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!

Oyori the Grill

Oyori the Grill is a place you can have a lovely meal, and at the same time, feel that you've contributed to the good of society. Their facebook page states, "We are supporting women's and young people's empowerment by food business."

What this means is that they train under-priviledged young people and women in the restaurant business so that these people have the skills to obtain a job in other restaurants or hotels. Trainees come from various backgrounds, including an ex-gang member!

I think this is a great way to empower and help people - to give them the skills they need to survive in this world. Teaching people to fish, so to speak.

The chef is from Korea, and is incidentally training a local woman in culinary arts to take over his role.

The food here is lovely, and is very good quality, and prices reasonable. There is a good variety ranging from sandwiches, grilled dishes, BBQ buffet. The salads here are great - very fresh, and organic vegetables are used. Bread here is made by a Japanese baker, and preservatives are not added.

We ordered:

Duck & Lentil with Honey Orange Glaze -  Nicely cooked duck, slightly chewy (as we asked for well-done), lovely honey sauce with a little tang. 260 baht.

Salmon Soy Radish - Surprisingly, a very large piece salmon (with nice and crispy skin) was served - quite a bit larger than many other restaurants. Served on top of a bed of radish, cucumbers and snow peas. This is an Asian influenced dish with a slightly tangy soy sauce dressing. 

Farm Raised Chicken Caesar Salad - Very nicely done. The lettuce was crispy and fresh, nice and tasty rye bread croutons. 160 baht. 

                 

If there is a party of more than 6 people, you can have a BBQ Party! You get a selection of beef, chicken and pork, as well as an organic salad bar. I had this before, and really enjoyed it, particularly the salad bar! The vegetables here are SO good!  350 baht/person. Min 6 pax.

Oyori The Grill
14/6 Soi 11, Sirimankalajan Rd
Suthep, Muang, Chiang Mai
Currently opens Tue-Sun 11am-10pm
From December 2013 - Opens daily



View Oyori The Grill in a larger map

TianZi Teahouse

My French friend told me, "It's a charming organic restaurant". Ok, sounds good. I've always wanted to try more of Chiang Mai's many vegetarian restaurants, but it's hard for me to find people to go with! Most of my friends are meat eaters. : )

So of we went, and I discovered TianZi Teahouse, indeed, a charming little oasis opposite Imperial Mae Ping Hotel, just about 5 min walk from Chiang Mai's Night Bazaar. TianZi Teahouse is associated with the TianZi Biodiversity Research and Development Centre, based in Yunnan, China. The teahouse specialises in serving healthy food, and they say they only use ingredients that are not harmful to our bodies, so no MSG, dairy products, etc. The oils used are cold pressed, and grains used are all organic. If you're on a special diet, you can also let them know and they'll try to cater to your needs.

TianZi Teahouse is set in a small but beautiful garden. They say it contains "several hundred rare and beautiful species of the Golden Triangle". It's a very slow and tranquil place (including the service!) - so it's not the the place to go if you're starving and in a hurry. Dishes are prepared one at a time and can take a while to come out. Great for just relaxing, laying back on the cushions, and talking the afternoon or night away with your friends! It was a bit of a shame though that the music from the restaurant next door was quite loud, but it wasn't too bad. And the food? Glad to say I was quite impressed:

The Brown Rice Salad was lovely, made from organic brown rice, herbs, seeds, nuts, vegetables and seasoned with organic apple cider vinegar, sea salt and cold pressed sesame oil. The salad was served with a miso dressing. This was one of my favourite dishes. Who would have thought something so healthy and wholesome can be so full of flavour and so delicious? 180 baht (medium size).

Homemade Buckwheat noodles. The noodles (although they were more like chunky pieces of pasta) were made from organic buckwheat, and stir-fried with olive oil and mixed vegetables. This was our French friend's favourite dish. I thought it was quite tasty, and the vegies very fresh, but I found the "noodles" too starchy for my liking. 100 baht.

Tofu Steak - perhaps designed for people like me who never thought they'd feel full eating vegetarian food! (As an aside, I was already surprisingly very full by the time the tofu steak arrived.) This turned out to be my other favourite dish. The slabs of tofu were fried until golden brown, crispy on the outside, but still firm and softish on the inside. I think sea salt was then sprinkled over the "steaks", and the whole thing with stir-fried vegies in a gingery sauce. Simply delicious! 100 baht.

