Fern Forest Cafe

Singharaj Soi 4
Chiang Mai


Cakes, Coffee, Snacks

Its not often that I find a dessert that I really like, especially over here. The cakes tend to be tasteless, covered in this weird white cream and small creatures made of "icing". And then there are the Thai desserts which are a bit better - coconut sticky rice or steamed coconut sweets. Very tasty but not the thing to cure a sweet-craving I have found.

This was all truth until we came across Fern Forest Cafe one day. Mick and I were looking for a nice spot for a coffee shake instead of going to our usual spots and we tried this place. Its cute, away from a main road and it has the best cakes in the WHOLE of Chiang Mai. And I am not exaggerating when I say that! Definitely worth checking out with that someone special...and you can also buy whole cakes for birthdays/parties/anything!

Highlights
White Chocolate Cheesecake
Banoffee Pie
Bacon & Cheese Quiche

M Italian Cuisine

M Italian Cuisine
Soi 3, Suthep Road (past Canal Road), Chiang Mai

Pizza, pasta, cocktails, desserts


If you are after simple, authentic and delicious food, this is a great spot to know about. Especially if you dont want to pay crazy prices for it! This restaurant is located down a soi in a cute little garden. The staff are polite and unobtrusive, the food is always great and there is enough privacy for a romantic night.

Meals come in under 200 baht for mains (steak, pork, chicken, fish) - all which are served with a sauce of choice on the side and a piece of bread - pasta dishes and pizza a little less. They do great cocktails for really cheap - 40-70baht and have now got dessert specials too.

Highlights
Pork chop with peppercorn sauce
Lasagne
Salmon with pesto sauce
Beef steak with blue cheese sauce

Salsa Kitchen

Salsa Kitchen

Huay Kaew Road (across from Shell Station), Chiang Mai

www.thesalsakitchen.com

Fajitas,enchiladas, mexican dips and corn chips.
Free WiFi


The Salsa Kitchen is a bit of an institution in Chiang Mai. Especially for the expats. It serves HUGE plates of Mexican and Caribbean dishes (like the size you would get back home) such as enchiladas, tacos, fajitas, ribs plus really good margaritas. Its a cosy spot with plenty of seats inside where there is also aircon, plus seats outside for those who are content to breath the car fumes.


The platters are a great option, but probably best shared between two. You get a choice of 3 items, such as an enchilada, burrito, taco, quesadilla and a chimichanga (veg/chicken/pork or beef) and its served with salad and salsa. Coming in under 190 baht per platter its great value and only big eaters will be able to finish. Also worth a mention is the margarita and sangria jugs which at a smidge over 300 baht, very good value and enough to get most people giggly.


Highlighs
Pork Chimichanga
Chilli Cheese Dip
Smoked Pork Ribs
Vegetarian Taco
Margaritas

Shan Noodle Shop 999 (Yangon)

Shan Noodle Shop 999

130B, 34th Street, Yangon

Shan noodle soups, salads and other Burmese specialities

This is a small, hole in the wall noodle shop that is heaven. The creamy tastes and friendly staff are great and the food is really yum.

I was introduced to the incredible tasting Shan tofu noodle soup last year in Chiang Mai and i am a HUGE fan of it. being able to eat it in Burma was great - it was creamier, tastier and heartier than the one I had in Chiang Mai especially with the pickled veges on the top of the soup.

Highlights
Creamy tofu soup - Hsan Hkauk Swè
Noodle Salads
Fried tofu fritters - Hpu Gyaw

T-Smile Cafe

T-Smile Cafe
Singharat Soi 3, Chiang Mai

Thai food, fruit shakes, breakfast,cocktails
Free WiFi

TSmile is a great little cafe inside the old city in Chiang Mai run by two great girls, Tikky and Joy. The food is always fresh and the service is fast and sweet.

Meals come in under 40 baht and fruit shakes/coffee shakes are a steal at 25 baht. They do takeaway and have a specials menu too. Keep an eye out for their "Food Parties" - Tikky and Joy cook up a feast and serve it buffet style for less than 100 baht! YUM.

Its not a place frequented by many backpackers as its in a different part of town, but it has a lot of regulars - both thai and farang alike.


Highlights:
Pad See Ew
Crispy Morning Glory Salad
Laab
Black Egg Salad
Coffee Shakes

BBQ Madness

Thai BBQ - Moogataw

Today is the first day of seeing rains drizzle all day over Chiang Mai and its been wonderful to sit back and enjoy it. This week has been pretty busy with farwells, dinners and openings.

