Thai Meal fit for a King

It was not only our last night in Chiang Mai, but also our wedding anniversary, so tonight called for something very special indeed.

So we booked a table at Le Grand Lanna at the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi which has apparently entertained both the King of Thailand and Princess Diana in its time (well if it's good enough for royalty, it should just about do for the Greedy Gluttons!) It was also awarded Best Thai Restaurant in both 2004 & 2005 by Thailand Tatler Magazine, so we were expecting great things.

The Dharma Dhevi is designed to recreate a Chiang, a self contained city, inspired by Lanna architecture and from the moment we crossed the moat and entered the central square of this vast hotel, we were mesmerised. This must be one of the most breathtaking hotels in the world. A short ride on the back of a golf buggy led us up the torch-lit drive towards the main hotel bar for pre-dinner drinks, and it was hard not to be wowed by the golden stupas and domes towering above us.

The setting for dinner in Le Grand Lanna restaurant was no less magical - wooden decking overlooking lush tropical gardens with up-lit fountains and statues at every turn.

The menu choice was as vast as the hotel grounds. We were tempted by a set banquet, but being picky as well as greedy, we decided to adapt it to our own tastes, choosing our own dishes, whilst obviously not diminishing the number of dishes.

So we shared a couple of starters - Moo Ping – Charcoal grilled marinated pork skewers, accompanied by roasted chilli dip, and Thord Man Goong – Deep-fried prawn patties with plum sauce. Whilst the Moo Ping were tasty enough, the prawn patties were awesome - the kind of dish that future cravings are made of.

Soup was next up for the banquet, and we chose the Tom Yam Goong – Spicy river prawn soup with herbs and straw mushrooms. You know, this just wasn't that great - it was a bit salty and fishy for my liking. I know you could argue that I could have guessed that that would be the case, but I'm afraid I didn't finish it - there were too many other goodies to follow to waste my appetite on something I wasn't really enjoying.

So then to the main courses - the banquet menu had three, so we chose three: Pla Thord Sam Ros - Deep-fried sea bass accompanied by sweet-sour chilli sauce,

Phad Gra-Prao Gai – Stir-fried chicken with hot basil leaves and chillies,

and our newly-found favourite Thai dish of all time Pa-Naeng Nuea – Creamy red curry with beef... would it live up to the Greedy Gluttons' own version from the Khao Hom Cookery School? You know what - it did, it was actually even better than the one we made, and that is saying something... this was an amazing Beef Panang Curry...

So yes, I'm happy to say that this restaurant really did live up to expectations and made for a very special and memorable anniversary meal.

And then for dessert... don’t be silly... did you just see how much we ate?...

Le Grand Lanna, Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai - http://www.mandarinoriental.com/chiangmai/

Tasty Thai

After a wander along the Sunday Walking Street market and snacking on the odd street-stall goody, we decided it was time for a proper meal. We were just along the road from The House, where we ate last night (See Fusion Fare below), and so decided to try out their next-door sister restaurant, Ginger. A very different set-up all together from The House, Ginger shares its premises with a boutique of the same name, selling jewellery and home items, and has more of a coffee-shop ambience. The food is strictly Thai, although you can also order from The House menu, and also from that of their other venture, a Moroccan Tapas bar.

We chose Thai, and shared the Pork and Prawn Parcels with a Plum Sauce to begin, which did not disappoint. The light crisp batter was deliciously crunchy when bitten into, and the sweet plum sauce was the perfect accompaniment to the gorgeously sticky insides.

We followed these up with a very tasty Pan Fried Sea Bass with Green Peppercorns and Basil, and a Red Beef Curry.

The red curry was a more watery dish than the Beef Panang we had made at the Kao Hom Cookery School previously, and we concluded that we prefer the thicker Panang Style curry, although this one was still very good.

