When I travel to Chiang Rai I always look at Spoon & Fork magazine, the bilingual (English and Thai) supplement to Chiang Mai City Life. It is a gold mine of information and it helped me to find a great restaurant like the Redbox last year.
This time (July 2019) I noticed an article about Mr Rewat, the chef of a restaurant in Mae Rim, just 15 km north of Chiang Rai, that seemed to possess the attributes that I like: passion, creativity, and technique (with long experience in a five-star hotel kitchen). When I met him at the end of the dinner he confirmed that his goal was to provide Thai cuisine “with a twist”.
The visit
I contacted the restaurant through the Facebook page of their sister property Steak of the Day to secure a table. I had to face the evening traffic flowing out of Chiang Mai so it took me a bit longer than usual to get to Mae Rim. I recommend you to leave Chiang Mai after 7.30pm; this will avoid you some congestion on the road.
The restaurant is located on the ground floor of a modern building facing Mae Rim’s main commercial square.
Just across the street there is the other restaurant operated by chef Rewat and his wife: Steak of the day (focusing on Western comfort food).
The menu was shown to me on a whiteboard as dishes vary on a daily basis.
I started with a classic appetizer, vegetable rolls with shrimps and summer herbs. From the picture you can see the attention to every detail in the presentation of the dish. They came with a delicious homemade sweet and sour chili dip sauce (krub khun).
My second appetizer was a mousse of grouper and prawn with curry presented in oyster shells. This was a creative and absolutely delicious dish. All the elements fused together perfectly.
I had a third appetizer: deep fried prawns wrapped in noodles with fish stock jelly that added extra flavor.
The main was a lamb shank in massaman curry. This was a superb execution of a Thai classic with top ingredients. The shank was “falling off the bone” and absolutely delicious.
For dessert I ordered their sweet coconut in agar-based jelly. I would have never expected to get such an exquisitely presented dish, with the jelly molded into small clams. It was a small visual masterpiece. And also very good.
The chef’s wife spoke with me and encouraged me to try their other restaurant, Steak of the Day, which is definitely on my list for my next trip to Chiang Mai.
Most of their staff speak English, the menu is bilingual, and they seem accustomed to deal with international customers.
The check
Final check was 1,275 THB (or 41.20 USD) that was really reasonable for the quantity and quality of food that I had (honestly, two people could have easily shared the dishes).
In my opinion the restaurant is totally worth the short trip to Mae Rim from Chiang Mai. (If you do, I recommend Grabcar as a mean of transportation.)
Where in Mae Rim:
Mae Rim Plaza, T. Rim Tai, A. Mae Rim
See the Spoon & Fork review for more dishes and another article.