Georgio

We were let down by Georgio several times - every time we went, we were turned away. We didn't have a booking, and there were no tables left for us. Finally, we got our act together and remembered to make a reservation! So after three years in Chiang Mai, we finally made it to Georgio.

We found Georgio to an unpretentious restaurant, very cosy and comfortable. The service was warm and friendly, and the food generally excellent. We went on a Saturday night and almost all the tables have been booked.

The menu was very extensive. I think the waitress said over 200 items! We had no idea what to order! The waitress was very helpful in her recommendations:

Cozze Alpomodoro (Baked New Zealand mussels served with special tomato sauce) - Huge juicy mussels (all 8 of them) with this very beautiful and tasty tomato sauce. Turned out to be great and rather big entree. 280 baht.

Ceasar Salad. I also really quite enjoyed this one. It was quite simple for a Ceasar Salad, actually. Crispy lettuce, very good parmesan, and a light but very tasty dressing - we could really taste the olive oil and anchovies. The great thing was that it also felt quite healthy...for a ceasar salad! 170 baht.

Linguine Gamberie Limone (Linguine with prawns and lemon zest). This was another great recommendation. I've never had anything like it. Prawns and lemon with pasta. It was lovely, nice and tangy and a little creamy. The prawns were also nice and fresh, the tails were even removed. Good attention to detail. 260 baht.

By the time all the food came out, we thought we probably needed to order another dish (which we actually really didn't need!) Anyway, we decided to order Spaghetti Pesto. Pesto is our family's favourite pasta sauce, and wanted to see how it compared with our homemade version. : P

Interestingly, the waitress tried to steer us away from this choice a couple of times. She thought it would be better for us to try to order something different - like a pizza, which, apparently, is pretty good at Georgio too.

So how was the pesto? Georgio's pesto (200 baht) was quite good. The spaghetti was drenched in olive oil, then the fragrant pesto sauce placed on top. I thought the dish was quite oily. So the verdict was that our homemade pesto is better!

In the end though, we did enjoy ourselves and will be back (eventually!) to try other dishes. The bill came to around 1040 baht (service charge added extra) for 3 persons. A little expensive, but we were very full! I wanted to try the tiramisu, but couldn't fit another thing in.

Georgio

2/6 Prachasampan Rd

Muang, Chiang Mai

(near intersection with Sridonchai Rd - close to the Night Bazaar)

Tel: 053 818 236

Opens: 11:30am-2:30pm and 6pm-10:30pm.

Website: http://giorgiochiangmai.com

Booking highly recommended.

Auberge French & Steak Restaurant (Now closed)

This new kid on the block has just been opened for about a week. Well, new kid on the Chiang Mai block... Auberge French Restaurant has actually been around for a while in Bangkok, and has just relocated to Chiang Mai's Palm Spring Hotel (at Palm Spring Village, Mahidol Rd).

This sparking new fine dining restaurant joins a throng of French Restaurants in Chiang Mai, including Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi's superb Farang Ses, and one of Asia's finest restaurants, Le Coq D'Or.

Auberge Restaurant holds itself up rather well, with an elegant decor, professional and friendly waiting staff, and most important of all, good food.

The Tasting Menu (1500 baht net with free flow wine) was worth a try. It had a sample of some of the chef's recommended dishes in small portions. Here are the dishes from the Tasting Menu:

Pan-fried duck liver (foie gras), a sea scallop, marinated salmon served with rocket salad. I'm no expert on foie gras - I don't have it that often!... But I thought Auberge's foie gras fattier than other restaurants'. The sauce was unexpectedly sweet but whole dish was very pleasant.

Truffle Soup & Pumpkin Soup - served separately, of course, in little cups. Both soups were lovely. The Truffle Soup was nice but quite salty. The Pumpkin Soup was great - it had a very pleasant smooth taste, yet it wasn't too creamy. Very nice indeed.

Raspberry & Lemon Sherbet. It was rather surprising to have these in the middle of the meal, but apparently that's a done thing in France. These were simply delightful! So smooth and a little creamy, yet still refreshingly tangy.

For the main course, there were the Roasted Lamb Chop, Roasted Duck Breast and Pan Fried Snow Fish. All the meats were very nicely cooked. Lovely and tender. Beautifully presented too.

To finish off the tasting menu, we were served a trio of decadent desserts - Creme Brulee (beautiful!); Chocolate Dome (very rich and chocolaty); and a profiterole (very yummy with the vanilla ice-cream filling).

So that was the tasting menu. We rather enjoyed it!

Other members of our group had steak - I must say it was VERY good, and there was even a choice of mustards and condiments to choose from to go with the steak. The Fettucini with Tiger Prawns in Lobster Sauce was also excellent.

We had a really good time at Auberge. Although a fine dining restaurant, the staff was very friendly and down to earth. We all felt very comfortable. Auberge would make good choice for that special occasion.

Auberge Restaurant Chiang Mai

122 Palm Spring Hotel

Mahidol Rd

T. Nonghoi, A. Muang, Chiang Mai

Tel: 053 308 388

Opens daily for lunch & dinner

Lunch: 11:30am-2:00pm

Dinner: 6:00pm-10:30pm

www.aubergerestaurantchiangmai.com

Tea Garden by Anotai

This little bakery is just adorable. It's located in the garden of the owner's Thai teak house on the Mae Rim tourist route - you know, the one with Mae Sa Elephant Camp, Tiger Kingdom, Bungee Jumping, ATV, Monkey School, Snake Farm..etc. etc....and after tasting their scones, I wonder if I have perhaps found some of the best scones in Chiang Mai???

Good scones are hard to find here. Someone told me that it has to do with the flour. Thai flour seem to be different from "Western" flour. Often scones I found in Chiang Mai are too tough, don't rise enough and ended up looking like biscuits. Tea Garden's scones are great. Light, crumbly, melt in your mouth buttery goodness. The scones were even served with cream and jam!

What else can we find at Tea Garden? They also have delicious looking home made cakes, tea and coffee. No other food at the moment, but the owner is contemplating serving meals in the future.

If you're up in Mae Rim or Mae Sa area, do drop by Tea Garden, relax in the lovely garden, and tell us what you think! You can find the bakery on the left side of the main road up the mountain (Route 1096), just pass the turn off to Sukontara Resort.

Tea Garden by Anotai (Bakery, Tea & Coffee)

Open Daily 10:00am-6:30pm

Closed on Wednesdays