Natwat Home Cafe

Being someone who's always busy and running around doing something or another, it was nice not to be in a hurry going somewhere and to come to Natwat Home Cafe with the girls after my Sunday morning Zumba class. Yes, we do need to reward ourselves once in a while after a good work out!

I really like Natwat Home Cafe. It's a cute and chic little cafe, and it's great that it's not SO busy around Sunday lunch time, so I felt like I could really relax and chill out here.

After perusing through the menu, I must say, it was actually quite difficult to decide what to eat. I wanted to try to many things!

The prices seem quite reasonable too, for example, a latte costs 60 baht. I decided to go for the sweet potato latte, (60baht)  just because it sounded interesting. What's that? It's steamed sweet potato, milk, maple syrup and served with mascapone cheese. I asked for "not sweet" and it turned out to be lovely. The latte was quite smooth, although there was still a slight grainy texture from the sweet potato. It was worth a try.

Sweet Potato Latte (in front) - 60baht

After some deliberation, I decided to try the Baked Eggs, which consisted of 2 eggs, home made meatballs, tomato sauce, tomatoes, black olives, coriander, jalapeno, pesto and parmesan cheese. 165 baht. Incidentally, our meals took quite a bit of time to come out, but when it did (so please be patient!), it tasted as great as it looked. The sourdough bread was delicious and dense, and perfect for soaking up the juices. The home made meat balls were really good, and the black olives gave the dish a nice rich contrast to the tomato flavours.

Baked Eggs. 165 baht.

One friend decided to try the Chorizo Sandwich and she said it was very nice too.

Natwat Home Cafe is a lovely cafe. A place I could go back time and time again. The staff is very friendly and welcoming. The menu has many interesting dishes including various deserts and pasta dishes that I'd like to try. There is some parking behind the cafe.

Natwat Home Cafe
330/2 Charoenrat Rd, Watgate
Muang, Chiang Mai
Tel: 081 716 1608
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natwat-Home-Cafe/325606954147642
Opens: 7:30am - 4:30pm  Tuesdays-Sundays
Close: Mondays

Woo - Cafe, Art Gallery & Lifestyle Shop

Woo Cafe.. Here's a rather cool, trendy and very popular cafe on the riverside strip of shops, bars, cafes and restaurants. It's a great place to chill out and chat with friends over lunch or coffee (or dinner).

The cafe was already filled up by the time I arrived at 12pm, and my friends and I managed to get a communal table on the terrace.

The ambience, I would say, is comfortable & chic, somewhere you could spend the whole morning or afternoon just hanging out and chatting.

After lunch, we were able to move to the cool air-conditioned room.

I agonised over the menu a bit as I was hoping for something a bit unusual. There are the regular Thai food options, salads and various Western dishes (pasta and sandwiches).

On this occasion, may be I was going through a fussy mood, nothing really stood out (don't you hate that?)... but then, I saw Khao Yum on the menu.

Khao Yum (rice salad) is a southern Thailand dish which consists of rice (as you would imagine!), various finely chopped vegetables, herbs and spices and tamarind dressing.

When it came out, I must say it looked very pretty. Each ingredient came separately, delicately chopped in little bowls.There were two coloured rice (the blue butterfly pea rice, and pink rice), raw mango, puffed rice, kaffir lime, shredded dried shrimps, etc, etc.

Khao Yum - Before

So it was up to us to mix everything together, then add the dressing! And I must say, it was lovely and colourful! The rice salad was very light, full of flavour of the different herbs, and the sweetish and sourish tamarind based dressing. I really enjoyed every bite. Around 195-200 baht.

Khao Yum - After!

One friend ordered the Salmon Sandwich, which looked and tasted great, and comes with a bowl of nicely fried french fries. 

And another friend ordered the Tom Yum Fried Rice (which she said she had before, and it was very good). Unfortunately, Woo was out of it this time, and a pasta was ordered instead. It looked really good, and would have been good, but I think the chef forgot to add salt as there wasn't much taste to the pasta.

Overall, I really enjoyed Woo Cafe. I love the chic yet down to earth atmosphere. The cafe has a very welcoming ambience and you feel like you can just sit back and relax and have a meal or coffee and chat with friends without feeling rushed. The staff is very friendly and welcoming and the food is also pretty good. I'd love to come back to try other dishes, as well as their coffees and desserts.

