Volume 01

Monclovita la Bella

Where it begins. Charcoal, comal, and a mother's kitchen.

Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico · 37 pages · Editor: Mama Lalis (Oralia)

Photography by Rhass

Issue 01 — Monclovita la Bella

The opening volume of Querida Magazine. Mama Lalis (Oralia) writes the editor’s letter; Obed walks the reader through Monclova — Monclovita la Bella — the small Northern town in the state of Coahuila where the brand’s flavours were first lived, not learned.

Why Monclova matters to Querida

Querida Mexican & Friends opened in Al Barsha 1, Dubai in April 2024, but the kitchen’s roots run through one specific town: Monclova, Coahuila. It’s not a tourist destination. It’s where Mama Lalis cooked Sunday barbacoa for her family for thirty years before her son Obed left for Dubai. Most of the dishes on the Querida menu — the slow-cooked birria that becomes the Plato de Birria and the original Tacazo, the asada de Monclova that anchors the taco program, the salsa martajada that comes to every table — are recipes from her kitchen, unmodified. Volume 01 is the brand’s origin map, drawn carefully so anyone reading from Al Barsha can walk Monclova in their head while they wait for their order.

The Northern state of Coahuila sits south of Texas, in Mexico’s high desert. The cuisine is meat-forward, smoke-driven, and patient. Comal-toasted chiles (guajillo, ancho, chile de árbol) form the base of every braise. Beef is the dominant protein — slow-cooked for six hours in birria, charred over mesquite for asada, simmered overnight for barbacoa. The corn tortilla is hand-pressed; the salsa is martajada — coarsely ground with a molcajete, never blended smooth. These are the rules Querida took from Monclova and brought to Dubai. No shortcuts.

In this issue

Voice

Spanish in italics. Mi casa, tu casa. No olvide sus raíces. Cabrito, masa, consommé. Sentences short and grounded.

Food, for us, is not only to be tasted — it’s to be felt.

Closing

Welcome to Querida. One taco at a time.

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