So another successful Thai Meal… although we did seem to spend rather a long time comparing and then congratulating ourselves on what great chefs we had been the day before…

Ginger, 199 Moonmuang Rd, Chiang Mai

Fusion Fare

Just walking into The House, we knew we were in for a special evening. Tucked back from the busy Moonmuang Road, in a renovated 1930s house, the romantic ambience was evident from the outset and the staff immediately welcoming. The main restaurant of The House takes up the ground floor, and presents an elegant dining area with high ceilings, rattan chairs and white linen-clad tables. A visit to the restrooms revealed candle-lined stairs leading to cosy private rooms with cushioned sofas, which looked just perfect to kick back in with a glass of chilled wine. There was even a live acoustic guitarist to accompany your meal, although I did feel it was a bit much when he started to pluck out strains of 80s answer-machine favourite, Greensleeves!

The Fusion menu made an interesting read. The chef, although local, was apparently trained in Europe which shows in the dishes, although they are obviously inspired by local ingredients and flavours.

I opted for a starter of an Avocado Salad with Crab and Prawn and a Chipotle Dressing (chipotle is a Mexican smoked jalapeno pepper, in case you were wondering),

while Mr Greedy Glutton chose the U.S Scallops on Green Pea Puree and Parmesan Chip with Truffle Oil.

Great care had obviously gone into devising an interesting presentation for the dishes – with particular emphasis on piling everything high. Unfortunately the same care hadn’t been afforded the flavour of the dishes – the Avocado Salad lacked the kick that the Chipotle Dressing could have provided, whilst the Parmesan Chip overpowered the Scallops starter (although once the Chip had been exiled to the side of the plate, the Scallops and Pea Purée were actually very tasty).

A similar experience followed with the main courses – mine being Grilled Marinated Lamb Cutlets with Sautéed Zucchini, Aubergine, Capsicum, Tomato, Basil and Fried Potato with a Rosemary Sauce,

and Mr Greedy Glutton testing the Fusion menu to its max with a Pork Tenderloin wrapped with Pancetta, Served with Yellow Pepper Puree and Mango and Passion Fruit Sauce. We couldn’t quite decide what the latter was meant to portray with its carrot horns and pureed tail, but it definitely looked mythological.

Unfortunately, once again, the flavour of the dishes was not the stuff to inspire mythological legends - but they were both pleasant enough.

We finished off by sharing a double serving of Crème Brulée – the first with a plain burnt top (burnt being the operative word) and the second with a raspberry coulis.

The food, although not bad, wouldn’t be enough to inspire me to return to this restaurant. The ambience however, would. It’s one of those places that just makes you feel like you’re celebrating a special occasion… and that in itself made for a very enjoyable evening...

The House, 199 Moonmuang Rd, Chiang Mai

DIY Thai

I don’t normally write about food we’ve cooked ourselves, but I’m making an exception today to recount our experiences of the Kao Hom Cookery School in Chiang Mai. This was the first time we’d ever done a cookery class and we were blown away not only by how much fun we had, but just how amazingly tasty the food was… and we cooked it all ourselves (with a little help from a few friends!)

The school itself was in a beautiful setting - a Lanna style outdoor kitchen with work stations and cookers, surrounded by a herb and vegetable garden and an orchard. Our teacher was the charming and patient Tim, the owner of Kao Hom.

First up on the menu was Kai Ho Bai Tei or Chicken Wrapped in Pandanus Leaves with Home Made Chilli Sauce. This involved marinating the chicken in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, white wine, white pepper, garlic and coriander roots before wrapping it in the Pandanus Leaves (an art-form in itself) and then deep-frying them in the wok.

The Chilli Sauce couldn’t have been easier and we have now sworn never to buy shop-made chilli sauce again! (Yeah, we’ll see how long that little resolution lasts…) Sugar, vinegar, water and salt boiled down to a syrup in a saucepan and allowed to cool before adding in pounded garlic and red chillis.

The results were truly outstanding – we had this dish once before in a restaurant in Bintan, but let me tell you – our version kicked butt!

Next up was Yum Woonsen, a Glass Noodle Salad. This had all sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients thrown in – Thai pork sausage, wood ear mushrooms, white fungus, dried shrimps, pork mince and shrimps. These were all boiled in a sieve in a pan of boiling water for various lengths of time before being tossed together with the noodles. What really made the dish though was the Dressing – sounds simple enough – fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, garlic and chillis but oh, so delicious!

