THE flavours of the Caribbean and South America pack a punch and if you get a kick out of hot spices and chillies, Honkytonks, Garema Place, Civic, will get your taste buds dancing.

Best of all Honkytonks is a fun place to grab a bite when you’re in for soul satisfying, non-pretentious, cheap food. The menu has been recently revitalised. It is still small (six items only) but offers big things. Tuck into corn chips and salsa ($5) or munch on one, two, three or four soft-shell tacos (each $5) served in cute little baskets (depending on how hungry you are, of course). The Honkydog – the final item on the menu – is a traditional pork frankfurter with serrano chillies and decorated with swirls of homemade dog sauce. A real tummy filler.

Homemade is the key to Honkytonks food. The inspiration for the menu came from travels overseas (various trips by the owners and chef), including to Canada and Mexico, where tacos are serious street food.

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We sat at the window, on tall bar stools, giggling like kids while devouring the small tacos – we sampled all four, splitting each in half so we could share, which added to the mess (and the hilarity of the scene). Eventually we asked for a spoon. To be honest, we needed big bibs, but managed to escape super spillage (just as well for my friend who was wearing a snow white top).

We couldn’t pick a favourite, but the South American pinto bean taco with its garlic and oregano sautéed mushrooms, cactus salsa and chipotle mayo was sensational, no doubt helped by the El Jimador tequila (Mexico’s number 1) thrown into the mix. Why does eating vegetarian food always make you feel so healthy (and tequila so happy)?

The cider pork tickled our fancy – spiced cider Spanish chorizo with Romsesco and Argentinian chimichurri. Yumbo. And how about the beef-fillet taco? The meat is marinated in Quilmes beer, brewed in Argentina, hickory smoke and jerk spices. The corn is sweet and the tangy Mexican olive tapendade tangy. And last, but not least, we hit the Carribean with the barbecue Jerk chicken taco made with Captain Morgan’s Rum. Ya mon, it’s Irie!

Honkytonks’ food is as colourful as its décor, and you can’t miss the massive mural, splendid with its mix of shimmering gold and intense reds, blues, greens – indeed every colour of the rainbow. To settle in, grab a spot on bench seating and prop yourself up with a colourful pillow.

Honkytonks is headed by Sasha Trpovski, Laurence Kain and Tom Hertel, who have several decades of hospitality experience between them. Way to go boys. Garema Place needed a splash and dash of colour.

Honkytonks. Open Wednesday and Thursday from 4pm and Friday to Sunday from 2pm.