Farewells to Courtney - you'll be missed! She's pictured here with Nong :)

Courtney was over volunteering through an organisation called Cultural Canvas Thailand (CCT) who i would not recommend anyone go through. Firstly, the fees she had to pay to be a volunteer through them were absolutely mental. 3 weeks volunteering and she had to pay $1900 - not including the costs of her flights. Of that, Freedom House got a measly $100. She was not happy at all with the service of the organisation and the final nail in the coffin would have been when she was leaving and the arranged transport to the airport didn't arrive when it was supposed to so she had to jump in a tuk tuk. Anywho, Courtney is a 27 yr old gal from Coffs Harbour who's the mum to a 4 year old who was able to be looked after by her family while she was away. She def missed him but also was going to miss the Chiang Mai lifestyle. So farwell! Keep in touch ;)

We also did some pretty great dinners this week - Seafood at the Anudan markets, northern thailand specialties at Riverside (Pic on the left from Riverside with Lisa, Nong, Or and Nick in the front & of course Courtney, Mick and I in the back) and then last night, the most awesome of all dinners - Thai BBQ. Holy moley. This shit was insane! We were going out for a final farwell dinner for Courtney - Mick, myself, Nong and Courtney - and got recommended to head to this place that was out of this world!


Firstly, the four of us jumped into a SongTao to this spot called "Hillside Condo 4". From there we wandered down this dark laneway that was illuminated by fluorescent lights into darkness. Once the laneway was over, it opened into this massive dirt area - most likely a car park or just a large area of nothing. We could hear this noise- children playing, the rumble of many voices. And the smells of delicious foods getting cooked.

When we walked into the open air venue, i was absolutely dumbfounded. I have never seen a place like this before. As large as...2 football fields, the size of a Bunnings, but open at the sides and packed to the rafters with people. Row after row of wooden tables and benches, all with little cookers on them - like a hot pot with a bbq in the centre. And the noise of people talking, clanging, singing (there was a stage with a performer on it) all going at the same time.


**blogger is being silly so will finish this later**
***For some reason i can't upload pics - will get mick to fix the internet for me later***

and continuing...

In the centre of the room there were these tables dividing the room. And stretching across the width of the room was container after container of all sorts of meat, vegetables, seafood, salads, desserts (the weird asian style ones) that were getting consumed at a great rate. INSANE!! Never have i seen a buffet of such magnitude. Quite impressive.

We all grabbed our little plates and stacked them up with all sorts of tasty delights with Nong getting the mysterious ones to tempt us, though she couldnt actually tell us what they were. LOL. I believe most of the unknown items were made from seafood or tofu. But who really knows! We were quite the site too - 3 foreigners amongst a sea of locals, but thats got to be a good sign.

The food, was so good. It was like hotpot but better. Nong had these little pieces of pure fat that had been cut into cubes. It was actual animal fat. Gelatinous, proteiney. Revolting but required. this was places at the top of the curved plate to grease up the rest of the grill plate for cooking.Prawns, pork, chicken, beef all cooked on the grill while the soupy goodness got the run off from the grill and was stacked full of vermicelli noodles, morning glory, mushrooms etc.

After about 2 hours of continuous eating and cooking, we all looked up from our dirtied plates to realise that we were one of say 5 other tables that were left. Somehow, without us noticing, the whole place had consumed, and left...

We skulled the last of our Leo's and headed out - all up the bill for 4 of us came to 840 baht. How much is that you ask? Just shy of $30. SO GOOD!!!

Would definitely do again. And visitors - im looking at you Becy/Sean/Sara and you Bonnie/Tom and also you Mum/A.Helen/Claud...we will be taking you there.

Seafood in Chiang Mai

I never used to be a big fan of seafood which must have been quite a pain for my parents as we grew up beside the sea in a coastal town in NSW Australia. But these days I LOVE seafood, of most varieties.

One of Mick and my favourite seafood varieties to consume is the mud crab (right) and we can't go to any of the seafood places here in CM without ordering one.
Most of the places seem bewildered at the fact that we just want the crab steamed, on its own, without sauce. A very popular style here is with either a curry egg sauce or with a spicy noodle which are both nice but I do wonder if the crabs they use for those sort of dishes tend to be the old crabs.

The BBQ fish (left) is also an excellent choice if you are ordering seafood here. The fish is opened up flat and grilled to perfection and I am pretty sure that they also baste it with soy so it comes out absolutely incredibly juicy and succulent.

Oysters here are out of this world (see right). They are not only massive, bigger than any oyster you will ever see, but they are packed with flavour and so delicate too. They are served with a range of condiments that you eat with the oyster all at the same time - you get oyster with some chilli jam, fried shallots, lime and a special dipping sauce made with chilli, lime juice, garlic and fish sauce. You then cram it all in your mouth and it is amazing! Follow it with a nibble of the green leaf thing that you can see on the plate and you will be amazed.

BBQ prawns, curries, salads and stir fries also feature heavily on the menu and we are trying to work our way through the menu at our favourite seafood spots. YUM!