I found this restaurant through the Thailand 2020 Michelin Guide. What a find! The restaurant is a few kilometers away from downtown Chiang Mai hidden in a maze of alleys of a residential area. But it was not a problem to get there through Grab Car. It is called Saiyut and Doctor Sai Kitchen or sometimes Ajarn Saiyud’s Kitchen (by Doctor Sai). Saiyut and Sai, mother and daughter, are at the helm of this restaurant. Saiyut was a prominent teacher in culinary arts in Northern Thailand for many decades.
The visit
I went for the first time for lunch on a weekend. The restaurant was very busy but they found a table for me in the garden and it was actually nice.
They also have indoor dining that I experience on my next visit.
The menu is profusely illustrated, with English translations, and reads like a treatise. Most dishes can be chosen either in small or large size. All the dishes pictured in this review are small size (everything is relative… I did not find them small at all).
I was immediately handed a free appetizer: pineapple and cane sugar.
I had their spicy ginger soup with seabass. There were two options for the soup, I had the one with red onions, coriander root, pepper, and shrimp paste; the soup was seasoned with fish sauce and plum sugar. And the seabass pieces were big and meaty.
The next dish was an invention of Ajarn Saiyud: deep fried curry mousse with fish meat. It was simply delicious.
Then I needed to try one of their curries. The one I had was with stir-fried chili paste with prawns. The prawns were very big, premium quality.
Finally I tried their deep-fried prawns. Again, each prawn was big and meaty and they were only lightly fried, so they did not result in something hard to eat.
The dessert was complimentary: fermented banana in a chocolate sauce. It was really good.
I went back with a friend and we had a few dishes from a set menu. The set menus available are actually just recommendations on how to combine various dishes. They do not have a special price.
One dish was stir-fried chili paste with New Zealand mussels. Again, I was impressed by the quality of the main ingredient, in this case the mussels. The spicy, sour and salty flavors blended splendidly thanks to the coconut milk. My friend complained that the mussel flavor did not emerge; personally I was very happy with this dish.
There was a classic Thai spicy soup with mixed vegetables and prawns. All ingredients were clearly fresh. Perhaps the least interesting dish of the dinner, yet a perfectly executed dish.
There were some deep-fried vegetables. I only complain that we should have ordered more!
We were served some outstanding dip sauces (shrimp paste and crab spawn chili spawn) served with beautifully displayed and cut vegetables.
Finally a very special dish was a herbal dip with coconut milk and a lot of blue crab meat.
And there were some more fresh vegetables.
The complimentary dessert was once again fermented banana, but this time in brown sugar sauce (less tasty than the one with chocolate).
A young staff member spoke English and was very attentive in explaining the dishes and providing recommendations.
The check
My first visit, alone, but with enough food for two people, cost 663 THB (21 USD).
The second visit was 925 THB (30 USD) for a big meal for two people. The crab dip was alone 295 THB.
As you may guess, I liked it a lot. These two meals were wonderful experiences. While many of these are classic Thai (or Northern Thai) dishes, the ingredients, preparation, and presentation turned them into high cuisine in my eyes.
This place is a national treasure and so are the two women that govern the kitchen.
I will mention at the end that in the Thailand 2020 Michelin Guide it is listed as a Bib Gourmand. Travesty. This place would deserve at least one star.
Where in Chiang Mai:
32 Chotana Soi 12 Road, Mueang Chiang Mai.