Woo is on the pricey side (for a cafe), with most of the dishes being around the 180-200 baht mark.

There is some parking in front of the cafe.

The lifestyle shop part is also very nice, and has some beautiful home decorating and jewellery items for sale.

Woo - Cafe, Art Gallery & Lifestyle Shop
80 Charoenraj Rd,
T. Wat Ket, A. Muang, Chiang Mai 50000
Tel: 052003717
Opens: 10am-10pm


 

Bird's Nest Cafe

Healthy and delicious Thai and Mediterranean food are the order of the day for this homey little cafe in Chiang Mai Old City. 

Set in an old Thai teak house, Bird's Nest Cafe has a nice an relaxing ambience with a nice little corner on the 1st floor, and a place to lounge around on the 2nd floor.  

As we enter, we were greeted by a friendly lady on the counter / bar. We do need to place the order here and pay first before taking our seats. 

The menu is not huge, but there is a good range of breakfast; western food, including various types of sandwiches with options of homemade breads - pita, croissant, foccacia, ciabatta and whole wheat; various breakfast sets, tortilla wraps and salads. There are also some Thai dishes available. 

We decided to order one Western dish and one Thai dish, as well as the special Bird's Nest Coffee Latte (mixed coffee with cardamon, cinnamon, clove and star anise).

The coffee was ordered "mai wan" i.e. "not sweet". The spiced coffee was slightly bitter, had an interesting flavour, as you would have guessed from the ingredients! After tasting the coffee, I would have liked a bit more sugar! 65 baht. 

Interestingly, the straw used was of the non-disposable variety, and this fits well with Bird's Nest Cafe's philosophy of looking after our planet - they try to use less plastic and encourage customers to bring their own containers for take away food and drink. 

Organic ingredients and local produce are used as much as possible. A lot of products used, incidentally, are from Pun Pun. 

Grilled Mozzarella Sandwich with Tomato and Onion - We can choose from the various types of bread available (as listed above), and also from two "sauces" - cashew nut pesto or the sour cream garlic oregano.  We went for the foccacia with cashew nut pesto, and we weren't disappointed! The focaccia was very nice, especially with the very generous dollop of the cashew nut pesto (actually, more like half a jar rather than a dollop!) that gives a creamy and nutty accent to the "sandwich". Actually, I probably could have just eaten a jar the pesto by itself!  95 baht

Now onto the Thai dish - Tom Kha Mushrooms (Mushroom coconut soup) with brown rice. Tom Kha is one of my favourite Thai soups, so I was quite eager to taste Bird's Nest Cafe's tom kha. In case you don't know, this soup is a bit like Tom Yum soup with coconut milk added. The coconut milk tones down the strong spiciness in Tom Yum and gives a more mellow and rich flavour.

So how is Bird's Nest Cafe's Tom Kha? It's actually quite nice, but the flavours have been toned town, I guess to suit the mainly Western and Japanese clientele (from my observation from the one time I've been to the cafe!). Although it wasn't spicy at all (at least to me!), I still enjoyed it a lot.  85 baht (includes a plate of brown rice.. well..red in this case!).

Bird's Nest Cafe is a lovely and comfortable place to relax and have some good healthy food. The rest of the menu seems quite tempting too, and would love to go back to try it if I get the chance. I particularly like their philosophy of looking after the planet, and serving as much organic ingredients as much as possible. 

Bird's Nest Cafe

Singaharat Rd Soi 3

0894292467

Opens daily 9am-8pm

Music and Film events on Friday nights.

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Fongkaew Kafe

Having followed Appleeyes's rather delicious looking food photos (especially of her cakes!) on Instagram for a little while, I decided to try her little cafe in the north eastern corner of the Old City - Fongkaew Kafe.

Fongkaew Kafe is in a set of shop houses in an area with lots of guest houses, and has a nice selection of drinks priced from around 40-65 baht. Cakes are around this price range as well.

This is their specialty drink - The Expresso Bomb. Frozen expresso balls in a sugar dispenser, served with milk, which you pour over the cinnamon stick to give a hint of cinnamon flavour. As the frozen expresso melts, the drink becomes more and more bitter. Honey is also served with the "bomb" in case it gets too strong! 65 baht. I didn't drink this one, but my friend said it was good!

