Overstand Coffee Shop

Overstand Coffee Shop probably needs no introduction. It's one of the very popular coffee shops in Chiang Mai and is mentioned in several "best coffee shops in Chiang Mai" lists.  I finally got a chance to go for brunch recently to check out what the fuss is all about.

The coffee shop itself is certainly very hip and set in a shop house in a quiet soi in the Old City close to Thapae Gate, so is ideally located for travellers staying in the area. There's a big communal table and several small tables on the side - quite an intimate, friendly atmosphere as the little tables are quite close together.

By the time my friend and I arrived at around 10am, the cafe was filled up with people enjoying breakfast, chatting or working away on their computers.

I've heard a lot about the excellent coffee at Overstand. My friend and I decided to order the Dirty Chai (85 baht), a combination of coffee and chai tea, as it's not something I've seen elsewhere in Chiang Mai. It did not disappoint. Great coffee with a hint of natural sweetness and spice from the chai. Very nicely presented too, I might add. The only problem was that the glass was just a tad too hot to hold very comfortably. Other types of coffee range in price from 50-70 baht. It's also great that Overstand also has a selection of tea for non coffee drinkers.

For brekkie, I chose the chorizo with fried egg and hummus on sourdough bread. (about 160 baht). It came out very nicely presented and looked delicious. There was a generous amount of hummus (I love hummus!) which gave a nice contrast in texture and taste to the bread and the chorizo. Everything worked well together. I loved the chunky grilled tomato too! There are several cafes that offers open sandwiches like this (eg. Natwat Home Cafe & The Larder). I couldn't say which cafe makes the best sandwich as each cafe creates their own versions.

My friend ordered a bacon and egg sandwich which she also really enjoyed. This certainly isn't your traditional bacon and egg sandwich.  The flame grilled capsicum, rockets and sourdough bread adds an extra dimension. 130 baht.

Other dishes available at Overstand includes: muesli (the guy at the next table ordered this and it looked great), various salads and sandwiches. A good selection of drinks including smoothies and alcohol are also available.

Overstand Coffee Shop
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OverstandCoffee/
19/3 Soi 2 Rachamunka
A. Muang, Chiang Mai
Tel: 094 626 8311
Opens: 8am-3pm, closed on Tuesdays
GPS location: 18.786, 98.99263





SaveSave

J Kitchen Vegetarian Restaurant

Vegetarian meals... I would eat it sometimes but it's not usually something I seek out. Nevertheless, there are many very good vegetarian restaurants in Chiang Mai so vegetarians... have no fear! You'll always be able to find something to eat here.

The Thai word for "vegetarian" is มังสวิรัติ (Mung-sa-wi-rut), or "mung" for short. Basically you can go to any restaurant, eatery or street stall and ask for it - eg "pad thai mung", which means a vegetarian version of pad thai. Be careful in non-specialty vegetarian restaurants and street stalls though, as they may just leave out the meat but still use sauces with animal components like fish sauce or oyster sauce.

To be on the safe (and easy to remember side), you might want to use the word เจ ("jay") instead. The "jay" diet is roughly similar to the vegan diet but "jay" food does not contain pungent vegetables  such as garlic and onion. Read more about it here.

 "Mung" and "Jay" or vegetarian food is quite easy to find in Chiang Mai. There's even an "jay" festival held in Thailand each year in October. During this period, you'll be able to find "jay" food everywhere, even your local 7-11 store.

J Kitchen is a little up market, and I'd say a mid to higher end restaurant. It's quite a lovely restaurant with beautiful setting. It was quite busy on the Friday night when my friends and I went.

Despite the name, J Kitchen is a "mung sa wi rut" restaurant, but as we went during the jay festival, there was a special "jay" menu.

The first dish was "gaeng liang" aka "Thai Spicy Mixed Vegetable Soup", a lovely clear curry without coconut milk. The soup was lovely was filled with fragrant herbs and crunchy vegetables. A little spicy due to the pepper. Went down well with the riceberry rice. 105 baht.

Then came the deep-fried crispy shiitake mushrooms with Thai tamarind sauce. This was also lovely. Pretty much like a meaty mushroom tempura. Lovely with the tangy sauce.  120 baht. 
 

The eggplants were next. I actually thought I ordered stir-fry eggplant with Chinese celery, but we got deep fried eggplants with stir-fried celery on top, so we ended up with several deep fried dishes... (you may have noticed the french fries in the corner of the photo below!) but that's OK, J Kitchen deep fries very well. The eggplants and Chinese celery were delicious. :D 105 baht.

