BANGKOK RESTAURANT

The Missing Burro

Mexican food in a lovely garden ambience. 

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

From a shipping container-turned-kitchen, two Mexican brothers serve up Yucatan cuisine to a sprinkling of tables in a peaceful garden. The panuchos de cochinita offer a true taste of Mexico: corn tortillas filled with roasted pork marinated in achiote, sour orange and spices, cooked in a banana leaf. The Gringa is a decadent queso cheese and meat-filled tortilla, while the Chilequeso is more of the good stuff in a casserole of perfectly cooked onions, peppers and tomatoes. It all comes with salsa that packs a good kick and dollop of sour cream.

 

The Missing Burro is nestled in a garden down the surprisingly peaceful and residential Thonglor Soi 7, far from the bustle of the main drag. Despite the location, the food’s so good in-the-know crowds have taken notice and we highly recommend you book ahead.

From a shipping container-turned-kitchen, the Mexican owners, two brothers, serve up traditional Yucatan cuisine to a sprinkling of tables in the garden, and two more containers piled atop one another for some indoor seating. They will have you awash in frothy, cinnamon-topped pisco sours (B300) and strong, smoky mezcal cocktails (the “excentrico,” B300) if you at all listen to their recommendations. Even teetotallers can go wild with horchata (B80), a non-dairy rice drink with a slightly bubbly mouthfeel.

Let’s get the one dish we wouldn’t reorder out of the way, the stodgy, one-dimensional and mushy enchiladas (B300). Everything else that we’ve tried is amazing. For the carnitas (B280), they top coarse, corn tortillas with pork fried in lard, orange, beer and spices. It tastes as good as it sounds but you’ll need cheese to go with that. The gringa (B330) is a decadent queso cheese and meat-filled tortilla, while the chilequeso (B240) is more of the good stuff in a casserole of perfectly cooked onions, peppers and tomatoes. It all comes with salsa that packs a good kick and dollop of sour cream.

Given how quickly they dish out the guacamole (B180), and the fact that it’s refrigerator cold, we doubt it’s made a la minute. But does it need to be? It tastes good enough. The two brothers are ably supported by smiling servers, just count a bit more time to get those carefully-crafted cocktails.

Given the limited indoor seating, snagging a spot at Burro when torrential rain and crushing heat befall the capital is going to get very difficult. Nor is the interior of a narrow shipping container that pleasant a setting. Let’s hope they’ll add an awning and some powerful fans while maintaining the garden barbecue vibe. An alfresco dinner spent loading up on delicious, reasonably-priced comfort food and strong drinks is about as good an evening as we could hope for.


This review took place in January 2017 and is based on a visit to the restaurant without the restaurant's knowledge. For more on BK's review policy, click here.

Venue Details
Address: The Missing Burro, 145 Thong Lor Soi 7, Bangkok, Thailand
Phone: 090-913-2131
Website: www.facebook.com/themissingburro
Area: Phloen Chit
Cuisine: Mexican
Open since: September, 2016
Opening hours: daily 4-10pm
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