The cakes are very good too! We chose the Coconut Cake -  very moist and smooth cake, full of coconut flavour, especially yummy with the creamy coconut sauce that's served with it.

The Red Velvet cake is also very good - nice and moist and has a lovely smooth, velvety texture with cream cheese topping.

The great thing I found about the cakes are not too sweet, just the way I like them!

The cafe itself is lovely and comfortable.. A nice place to hangout with friends!

Fongkaew Kafe
Turn left and Moonmeung Soi 9, after 20m, turn right into a soi full of shop houses.
Opens: Tue-Sun 8:30am-7pm
Tel: 085 107 8387

Facebook page


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Magical Garden Cafe (now closed)

It was a nice breezy night as we entered an lovely cafe with several bamboo salas scattered around the leafy garden. Each sala has a name on it - these are gifts from generous donors from Singapore who supported the Magical Light Foundation, a non-religious, non-profit organisation that is dedicated to building schools for underprivileged children in Northern Thailand and Myanmar. The proceeds from Magical Garden Cafe is used to support Magical Light Foundation's projects to help educate local and hill-tribe children.

Within 6 months of opening, Magical Garden Cafe has shot up to rank no 6 of listed restaurants in Chiang Mai on TripAdvisor. I was curious if the cafe lived up to its fame when my trusty foodie friends took me to have dinner there.

The ambience was certainly very nice and relaxed. Peter and Shii Hua, the people behind the foundation and the cafe, were very friendly. The food by Chef Noi, a local Thai chef, was great. The food did come out quite slowly, but was worth the wait.

First up to quench our thirst - Strawberry Fruit Shake. 55 baht. Nice and refreshing blend of strawberries and ice, very thick, almost like a thick shake! Didn't have to ask for "mai wan" ("not sweet"). I wouldn't mind some now, actually.. since it's been SO hot!

The spicy fries (45 baht). Very nicely done, dusted with paprika to give a slight punch (very slight!). The Seasonal Greens salad (85 baht) - very fresh and lovely with the honey mustard dressing. There are also two other choices of dressings - Thai and Oriental Soy Sauce. 

The Bruschetta (75 baht)  - Tomato and Basil & Mashed Eggplant with hard boiled egg served on Toasted Baguette. The tomato and basil bruschetta was very good, but I loved the mashed eggplant with hard boiled egg.. that was WOW!  I was quite amazed that eggplants and eggs go so well together!

The Hummus was lovely too. (75 baht). You have a choice of chickpeas, broccoli, or roasted tomatoes hummus, served with cucumber and carrot sticks. We opted for the chickpea hummus, which was really great.

Magical Garden Cafe also has some Thai dishes. We had the Crispy Morning Glory Salad. (65 baht) which consisted of deep fried morning glory leaves in a Thai dressing - tangy, slightly spicy, salty, all in one. Very nice and loved the crunch!

The verdict:

I really like Magical Garden Cafe. The ambience is lovely, and the food is great too! The servings are on the small size (more like snack sizes), but that also means we can try many dishes. The food did come out quite slowly, so please be patient. Very nice, dedicated, friendly staff.

The proceeds, as mentioned earlier, does go to a great cause to help underprivileged children get an education, and Peter and Shii Hua are doing an excellent job keeping everything running.

If you would like to volunteer or help in anyway, please talk to Peter and Shii Hua. They would really appreciate it, so will the children!

Magical Garden Cafe
24 Sriwichai Rd,
Suthep, Chiang Mai 50220
(Behind Wat Suan Dok)
Tel: 093 135 3288
Opens daily (Except Wednesdays) 5pm-10pm
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/magicalgardencafe/

Note: Magical Garden Cafe will be close during Songkran 2014 for renovations. Please check their Facebook page for details!



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My Secret Cafe

Yes, this charming cafe really lives up to the name, and I do wish that it really is a secret... Which means I shouldn't really write a post about this! LOL

When a friend first took me to this rather well hidden location... my first thought was... wow! This is rather adventurous.... Then it was... where on earth are you taking me? She took me through a beautiful tree lined street, crossed a little canal, over a dirt road, and into a rather bushy carpark with no building in sight.

A short stroll through a row of roses later, a pink house appeared. I excitedly quickened my step towards this littIe cafe. I could see immediately that this would be a very nice and relaxing place to hang around for the afternoon.

