Talay Mahachai (Mahachai Seafood) มหาชัยซีฟู๊ด

Chiang Mai isn't one of those cities famous for its' seafood. In fact, Chiang Mai is so far from the sea most of the seafood restaurants we have tried here have, well, been rather disappointing! Fortunately, Mahachai's seafood is decent enough to curb our seafood cravings. OK, it doesn't match Phuket's finest, but the seafood at Mahachai is fresh, and the taste, pretty good.

This is quite a popular restaurant too. We arrived around 5:30pm. The tables were already filling up, and they've already ran out of some of the popular dishes. By 6:30pm, the place was packed.

First thing we noticed about the Mahachai? As we got out of the car, we could smell the delicious food aroma. Pretty good start, isn't it? It's not a fancy restaurant - an open air kind of place with a tin roof, metal tables and plastic chairs. However, Mahachai is surprisingly clean.

Now to the drink. Normally I wouldn't mention beers, as they are pretty much the same everywhere. However, Mahachai's beer is quite special! The Leo is served ice cold. Can you see the ice-crystals in the glass?

As for the food:

Stir-fried Prawns with Black Peppers - This looks impressive enough. Huge and juicy prawns stir-fried with black pepper, shallots, lots of ginger, and a hint of curry powder. The prawns could probably be a bit fresher, but good enough. The sauce very nice on rice.

Curry Crab - Quite a nice dish. Yummy crab stir fried with curry and egg. The sauce was quite rich and creamy, but too sweet. Still, it was quite nice with rice. The fun part of eating crab, of course, is using your hands and getting into the mess.

"Po Tak" - this is a tom yum soup dish with mixed seafood. Very tasty - tangy, full of herbs and very spicy! There were heaps of bird's eye chillies!

We saw that almost every other tables around us ordered these steamed clam-things. So we ordered a plate too. You eat these with the "Seafood sauce" - a sauce consisting of lime juice, chilli, garlic, fish sauce and palm sugar. Not too sure if they are my cup of tea, but they are nice and plump, and quite crunchy too. The off-putting thing about it is that well, it's full of blood, well, cooked blood that's still oozing out when you put a fork through it. (Sorry if I've ruined your appetite!). Thais seem to love it though!

The Verdict:

Good seafood restaurant, particularly for Chiang Mai. Not much of an ambience, but good food. They're so busy the service is not great but passable. Can't complain too much though, because the food is quite good value. The price turned out to be 1250 baht (0f which the 750 baht for for the crab) for 4 people. I think we'll have prawns next time - much better value. Very clean!

The Rating:

Ambience: 5/10

Food: 7/10

Price: 7/10

Mahachai Seafood

Right next to "Baan Pimuk 3" on the Middle Ring Road, before Payap University entrance.

Look out for the bright blue sign just like the 1st photo of the menu!

Tel: 084611953, 0869204488

Opens from 11am-10pm