which is a plantain platter built around the Caribbean and northern South American tradition of frying and smashing green plantain until it’s crisp and salty. One with cheese, one with chicken and one with beef – por que le los dos?!
The arepa birria is where things get properly interesting. The arepa itself comes from Venezuela and Colombia, and it’s one of the great Latin American staples- a cornmeal cake that can carry just about anything. Birria, meanwhile, is Mexican in origin, usually slow-cooked and rich, with that deeply savoury, spicy, slightly indulgent flavour that makes a mess in the best possible way. This had fried cheese in it too in case your cheese intake hasn’t hit it’s ceiling yet. Put that all together, Reveka explained you eat it like a burger – burgers South American style.
The empanada with pulled chicken was another easy win. Empanadas are found all over Latin America, but the basic idea is beautifully universal: pastry, filling, seal it up, fry or bake it, and serve it hot. This one had that homely, satisfying quality that makes you want another straight after the first. The guasacaca is worth a mention too, because it’s one of those sauces that quietly does a lot of heavy lifting. It’s Venezuelan, green, fresh and herby, usually made with avocado, garlic and vinegar, and it sits somewhere between salsa and chimichurri without really trying to be either. It cuts through the richness of the fried and meaty dishes and keeps everything feeling lively. If Latin food is the party, guasacaca is the mate making sure everyone gets home safely.
The picada llanera for two was the big, generous centrepiece – a sharing platter from the Venezuelan plains region, built for people who arrive hungry and don’t plan to leave that way. It’s meat-forward, festive and proudly not subtle.
And then there was the terremoto, which feels like the right kind of bad idea for a World Cup lunch. It’s a Chilean cocktail known for being sweet, strong and a bit unhinged, made with wine, pineapple sorbet and grenadine. The name is half the fun, because it gives you fair warning and then proceeds to live up to it. It’s the perfect ending to a meal that already feels like it knows exactly what it is.
Reveka was already trialling making Paraguay’s National dish, sopa paraguaya when I visited on Wednesday which despite the name is a lot more bread than soup. It’s corn flour, cheese, onion and milk or whey.
Papelón reminds you Melbourne does not lack great food and it rewards people who know where to look. For today, it’s a soulful, funny, flavour-packed place to land while the football’s on, especially if you want something that feels genuinely Latin rather than generic “world food.” And if Australia wins, great. If Australia loses, at least you’ve eaten very well while pretending not to care.
Images: Supplied