Tag: pad thai

Lunch at Khao, Four Season resort’s restaurant in Mae Rim

North of Chiang Mai city, in Mae Rim, there is a luxurious Four Season resort. I tried their Thai restaurant for lunch one day during my early 2020 stint in Chiang Mai.

The visit

My driver escorted me to the Four Season resort. It is a 20-30 minute ride from Chiang Mai Nimman area where I was staying.

I descended a staircase to get to the restaurant.

I walked along a long patio to the entrance of the restaurant.

This is also the restaurant where the resort guests have breakfast. On weekends there is a brunch buffet.

Ultimately I settled for a table outside the air-conditioned dining room to enjoy the view.

The resort villas are semi-hidden in the lush vegetation.

The restaurant is Thai, but for lunch they also had a menu with Western dishes. I guess the guests, mostly wealthy American and Japanese, cannot live without a burger time to time.

I had a healthy salad with big pieces of Tasmanian salmon.

And I had a classic Thai dish, pad Thai with prawns.

It came with various sauces and spices.

The two dishes were very good… but… (brace yourself for the next section).

The check

These two dishes and a tea cost me 1647 THB (51 USD). And I am not even counting the transportation costs (other 500-600 THB).

It was simply overpriced. Just good for the wealthy vacationers choosing to spend their time inside the resort. In terms of cost opportunity, it really does not make sense to spend that kind of money for a couple of good but ordinary dishes.

For around that money you can have an afternoon tea for two.

Where in Mae Rim:
502 MOO 1, MAE RIM-SAMOENG OLD ROAD.

Exquisite Thai dishes at Krua Ya

I came across this restaurant in Chian Mai thanks to the Thailand 2020 Michelin Guide. It is listed as a Bib Gourmand.

The visit

I reached the restaurant for a lunch through Grab Car: it was located in the garden of a villa in a gated compound in the Southern tip of the city.

I sat under the ample veranda.

The place was bordered by a creek. It was quiet and elegant in its simplicity.

One characteristic of the restaurant is the daily special: at the time of my visit it was Southern Thai rice salad (Monday), Thai noodles rolls (Tuesday), rice noodle with pork mince (Wednesday), tumeric fried rice with deep fried fish (Thursday), steamed rice with pork spare ribs (Friday), rice with spicy shrimp salad, deep fried vegetable and mackerel (Saturday), Shanghai noodle with steam pork, ginger and garlic (Sunday). It was a Friday and I was not particularly interested in spare ribs.

I had a classic pad thai (stir-fried rice noodles) with shrimps. This is a simple dish and this was an excellent specimen. I am not a big fan of pad thai, but this was delicious.

Then I had a beef Mussaman curry with roti. The beef was tender and the curry very tasty. The crispy rotis were a perfect match.

On another visit I tried heir pad thai with a soft shell crab (more pricey at 150 THB) but absolutely worthy; the crab was really meaty.

Finally I will mention that you should not miss their schnitzel style Northern sausage. The Northern sausage is a typical Chiang Mai dish, but I have never seen it served in a nice battered crust like here.

Attached to the restaurant there was a cafe, but I did not try their cakes or drinks.

The check

The two dishes and a drink cost 295 THB (less than 10 USD). For two dishes so good it was an incredible value.

Definitely one of my favorite Thai restaurants in Chiang Mai.

Where in Chiang Mai:
122/128 Moo 6, Mueang Chiang Mai.
Website: http://www.kruaya.com/
Tip: not open for dinner, but it opens early at 9am… good for breakfast too.