The new look of ‘LA COCINA’

I had a chance to try out La Cocina the other day.  I’ve seen it several times on the ground floor at The Commons, Thonglor Soi 17.  It used to have another name and more traditional food.  The owner, Mariana, comes from Mexico City (DF). 

She recently rebranded their name, LA COCINA, and is now serving what she calls “Mexican signature cuisine”.    I was skeptical when I first heard about it, just because it is so unorthodox. Let me say, This Is Not Like Any Mexican Food You’ve Had Before!!! After trying it out, I have to give her credit.  She has really made it work.

The Menu

I started out with the chips and salsa.  They serve regular corn chips and sweet potato chips, the Corn chips are from El Charro and the sweet potato chips are homemade.   The tortillas are made with sweet potatoes as well and have a light red color to them. The chips came with three different salsas: Pico de Gallo, Verde Cruda (which means raw) and Verde Avo ( with charred Jalapeno and avocados).  They were all fantastic.  Seriously, this stuff was live!!  Pico De Gallo, I know but the Verde Cruda was a citrusy tangy jalapeño salsa with a nice kick to it, and the Verde Avo was a charred jalapeño and avocado blend that was awesome.  It was like a spicy guacamole, something I have never had before.  When you go, don’t skip these.

They also serve Gazpacho, and this would be the part where I said I was skeptical at first, but to my surprise, it was rather tasty.  I don’t even really like gazpacho, but this was good.  It was fresh and tangy, felt like your mouth came alive with each spoonful.  It’s a creamy tomato flavor bomb that I took pleasure in trying. The recipe is made to give you extra power, with kale and ginger in there to max your vitamins level.

I tried the ceviche as well, to get things going. It is labeled on the menu as Atun.  Fresh tuna with some red onion and avocado, a little green mango  accompanied by a chilli ash dressing.  This quite different from the usual ceviche you get at most places and by different, I mean, better!!  It came with a brown Mexican rice as opposed to the usual orange.  The rice tasted good, big and kinda puffed up. It tasted healthy as it is organic (sourced at WB farm) and prepared pilaf style with some coriander seeds!! Delicious and yes nutritious!

The Tacos

Last, I tried a few different tacos, if you can call them that.  These things looked more like works of art than tacos.  I guess if I were to try and imagine a 5 star taco, this would be it.  I had never seen anything like these before with little cauliflowers and carrots in them.  It kinda blew my mind.  The tortillas are made with organic corn flour and sweet potatoes for super energy. The first was the Guerrero, cactus, cheese, kale, avocado and salsa.  I’m not a vegetarian, but this was a pretty damn good taco.

The second was called, Caribbean Boy.  It’s grilled white snapper, yam, sautéed jalapeños and onions, avocado, salsa and chapulines (look it up).  I didn’t see any chapulines in there, but I can tell you the fish was cooked beautifully.  It was fresh with good flavor, just a nice mixture all rolled together.  It was marinated in this garlicky oil they call “al mojo de ajo”.

The final taco was the Mayita.  It’s farm raised pork in a recado blanco  with homemade pickled veggies (easbeche), avocado salsa, and charred onions.  I could have eaten several of these.  Really smooth taste with that nice kick.

Conclusion

Overall, I thought La Cocina was a nice surprise.  I think it’s worth mentioning that they use all organic vegetables from up in Chang Mai and can taste it!!  It’s like none other and I would recommend trying it out if you get the chance.  They’re open for deliveries daily. 

NOTE : With the curfew announcement the last order is 8:45pm

Our additional reviews on Mexican Restaurants