The Tofu Dried Curry (Tofu with panang curry) was also quite lovely. Pillowy puffy pieces of fried (again, lol) tofu topped with panang curry. This makes a great variation to the other dishes in terms of taste. The curry also went well with the other fried things eg. french fries (very nice, btw) and the deep fried eggplants. 140 baht.

I might also mention that J Kitchen is runned by the Vieng Joom On, the "pink tea house" located near the Riverside Restaurant in the city. Because of this, there is a selection of Vieng Joom On tea available at the restaurant. The tea is served in a large pot, but unfortunately, can't be refilled so if you want more tea, you'll have to order another pot.

The staff here is very friendly, welcoming and polite. The ambience is lovely and very comfortable. The air-conditioning is probably a little too cold. There was adequate off street parking.

The price overall works out to be about 250 baht per person and we were all quite full.

I'd certainly like to go back again and try their other dishes.

Have you been to J Kitchen? What did you think? Please write in the comment below. :)

J Kitchen by Vieng Joom On
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jkitchencm/

Green Plus Mall 2 114/14 T.Nong pa Khrang

Amphoe Muang Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand

(At Chiang Mai Business Park)

Opens daily: 10:30am - 8:30pm

GPS Location: 18.7967, 99.02392

 

2Getherbar & Restaurant

When I was making dinner plans with a Thai friend and she found out I felt like Italian food, she unhesitatingly suggested 2Getherbar. She said the chef is Italian and the food there is excellent.

So there we were. My friend ordered the Pepperoni Pizza, her favourite at 2Getherbar. When I asked if we were sharing the pizza, she didn't look too happy. I ordered spaghetti pesto genovese. My friend then said that the somtum (aka papaya salad) here is excellent and proceeded to order the somtum with crab and fermented fish... not my favourite! What else can a curious foodie do, but order my own Tum Thai (just the regular somtum) to try it out. Well, that was a first! Going in for Italian food and also ended up ordering some papaya salad.

So here it is, the papaya salad. And yes, it was excellent. Crunchy papaya and peanuts, intense flavour and super spicy. My tongue was burning by the time I was half way through the somtum when luckily the pizza came out. BTW, normally you would have the somtum with other less spicy dishes. You can also order milder versions.

Luckily, my friend let me have some of her pizza. She explained later that pepperoni pizza is her favourite at 2Getherbar and normally she just eats the whole thing by herself, hence her hesitation in sharing the pizza with me! So while she gets through her papaya salad, I started on the thin crust pizza, which, I must say, was very good. I ended up eating 5 pieces (!!!), ie half the pizza (normally I would eat 3 pieces max). 240 baht.

After a little while, the pesto genovese came out. 120 baht. This is simply pesto, pasta and parmesan and it was a dream - deliciously smooth and creamy, especially when we added the extra parmesan. My friend, incidentally loved it and helped me eat quite a bit of it. :P

Who would have guessed a restaurant can make both great Italian food and Thai food (at least the papaya salad anyway)! Having tried the somtum, I would love to come back and try 2Getherbar's other Thai dishes, which incidentally also look great on the menu.

I must also say that the staff here is very friendly. During the meal, I see tourists coming to the bar as well as regular customers who the staff know by name. The restaurant wasn't overly busy on the Saturday night, but then I was told that a lot of people go to the Saturday Walking Street instead of the Night Bazaar, so perhaps the weekend would be a good time to come if you want to have a quiet dinner.

2Getherbar is located just a couple of doors down from Le Spice Indian Restaurant. If you come by car, you can park at Galare Night Bazaar (10 baht per hour).

The price, I think, is also quite reasonable, especially when compared to other Italian and Thai restaurants. Altogether, the bill came to about 300 baht each (including a glass of red wine for me and 2 glasses of white wine for my friend).

2Getherbar & Restaurant
19/1 Charoenprathet Soi 6
Night Bazaar, Chiang Mai
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/2GetherBarChiangMaiThailand/
Tel: 099 037 4331
Hours:  5pm-1am daily
GPS Location: 18.7847, 99.00149

Singto Khao Mok Gai

Khao Mok Gai is a Thai biryani style yellow fragrant rice with chicken "burried" in and cooked with the rice. The rice is served with fried shallots, slices of cucumber and a refreshing sweet and sour sauce with mint and ginger.

