El Cocinero at Novena Regency

The friends have mentioned about the decent quesadillas and tacos at this eatery. After the friends and I checked out Barry's latest outlet at Orchard, we stopped by El Cocinero at Novena Regency for lunch. There's a new branch at Mediapolis, but this one at Novena is more convenient for us. 

We never need mind-blowing tacos and quesadillas. To me, these are basic foods that I prefer, as great alternatives to burgers and pizzas. Hahahah. So to me, tacos and quesadillas simply needed to be super edible and reasonably priced. That said, I really miss tamales. I haven't found a good one here.

El Cocinero is located inside the mall alongside the ground level shops. Many shops are still devoid of tenants. The eatery's space is mostly used for cooking. The limited seating indoors has moved outside. There're tables and chairs set up along the narrow corridor for the patrons of El Cocinero. However, the exhaust fans on this ground floor are non-existent and the ventilation isn't ideal. So when we finished lunch, faint smells of grease and grill lingered on our clothes, face masks and hair. 

We shared a portion of carnitas quesadillas, a large bowl of guacamole, tacos of picadillo (ground beef and potatoes) and lengua (ox tongue). And two portions of baja fish tacos! It was quite a fair bit of food for three people! I gave in to a bottle of guava-flavored Jarritos. Kekekek. Too bad the eatery had no ice-cubes to offer along with the chilled bottle. The food was honestly rather satisfying. Decent enough for us to return on another day to eat these again.