We also had another protein dish, Soju tofu "meat". It had tofu, burdock roots, sesame, onion, garlic and herbs. It was described in the menu as "simply beyond meat". It was quite a nice dish, but we didn't find it that special. 160 baht.

All in all TianZi Teahouse is a great place for relaxing and enjoying wholesome, healthy vegetarian food. A little pricey - our bill came to 620 baht for 3 people, although where was a lot of food left. Definitely worth a try, especially if you're looking for somewhere a bit different.

[I haven't mentioned their tea, as we didn't order any, but as it is a teahouse, they also have a variety of tea available, including an interesting sounding Orchid tea. I think that was around 220 baht/set.]

TianZi Teahouse

119/1 Kampangdin Rd

Chiang Mai

Opposite Imperial Mae Ping Hotel

Open for lunch & dinner

Website

Khun Churn Vegetarian Restaurant

Chiang Mai is a great place for vegetarians. Most restaurants are very accommodating, and it is very easy to find vegetarian restaurants serving quality food in Chiang Mai. One of these places is the ever popular Khun Churn on Nimanhaemin Rd (Soi 17).

The food at Khun Churn is very tasty, fresh and healthy. This is very different to other vegetarian restaurants I've been to. I must admit, I'm a meat eater, so eating at a vegetarian restaurant hadn't really been my cup of tea, so I didn't go very often! The times when I ate at such restaurants (overseas), I found the food too oily and sweet.

This was actually the first vegetarian restaurant I've been to in Thailand. I've heard a lot of good things about Khun Churn , and a friend suggested it, so why not? I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food, and I enjoyed myself tremendously. I have been back a couple of times!

The "Tofu Cashew Nut" (below) was colourful and scrumptious. It's the vegie version of the ever popular (at least to foreigners) Chicken Cashew Nut. Very tasty, not too spicy (for those who can't take it!) and the water chestnuts gave the dish a refreshing crunch.


The Grilled Mushroom Salad was fantastic too. The grilled mushrooms and had an intense flavour, which was nicely balanced by the fresh salad.

The menu at Khun Churn is very large. However, the restaurant is actually quite famous for its lunch time vegetarian buffet. Great value at only 98 baht per person, including refreshing herbal drinks. There is a good variety of food served as well, including a very good salad bar and a range of Thai food such as som-tum (papaya salad), khao soi (northern curry noodles), various curries and soups. There were too many dishes to try, but one dish that stood out for me was the pumpkin curry. It was very delicious. Tasty, but mild enough to eat by itself without rice.

The restaurant itself is very nice. Simple and comfortable, but still quite stylish. They have a large outdoor dining area, and an air conditioned room as well. Fellow diners consisted of expats (Westerners & Japanese), Thais and tourists.

Khun Churn

Nimanhaemin Soi 17

Chiang Mai

Tel: 053 224 124

Opens: 8am-10pm

Buffet Daily: 11am-2:30pm

Khun Churn's Facebook Page

No Name Restaurant, Chiang Rai

Well, it's actually not called "No Name", but they don't actually have a name. It's just called "Food and Coffee House", or something to that effect. It's a quaint little restaurant amongst rice fields, not too far from the beautiful Wat Rong Khun (also known as the "White Temple"). The only sign we saw was that of "Doi Chang Coffee".

What's so great about this place? First of all, the restaurant is very clean, and comfortable. The owners are very welcoming (and speak great English!). The meals are simple and healthy, but also taste great. Don't expect the food to arrive quickly though, because the vegies are freshly picked straight from the restaurant's organic garden before cooking.

While we were waiting, we were served an amazing looking refreshing blue coloured drink. No, it was non-alcoholic! It was actually "Anchan flower drink" - a drink made from anchan (blue pea flowers). Anchan is also the source of natural colouring for blue coloured rice that you may see here in Thailand. The other great thing about this drink is that the restaurant didn't add sugar to it (like most restaurants would).

We ordered a couple of plates of vegetables and steamed fish (which was screaming out to us, "Eat me!"). These were served with a delicious freshly made homemade chilli dip. We also had "Lemon Pork". The pork was cooked in a tangy lime dressing, which was so nice we couldn't help pouring the dressing all over our rice.

Overall, it was a lovely and light meal. The bill for the four of us came to 290 baht- fantastic value!

"Food and Coffee House"

Hwy 1122

From Wat Rong Khun, drive down until you reach Hwy 1122 and turn left.

The restaurant will be about 50-100 m on your right.

Ph:089 9517964