The decor is an eclectic mix of antiques from various places, but somehow they work! The cafe itself is very comfortable and cosy.

If you like to have a bit of a walk afterwards to burn off some calories, you'll also be able to wander the grounds of My Secret Cafe, may be say hello to the resident dogs and horse, walk over to the large pond and check out the guest house.

Ja Jaa, the lovely young Thai owner lived in the UK for about 10 years, and studied cookery at an Irish country hotel before returning to Thailand, which explains the unusual (for Chiang Mai) country style cakes in the cafe...At My Secret Cafe, you'll be sampling homemade cakes such as Peach and Kumquat Upside down Cake (90 baht), GCC- Giant Cookie Cake (90 baht), Apple Cake (80 baht), and more..

The Peach and Kumquat Upside down Cake was nice and moist - quite lovely, and with chunks of peaches and kumquats providing a nice contrast of flavours and texture.

The GCC was exactly that - a giant cookie. Nice, chunky and rich.

We also had the brownie, which was very lovely and rich with all the chocolaty goodness. Perfect for a chocolate fix.

In terms of beverages, I ordered a Nutella cocoa drink. It was quite nice, but wasn't very hot when served. 65 baht. Hot coffee here cost about 55-65 baht.

....all these between two people...we were extremely full!

From front and going clockwise - GCC (Giant Cookie Cake),
Peach & Kumquat Upside Down Cake & Chocolate Brownie

The second time I visited with my family one afternoon, there weren't many cakes left. However, Ja Jaa was making fresh waffles - Thai Tea Caramel Waffles (with caramel sauce that has been infused with Thai tea) and Chocolate Chip Waffles. We ordered one of each and they both were fantastic - warm, crispy on the outside, richly flavoured and soft on the inside. They were great ... some of the nicest waffles I've had!

All in all, we all really enjoyed My Secret Cafe. It's such a charming place, and very relaxing. A perfect get away for an afternoon. The homemade country style cakes are lovely and very different from what you'd get elsewhere. Really worth visiting!

My Secret Cafe
10/4 Moo 3
T. Sanpheeseur A. Muang
Chiang Mai
Tel: 081 499 9911
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Secret-Cafe/160854730624889
Opens: Tue-Sun 10:30am-5pm



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Mixology Bar and Grill

I first "saw" about Mixology from..Instagram! I would never thought of Instagram is a place where we can find new restaurants to try, but there was Mixology, featured in a few of fellow Chiang Mai foodies' photos. It's definitely a photogenic place!

May be it was the warm, quirky look of the bar/restaurant, the creative presentation of the food, or may be it was Junior, the bar's resident dog at attracted me to look into it further, and I found a very enthusiastic review, so of course I had to visit!

I wasn't disappointed at the first look. It's a very cosy looking place, and certainly very unique. The bar / restaurant itself is quite small with only a few tables. A I received a very warm welcome from a friendly waitress.

The waitress recommended their signature dish, the Mixology Chiang Mai Burger. A patty of minced pork spiced with various "Chiang Mai herbs" in a pandan sticky rice "bun"! The dish came out very nicely presented, with some greens and "kab moo" (deep fried pork rinds - a very popular local snack). As for the flavour, I can only say it's unusual. Perhaps it wasn't the taste that I expected. The ingredients were obviously very fresh and of good quality, and the vegies very lovely! The serving was slightly small, but that wasn't a problem. 160 baht.

For a starter / snack, we ordered Buffalo Wings, served with sweet chilli sauce. I rather enjoyed this dish. The wings were nicely made and tasty. I didn't need the sauce. If you're expecting an American style buffalo wings, you may be disappointed because this one is definitely Thai style!

And last but not least, I had to try some of their signature cocktails, after all, this is what Mixology is famous for. I decided to go for the sinful sounding Sin Angle - a very mellow and refreshing mix of peach schnapps, apple schnapps, fresh apple, lime & syrup. It wasn't overly strong, and I really enjoyed it. 220 baht/glass.

There are also other dishes on the menu I'd love to go back to try, like the Mixology Potato Skin with a Northern Thailand twist  - you can choose from toppings of Northern Sausages, Grilled Pork, Sour Cream and Sweet Chilli (which is now sounding quite traditional!) and Nam Prik Ong (a local chilli dip). The Nam Prik Ong one sounds great, actually.