Khao Mok Gai is not widely available in Chiang Mai as Khao Mun Gai (Chicken rice). I've had Khao Mok at only a few places in Chiang Mai - one at Khao Soi Islam, where khao mok neur (beef version) is supposed to be really good, and which I found quite good when I had it. There's also a beef noodle shop at Meechok Plaza where I work where I can get my khao mok gai fix. It's good, but I wouldn't say it's amazing and the chicken piece that they serve with the rice is quite small.

Recently, I discovered Singto Khao Mok Gai, a newish eatery quite close to Meechok Plaza. It's quite a large eatery buzzing with local lunch time diners. I notice that the eatery is very clean and they do have menus in Thai and English.

Khao Mok Neur (Beef) - 60 baht | Khao Mok Gai (Chicken) - 45 baht

And here it is.. Khao Mok Neur (60 baht) and Khao Mok Gai (45 baht).  I must say the first thing I noticed with the large piece of chicken and quite a big serving of the beef (compared to other shops). The rice was well made, fragrant and packed with flavour of the spices. The sauce - sweet, tangy and refreshing adds a nice vibrant note to the dish. Delicious!

I also tried the Curry Chicken Laksa (45 baht), which quite different to Malaysian style laksas I'm used too. I suppose this is the Thai version! I've never had this dish before. It's pretty much curry noodles, a little like khao soi, but the curry is quite smooth, rich and tangy. Very nice as well although the tangy flavour is quite unusual.

Chicken Curry Laksa - 45 baht

Singto Khao Mok Gai also have various types of soups (chicken, beef, squid and oxtail) that I haven't tried. The oxtail soup should be ordered in advance.

In terms of desserts, Singto Khao Mok Gai has Lodchong (these are the green "noodles" in coconut milk) - 20 baht. The lodchong here is excellent and the coconut milk "soup" is lovely, fragrant and creamy. The dessert is served in a pinto and the ice is separated from the actual dessert so that the melted ice doesn't dilute the the coconut milk.

Lod Chong - 20baht

Singto Khao Mok Gai is a great eatery with excellent Khao Mok / Thai Biryani chicken and beef. Definitely a place to try if you're in the area! Don't forget to try the lodchong too!

Singto Khao Mok Gai
88/8 Moo 8
T. Sanphiseur A. Muang
Chiang Mai
Tel: 093 958 8264
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/singtomokgai/



Follow Where to Eat in Chiang Mai on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/WhereToEatInChiangMai/

Let It Be Cafe & Eatery, Mae Rim Plaza

Lazy Sunday lunch with a friend. Mae Rim area. The easy choice is Mae Rim Plaza where there are now several new restaurants and cafes.

The obvious choice for me whenever I get a chance to go there is Steak of The Day and Fukuro, but today, we wanted to try something else and came across a cute small cafe called Let It Be.

The cafe looked very inviting, the menu, surprisingly, is more like an Italian restaurant's menu than a cafe, and importantly on a hot day (isn't it always hot in Chiang Mai?), it's air conditioned!

The cafe itself is quite small (one shophouse) and only had about 5 tables inside and 1 table outside. There wasn't many people when we arrived, but the small eatery quickly filled up with patrons. They had quite a good turn over too without being too crowded. We also felt very comfortable, enjoying our lunch and chatting away for quite some time and never felt rushed.

The menu was surprisingly quite extensive. There were several Western / Italian dishes - pasta and pizza; steak and grilled dishes - beef, pork, chicken, sausage and fish as well as some Thai dishes and salads.

We opted for the Lunch Set Menu that had several choices of mains as well as a drink, salad or soup and ice cream. I chose the Spaghetti Ham & Dry Chilli set for 175 baht.

The first course - House Salad. This was quite lovely, served with a light sesame dressing on crispy and fresh lettuce. There were also tender slices of duck on the top.

Salad with Duck and Lipton Iced Tea

For the main, I chose the Ham and Dry Chilli Spaghetti. It was lovely, a little spicy and had lots of garlic!

Ham and Dry Chilli Spaghetti

And for dessert... Ice Cream with Fruit Salad. It's a nice finish to the meal. Let It Be also have several desserts on the menu eg. Banana Split, Crepe Suzette and Chocolate Lava so there are a few choices for those with a sweet tooth too.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Fruit Salad

Incidentally, my friend ordered the Carbonara lunch set. She wanted a vegetarian version, made with mushrooms and the chef had no problems making it for her.