The next dish, the Panang Neua or Beef Panang Curry, was the winner of the day. A thick, creamy red beef curry, made doubly delicious by the fresh home-made red curry paste (I confess we didn’t make the curry paste ourselves), freshly squeezed coconut milk and freshly ground peanuts. Oh yes, believe me, there is a curry God! We could have stayed all day just eating this dish.

But no, we had dessert to attend to - Sa-koo Piak or Tapioca Pearls with Young Coconut Flesh. This was one time I wasn’t sorry to have pigged out before the dessert – it really wasn’t that great, especially the bizarre salty coconut milk that was poured over the top. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste. Personally I’d rather acquire more of the Beef Panang Curry...

If we could cook this well at home, we’d never need to go to a restaurant again… but where would be the fun in that? And what on earth would I blog about?…

Kao Hom Cookery School, Chiang Mai – www.kaohom.com

A Riverside Feast

Several Singha beers down the line (see ‘Riverside Beers’ below) and we realized that we had been sitting at the Riverside bar and restaurant for so long that it was now dinner time. Luckily they have a vast menu, and after trawling through all 158 tempting Thai dishes, we finally made a decision.

We dove straight in with some Spring Rolls to start with:



and followed them up with Deep Fried Pieces of 'Pla Kapong' (Sea Bass) sautéed in Chilli Sauce:



a Spicy Green Curry with Chicken Curry:



and Roasted Spareribs in Honey with 'SomTam' (Spicy Green Papaya Salad) with Shrimps:



It was all fairly tasty (except the spring rolls were a bit too stodgy for my liking)... although I'm guessing most things would be after the vast amount of Singha we had sunk...

The Riverside Bar & Restaurant, Chiang Mai - http://www.theriversidechiangmai.com/

Riverside Beers

After an afternoon of pounding the busy Chiang Mai streets, we stopped for some foot reflexology which strangely put us in a mood for beer… must have been the pressure points they were pushing. We took a wander towards the river and our beer-homing beacons led us to the Riverside bar and restaurant.

We settled ourselves in on the verandah overlooking the river, ordered up some Singha beer, and told ourselves we'd rest for an hour or so before continuing with the sightseeing.

Well, we were still there well into the night sinking those Singha beers... those Reflexology ladies sure know how to make you thirsty...

The Riverside Bar & Resturant, Chiang Mai - http://www.theriversidechiangmai.com/

A Peaceful Haven

We were in Chiang Mai for the weekend and having recovered from our 4:30am start to catch our flight, we headed into town to see the sights. Having wandered around the impressive Wat Phra Singh, we realised it was lunch time and so found ourselves in the nearby Rachmankha hotel and its little oasis of a courtyard, hidden away from the bustle of the Chiang Mai streets. The crisp white linen tablecloths and cut crystal glasses were a world away from what we were expecting from our first Thai meal in Thailand, but the interesting menu and the traditional music tinkling through the courtyard encouraged us to stay.

The menu focused mainly on Thai dishes, with the odd influence from its neighbouring countries, so we started with Fish Cakes from Myanmar – again, not what we were expecting looking more like Indian Bhajis than Thai Fish Cakes, but they were delicious all the same.



Alongside these we enjoyed a Spicy Thai Salad with Pomelo Segments and Fresh Prawns which was pleasantly spicy and zesty, although we felt a little aggrieved that it only stretched to two prawns! The dressing also made for a tasty dip for the Fish Cakes which weren’t afforded their own and were slightly dry without.



We followed up with another Thai dish – Dry Braised Chicken Sautéed with Fresh Herbs, Lemongrass, Galangal, Shallots and Garlic which was packed full of flavour and wolfed down happily with a portion of rice.



It wasn’t until later when we passed another nice looking restaurant offering a 7 course set meal for two for the same price as our Spicy Salad that we realised quite how expensive our lunch was in Thailand terms… but we enjoyed the hour of peace and quiet in this little haven… and we were on holiday after all…


Rachamankha, Chiang Mai – http://www.rachamankha.com/