Mexican Food in Chiang Mai

Mexican Food in Chiang Mai

Mexican food in Chiang Mai?

Of course the first question on everyone’s minds as soon as they get into Chiang Mai is “Where can I get some good Mexican food in Chiang Mai?” You’ve exhausted all the Thai options, now you want to destroy some fajitas. Fortunately for you the Mexican food in Chiang Mai is good, so you won’t have to feel guilty about branching out from the local cuisine.

This blog post is aimed at people who are missing a taste of home and want to get some good, authentic Mexican food. Of course, for obvious reasons authentic Mexican food in South East Asia is hard to come by. Luckily for you as someone who has lived in Thailand for four years I have sampled most of the foreign restaurants in and around Chiang Mai, and have done all the ground work for you. Below is a list of in my opinion the best Mexican restaurants in Chiang Mai in terms of quality, taste, authenticity and value.

  El Diablos:(Closed)

I heard about El Diablos for the first time once I had been here for 6 months.  I always knew it existed and would cycle past it often, you can’t miss it; As it has a huge sign out the front that simply says, ‘burritos’.  However it never crossed my mind to actually go inside, possibly because I wasn’t earning much money at the time so eating food that cost more than 100 baht was not on my radar.  A friend of mine invited me to go here so I took a deep breath and prepared to spend a disposable income that quite frankly I didn’t have.  Luckily for me I wasn’t disappointed. I was expecting the food to be average at best because of how close it is to the tourist area but I must say I was impressed by the size of the portions and the taste in general.

Like I said this place is bang in the tourist area and is not as busy as it probably should be.  It’s a nice place to go as a group, especially while travelling, to get to know each other.

Location: Just north of Thaphae Gate

Price Range: 150-250 Baht

Recommendations: Vegetable Quesadillas, Green Chili and Steak Burrito

Rating (out of 10): 7

Miguels:

One night I was with a friend of mine whom I took a Thai class with.  He was a relatively young retiree who most likely had more money than he knew what to do with.  We went out to watch a Manchester United match (and before you ask; he wasn’t English, he was from the US) and once the game was over he asked me if I wanted to come with him on the back of his bike to Miguel’s.  I hesitantly said yes because as previously mentioned money was not something that I possessed a lot of at the time.  But when I got there I saw the prices were more than fair. I played safe and got a small taco for 60 baht but once I had tried it I was hooked.  Now if anyone asks me if they want to grab Mexican food, despite having ample choice, the first word that comes out of my mouth is ‘Miguels ‘.

There is some gorgeous Mexican food here that could even rival places back home. Yeah, I’m willing to make empty promises like that!

Location: Near the northeast corner of the moat

Price Range: 60-270 Baht

Recommendations: Chicken or steak fajita taco, and of course the chicken fajitas!

Rating (out of 10): 9

Loco Elvis:

Loco Elvis didn’t exist when I first came here, it was a derelict building in a prime location.  About a year after I had first come here a friend of mine, in fact the same friend I went to El Diablo’s with, said that he knew a guy who was opening up a bar there called ‘Loco Elvis’.  When I saw the place I must admit I did wonder how long it would be before they went out of business but fair play to them they are still going strong.  One of the primary reasons for this is because of the high quality Mexican food they serve as well as the live entertainment.

This is a bar with live entertainment most nights.  Every time I’ve been here it’s always had a pretty good atmosphere.  They also serve very good burgers as well as Mexican food if you fancy something else instead.  I’ve been here when they have had karaoke nights as well, which is much more fun than you think, especially after a couple of pitchers of margaritas!

Location: opposite El Diablos (YEAH! Competition baby!!!!)

Price Range: 100-240 Baht

Rating (out of 10): 8 (based on the entertainment and the burgers)

  Salsa Kitchen:

One of my teacher friends who had been here for a year was leaving to continue his University studies in North Carolina.  I bought him a goodbye present as you do and he invited me out – his treat – to The Salsa Kitchen as it was close to where he lived.  Salsa Kitchen is not near where I live and because I had already found good Mexican food close by there was no reason for me to try any other places.  Nonetheless I was excited to try this place as I had heard good things about it. They had a wide variety on the menu so it did take a while before I decided what I was going to eat, and I had no complaints.  The place lived up to it’s reputation! So if you are further away from the other Mexican restaurants don’t fret; because Salsa Kitchen is just as good as its counterparts.

Once I did I was glad I made the jump.  It’s in a nice area of the city too so if you fancy going out for a drink or two afterwards it’s not a bad shout.

Location: Near Kad Suan Kaew shopping mall

Price Range: 159-249 Baht

Recommendations: Combination platter, but all with beef. All the beef options are pretty much winners

Rating (out of 10): 8

All restaurants are easily accessible by Songthaew (red truck cross between a taxi and a bus), private taxi or a motorcycle if you have chosen to rent one.   I hope you enjoy your experiences here and if you have any recommendations for me, please don’t hesitate to contact me and recommend them to me so I can add it to the post and also enjoy some food that may not have crossed my mind before you mentioned it.

So that’s it for The most famous Central American cuisine.  My next post will be about the best restaurants and shops within walking distance of CMStay @Sethee Court.

Written by: Lewis J F Clarke