Let It Be Cafe & Eatery
Mae Rim Plaza
Tel: 091 869 5962, 094 610 1115
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/letitbesteakhouse/timeline
GPS Co-Ordinates:  18.91588, 98.94223

Shogun Japanese Restaurant

Driving home one night, I suddenly noticed a sign - a new Japanese restaurant has opened near Samyak Market, Sansai. The lightbox outside the restaurant had an enticing photo of a large plate of sushi. The restaurant looked quite cute too and had a Japanesy feel.

Since then, I've been there a couple of times and has found the food to be pretty good. It's not Kitchen Hush, but Shogun provides good quality, good value for money and close to home, which means it's a place we can often visit!

Gyoza - one of my favourite snacks at a Japanese restaurant. Shogun's gyoza is very good. Crispy skin with juicy pork filling and slightly tangy and refreshing dipping sauce. 79baht.

Small Sushi Set - a plate of assorted sushi. The salmon was pretty good. The tuna was a bit chewy. Overall quite decent. 299 baht.

And here is my favourite dish, the Korean Chicken. Deep-fried bite sizes of chicken with skin and smothered with a thick, salty and sticky sauce. Yum! The chicken was slightly chewy (which I didtn't mind) and  the skin was nice and crispy. The side cabbage didn't have a dressing on it, so it seemed quite bland after eating the chicken. However, the gyoza dipping sauce makes a nice salad dressing! 119 baht.

If you need some more side dishes to fill you up, Shogun offers 3 rice sets. You can choose from the regular plain steamed rice, garlic fried rice or kimchi fried rice. These come with side dishes of a salad, miso soup and some kimchi. This time I ordered the garlic fried rice. It was lovely with buttery fragrance. A little oily though. The garlic fried rice set was 79 baht.

These rice sets are quite good idea, I think, as diners can order any mains they like to go with the rice set.

The verdict - a nice little restaurant with good food and offering good value for money. The staff is very friendly. Shogun has a cosy ambience and makes you feel like you're in a little restaurant in Japan.

Shogun Japanese Restaurant
Chiang Mai-Doi Saket Rd (118)
Sansai, Chiang Mai.
(On the left just pass Samyak Market)
Tel: 0966987181
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/โชกุน-1559529397710577/timeline
Opens: Daily 11am-10pm

Salsa Kitchen (Mexican Food)

Mexican food! Admittedly, I really don't know much about Mexican cuisine and it's not something that I usually sought out. There wasn't much of it around when I was growing up in Sydney. In Chiang Mai though, there are several Mexican restaurants and I've heard that many of them are very good.

I've been to Salsa Kitchen several times over the years to both of their branches - the original one on Huay Kaew Rd, and recently, they opened another branch near Meechok Plaza. I've always found the food to be consistently good. The restaurant it self has a nice and cheerful vibe with all the colourful walls and chairs. The staff is friendly. The food does take some time to come out though, but it's worth the wait!

Last time I visited with a couple of friends, I ordered Mango Chicken Quesadillas - 199 baht -  flour tortillas filled with grilled marinated chicken breast, mozzarella cheese and topped with a mango salsa. It was simple, hearty and delicious! The tortillas were nice and soft and not too dry (which was the case with another Mexican restaurant that I tried another time). The filling was full of subtle flavour of chicken and mozzarella. The mango salsa added to the liveliness of the dish. The quesadilla was served with some Mexican red rice; refried beans; corn and condiments - sour cream and home made salsas, but I didn't feel that I needed to add extra flavours. All the different textures and flavours really worked well together and altogether made a super filling dish! I couldn't finish it all.

We also ordered a plate of Vegetarian Nachos to share (189 baht). Again, this was delicious and vibrant in flavour.

Salsa Kitchen also serves a variety of drinks including magaritas, sangrias and beers. I usually order the lemonade with soda (39 baht) and I love it - cool, sweet and refreshing for a hot day.

Vegetarian and gluten free options are available! 

Salsa Kitchen

Website:  http://www.thesalsakitchen.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salsa.kitchen.3


Huay Kaew Branch
26/4 Huay Kaew Rd
(Down the road from Kad Suan Kaew, opposite Caltex Service Station)
There's free parking on the side street in front of Nakornping Condo
Opens: Daily 11am - 11pm
Tel: 053 216 605

Ruamchoke Branch
About 200m west of Meechok Plaza
Opens: 11am - 10pm
Closed: Tuesdays 
Tel: 094 613 4535

Map: (See purple markers)