Down an unassuming street in the heart of Wollongong, on NSW’s South Coast, a burnt-orange neon sign and rotating disco ball guide you to one of the city’s newest openings: Bar Cabrón. A “sleeping giant” when it comes to hospitality, according to co-owner Barry Pearson, Wollongong has seen a boom in bar and restaurant openings in the fast few years – some of which have been thanks to Pearson and fellow co-owner Amy Boatwright’s Disco Dining Group.

From the team behind Bar Padres, Papi’s Burger Bar, Hank’s Fried Chicken and Thirroul’s Bóveda, Bar Cabrón is a rowdy Mexican diner and tequila bar serving up snacks and share plates made using local produce, and transforming into a dance floor after dark.

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“Mexican is something we love eating at home and the whole concept, outside of being Mexican, is for it to be a fun dining experience,” says Pearson. “There’s a disco ball and we encourage people to get up and dance; it’s loud and rowdy. That’s why it’s called the Disco Dining Group.”

Food is overseen by local rising star Beau Higbid, who most recently worked at Crooked River Wines. Already the most popular dish “by far” is the tostadas – particularly one topped with raw local seafood, thick slices of jalapeño, fried shallots, tomatillo salsa and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Elsewhere, you’ll find stracciatella with fat Cantabrian anchovies and Aleppo pepper, burnt carrots with creamed honey, fried potatoes with ‘nduja aioli and a boneless half-chook that’s sous vide, then cooked over fire and served with a tangy chilli and lime butter. For dessert: charred pineapple-topped Tajin meringue and margarita sorbet.

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“The food is upper-class-style of Mexican dining. Next-level Tex-Mex food,” says Pearson. “We want people to come in and not expect much, but be blown away.” Which is exactly what’s happened. It’s been one of the group’s busiest openings to date, with the 40-seat restaurant regularly doing over 180 covers on a Saturday.

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While many customers are coming for food – and the dance floor, which is guided by a live DJ on Friday and Saturday nights – others are dropping in to try one of the 150 mezcals and tequilas lining the back bar. You can drink these neat or on the rocks (if you do, Pearson suggests the limited-edition six-year-old G4 Añejo) or shaken into one of five different flavours of margarita alongside house-made triple sec.

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Another drawcard you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a Mexican diner in regional NSW: augmented reality art that comes to life when you scan a QR code using your phone. The moving works were created by The Space Cowboy, Chayne Hultgren, an artist who also claims to hold a total of 56 Guinness World Records.

“Amy and I were on holiday in Byron Bay and we went to The Space Cowboy’s exhibition and immediately decided we wanted it in the restaurant,” says Pearson. “It’s so different to art that you just put up on the wall; it gives customers something else to do.”

Bar Cabrón, 88 Kembla St, Wollongong