Akaligo

The occasion was one of our friends got a 50% discount card for dining outlets at the gorgeous Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, one of the most beautiful (and most expensive, perhaps), resorts in town. An opportunity not to be missed. : )

So there we were, enjoying the luxurious ambiance, impeccable service and some wonderful food. Akaligo happens to serve Mediterranean cuisine, which sounds rather exotic, doesn't it? These are actually foods from countries like Greece, Italy, France, and also includes places like Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Morocco.

Now, I don't know if all these countries' cuisines are represented on the Akaligo menu, but there were plenty of Italian, at least in terms of pasta...and the pasta we had were wonderful, some of the nicest I've had. The pastas themselves were homemade, and the the sauces were concentrated with flavour. I chose Fetuccini Marinara (above photo). Although I found the dish quite salty, it was still very delicious.

I think I'm getting ahead of myself here though, because I just realised I haven't mentioned our entree/starters yet. We decided to order two salads to share.

Ceasar Salad is always a safe choice, not that I was worried! The dressing was lovely, and there were plenty of anchovies and Parmasan cheese.

The interesting one, though was the Watermelon Salad (above). Yes, the Watermelon Salad - consisting of watermelon, olives and ricotta cheese, served with olive oil. It was a mixture of sweet, slightly tangy and salty tastes, and turned out to be quite nice and very refreshing. We were in air-conditioning during our dinner, but I think it will make a perfect light lunch on a hot summer's day.

The bill turned out to be 2200 baht for 6 people, no alcohol, which worked out to be approx. 360 baht per person, including the 50% discount.

When you go to Akaligo Restaurant, a buggy will pick you up from the main gate of the resort and take you back down again. Since there were six of us, I was lucky enough to have the back seat of the buggy. The view I saw coming back down to the car park was something like this: (photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi). If you click on the photo you'll be able to see the full size. The actual view I saw of the main lobby lit up against the dark sky was even more spectacular.

Some of the restaurant's specialty dishes are: Beef carpaccio, Lobster bisque, Veal osso bucco and Potato gnocchi.

Akaligo Restaurant

Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi

Chiang Mai-San kampaeng Rd

Tel: 053 888 888