Mixology Bar and Grill is definitely a place I'd like to go back to and hang around with friends and sip cocktails!

Junior! 

Mixology Bar and Grill
61/6 Arak Rd, Phra Singh, Chiang Mai  (Old City)
Tel: 0882613057, 0830706190
Tue-Thurs: 3pm-12am
Fri-Sun: 11am-12am

Map: coming soon! Sorry, Google Maps isn't co-operating today!

Papa's Meal @ The Chill Park

At first I thought this rather cute and comfy family-runned cafe is an Italian restaurant... and I guess it's sort of is, to the extent of the use of pasta...but with a definite Thai twist. The result is dishes like Grilled Pork Carbonara, Baked Spaghetti Chicken Mussaman Curry with Cheese, Organic Greenshell Mussels Pesto Sauce with Cheese...as well as a large selection of more traditional Thai dishes. The dessert menu is also quite large, which would satisfy diners with a sweet tooth.

I couldn't go pass the Baked Spaghetti Chicken Mussaman Curry with Cheese - It just sounded so interesting. I certainly haven't had any curries with cheese before. I think the name explains it all.  I thought the mussaman curry could be a bit tastier, and I couldn't really taste the cheese. On the whole though, the dish was quite nice, and the curry very smooth. 90 baht.

Spaghetti Ki Mao - "Drunken" Spaghetti - The "Italian" version of the famous Drunken Noodles. This one has Thai taste all the way. Pasta with basil, chilli, garlic, fish sauce, and in this case, chicken. Very nice, full of flavour, and nice and spicy too!

My favourite, though, is the Seafood Tom Yum Black Fettucini - talk about awesome flavours - very delicious with smooth tom yum sauce, almost creamy. Mmmm. I'll definitely have it again when I go back next time. 95 baht.

With these two tasty dishes, no wonder I thought the mussaman curry was a little bland.

We did order a more traditional Thai dish - Gaeng Som Cha-Om Kai Goong - Acacia Omelette & Prawns in Sour (Tamarind) Soup. Normally, this is one of my favourite Thai dishes, but it was quite sweet here at Papa's Meal. 75 baht.

After a big meal, dessert was in order! The menu has quite a lot of scrumptious looking desserts. We opt for what seems to be a very popular dessert in Chiang mai recently, Honey Toast. Each cafe has their own version of the Honey Toast, which is basically a couple of very thick toast with honey, and topped with something. Papa's Meal has a healthyish version of this dessert - topped with fruits, and served with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice-cream. Quite nice, and you don't have to feel too guilty after this one! 95 baht.

The Verdict
A nice quiet little cafe with a big menu, and good food. Nice and friendly service, and reasonable prices. The food does take some time to arrive, so please be patient! : )

Papa's Meal
@ The Chill Park - on the 1st (Middle) Ring Road, opposite Big C Hangdong
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Papas-Meals-Chiangmai-Thailand/126670750842047
Tel: 081-950-9552, 081-530-8537
Opens: 10am-10pm
GPS: 18.742588,98.959984


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Janey Scoop

You'll have no problem finding good ice-cream in Chiang Mai. There are ice cream parlors every where, from franchises such as Swensen's, Bud's, iberry to ice cream carts selling coconut ice cream for 10 baht.  A reader recently recommended a homemade ice-cream shop, saying that it was one of the best she's had...so off I went to give Janey Scoop a go.

Janey Scoop is a little shop in a little corner of Nimmanhaemin Soi 5 selling not only ice-cream, but various other desserts too. The shop was packed when we walked in after lunch on a Sunday, leaving only two tables outside.

There are exotic flavours eg. Nestea Oreo...I settled for a scoop each of the more mundane sounding green tea & chocolate-orange ice cream. Both were very nice - full of flavour. From the two flavours I tried anyway, Janey Scoop's ice cream seems less creamy and lighter than the usual ice-cream (eg from Swensen's and Bud's)...which is probably a good thing ... and hopefully means we can eat more of it without feeling too guilty.. (not that I do.) LOL. I would love to go back to try other flavours, and desserts .. the honey toast looked really good too.

Janey Scoop
Nimmanhaemin Rd Soi 5
Opens 11am-9pm
Closed on Wednesdays
Tel: 081 288 8889
https://www.facebook.com/JanieScoop

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