Phanganist and Leo Beer invited our artist friend Christopher Thomas down to Mexican restaurant Ando Loco for a fiesta feast and chat with the man himself Ando.
We found out more about this well known Koh Phangan eatery and hangout…
Originally from Chicago, Ando has had his restaurant for eleven years now and it is one of the first places you will hear about when you come.
He was a frequent visitor to the island before permanently moving here thirteen years ago.
“It was the usual step in chewing gum situation with the island, I would always keep coming back!”
Why did you decide to open a Mexican restaurant?
When I was growing up my mum was a bartender in a Mexican restaurant, I was six or seven and started helping out.
There are about one million Mexicans in Chicago so I was always surrounded by the culture. The only place with more tortilla factories is Mexico city itself!
During my second year in Thailand I ordered a chicken taco and all it was was white bread, chicken and processed cheese, not nice!
It was a passion of mine, I wanted to give travellers some proper Mexican food.
Ando ships all of the sauces in like Mexican chillies and the dry spices. He has even been known to smuggle tequila!
“The important thing is that absolutely everything is homemade, we fire roast the tomatoes, onion and garlic, this burns the skins to get that earthy flavour for the base sauces.
There’s a lot of prepping and the kitchen is busy all of the time with this, there are not many things on the menu that haven’t been marinated or roasted.
Our most common complaint is that the food comes too fast! But that’s because there’s a lot of hard work gone into the prepping beforehand”.
So what kind of atmosphere do you like to create?
It’s a tropical, Mexican beer garden.
I’m crazy about my plants and planted and grew everything myself, my manager always chops things down whilst I am away - I hate that, ha-ha.
We’ve expanded three times, it used to just be five tables with umbrellas but now we have more coverage with the roof.
All of these boulders you see come from Haad Rin, the road to Haad Rin used to be one lane and when they were putting the second lane in they had to dynamite all of the granite so these rocks are from the hills!
It seems like you get a lot of regulars…
Yes, thirty Baht Saturday tacos is popular and we’ve started doing fishbowl Fridays which is one hundred Baht off a fishbowl.
I think it’s because I pour the strongest drinks! All drinks have a bare minimum of 45cl which is some of the most alcohol that doesn’t come in a plastic bucket.
We were also joined by Andos girlfriend Fern and employee Dani who has worked for Ando for two years now and acts as his ‘eyes and ears’.
Ando made us one of his famous margaritas which is made with triple sec that they make themselves using sour oranges that grow on site and it’s the only one on Phangan that has ‘real’ tequila in it.
“We use six secret ingredients and teach the staff exactly how to make it”
Ando showed us his special margarita jug with all of the measurements.
So what are your plans with Ando Loco for the future?
Well we know that we have to move in two years so I hope to create the same great food in a different spot.
Dani adds - ‘Koh Phangan is where we’re staying though’.
And finally Ando, what is your life philosophy?
Don’t get caught!
It was a lovely afternoon at Ando Loco’s, we enjoyed fish tacos, nachos and sweet potato fries with yummy homemade garlic aioli to start with.
Then Ando brought us out a ‘Fiesta’ which is a sample platter including the ‘Ando cup’. The Ando cup is what Ando eats when he’s busy and they finally put it on the menu, it’s delicious!
With the Fiesta you also get one of their famous margaritas!
If for any reason you haven't been to Ando Loco's already then we suggest you get down there pronto!
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