This Bangkok offshoot of Sydney-born restaurant Mejico does away with Mexican restaurant cliches and instead goes for a cosmopolitan, cocktail-bar kind of feel. Comedy sombreros and cactuses are out, in favor of concrete walls, carefully mismatched furniture, colorful pillows and lots of tequila bottles.

 

The drinks menu is huge, and reads like a Wikipedia page on Mexican alcohol thanks to over 40 carefully described labels of tequila and mescal, ranging from B120 all the way up to B1,900 a shot. They also make some pretty decent cocktails, like the signature margarita (B250), which mixes El Jimador blanco tequila, mango, coconut and pandan into a sort of pina colada-margarita hybrid. It’s delicious.

 

Most of the food menu is taken up by small plates, from Mexican staples like tacos (B185-235) and nachos (B235-275) to a section devoted to raw food. The restaurant also makes big claims about the freshness of its ingredients, whether it’s sourcing them from Mexico or Thailand’s Royal Projects. We’re not doubting them, but honestly, aside from the raw food section, freshness isn’t what springs to mind when eating at Mejico. This is elegant comfort food, with plenty of frying and full-fat sauces.

 

We love the roasted whole chili (B185), which is basically a chili con carne made using chorizo sausage for a rich, decadent taste. But this is the only savory dish we’ve tried that doesn’t feel like it’s lacking a punch of flavor. The tuna tostadas (diced tuna, tiger’s milk and spiced tapioca pearls served on corn tortillas, B235), for example, don’t have that powerfully acidic kick of a good ceviche. Likewise, the deepfried jalapeno poppers’ (B235) combination of jalapeno pepper and feta cheese promises a salty-sharpness which just isn’t there.

 

Dessert is a different matter. The peanut cajeta flan (peanut-caramel flan with blueberry compote and coconut icecream, B175) is a gooey, crisp, indulgent treat far too big to finish, but tasty enough to make you try.

 

We’d definitely go back to Mejico. Not just because it’s unlike anywhere else in Bangkok, but because eating here feels like good value. A couple of small plates, which are mostly around the B200 mark, plus dessert and you’ll be happy—even more so when you look at what the same dishes cost in Sydney. Add in the quality drinks (or just a local beer at a reasonable B120) and it makes for one of Groove’s best.