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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Shang Garden @ Shangri-La Hotel (Now China Kitchen)

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope everyone has the most wonderful and happiest year ever, and of course, filled with delicious food!

Today, we will visit Shangri-La Hotel's new Chinese Restaurant - Shang Garden, a much welcomed addition-at least to me, and I'm sure to many Chiang Mai residents!... and it's not just any Chinese restaurant... it's a restaurant that offers dimsum... and the food is great!

Shang Garden's Hong Kong chef, Jackie Chan, came from Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok....So things are already looking pretty good! After my first dinner at Shang Garden on 30th Dec 2013, I was very impressed with the food, and the price seemed pretty reasonable for the quality, but the service that night though, was very lacking and slow. It could be that they were quite short staffed, but we decided we could put up with the slow and not so great service (as the food was so good) and go back to have a dimsum lunch before my brother and his family go back to Australia in the afternoon. Fortunately, the service this time was much better, but the tea refilling rate was still pretty slow so we had to rely on a bit of self-service there. (It's not a big deal, but you'd expect the service to be perfect in a 5 star hotel, and especially if you'll be paying 10% service charge on top of the food prices.)

OK...on with the food review!

Deep Fried Mashed Taro with Shrimp and Chicken. This is my brother's favourite dimsum dish. It's very nicely done at Shang Garden, very nice "pastry", firm yet crumbly, with mild filling with subtle flavours. It was served kind of luke warm though... would have been better if it came out hotter. 140 baht.

Xiao Long Pao - steamed pork dumplings (with soup inside). Very nice skin and lovely soft pork filling. Be careful eating these though, as the skin is quite delicate. If you accidentally poke a hole in the "skin", some of the soup might leak out! 70 baht.

Baked BBQ Pork Pastries - (front dish in the photo below) - These were great! Buttery melt in your mouth pastry with sweetish BBQ pork filling. 60 baht.

Steamed Crispy Rice Rolls with Shrimp - (back of photo)  This is a really special and surprising dish. Highly recommended if you come to Shang Garden. Looks kind of ordinary, but as I bite into the soft looking "fresh spring roll", there is a surprising crunch!  There's a crispy spring roll inside the rice paper wrapping. Served with hoisin sauce. 90 baht.

Crispy Noodles with Seafood - This is also a pretty special dish. Lovely crispy noodles (which is also pretty nice eaten by itself) with stir-fried seafood and vegies with lots of gravy/thick soup which you put on the crispy noodles. The noodles stayed kind of crispy and a little chewy in the gravy - very nice. 460 baht.

My 6 year old nephew and 3 year old niece (who are rather fussy eaters) loved the Steamed BBQ Pork buns so much  2 extra servings were ordered to take on the plane. I thought the buns were rather nice too - the "skin" very soft and smooth. 60 baht.

The total bill for 5 very full adults and 2 kids came to about 2700 baht (including tax and service charge).

Shang Garden
Shangri-La Hotel

Opens:
Lunch: 11:30am-2:30pm
Dinner: 6pm-10pm

Tel: 053 253 888

Website: http://www.shangri-la.com/chiangmai/shangrila/dining/restaurants/shang-garden/



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Steak of the Day

Wonderful food at reasonable prices by an ex-Four Seasons chef in a relaxed informal setting. 5 star food at 3 star prices!

Thanks to a recommendation by a friend, I've been to Steak of the Day 3 times since it was opened several months ago, and it seems they're just going from strength to strength. They just seem to be getting better and busier each time I go, and there are new dishes to try each time.

I think their success is mainly due to the great, quality food at reasonable prices, and the location. There is a lack of quality Western restaurants in the area (other than in resorts and hotels). There are a lot of expats living around here, as well as lots of resorts, so Steak of the Day is in a pretty ideal spot.

Ok, on with the food...

New Zealand Tenderloin - It was great! -  Nice and juicy, very well seasoned and presented. Served with lovely silky smooth mashed potatoes (very nice!). 439 baht.

Salmon Steak - . I stole a little bit from grandma, who said it was "Aroi MAK" - "VERY nice", and I agreed. It certainly looked great too.  259 baht

Pork Loin and Mashed Potatoes - this is from Steak of the Day's standard lunch time menu, which also has other items eg. chicken, sausages, etc on it. Very nice and tasty pork and gravy, and the same mashed potatoes and side salad. Fantastic value at 89 baht!

Steak of the Day has other things on the menu as well eg. various salads, hamburgers, pasta, etc. The Caesar Salad is fantastic (highly recommended!), as is the cheese tortilla. 

Even though they can get really busy, I found the service still very warm and friendly. 

Steak of the Day
Mae Rim Plaza, Mae Rim
11am-8pm
Closed on Sundays
Tel: 081-256-7292
https://www.facebook.com/steak.steakoftheday


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I am Gourmet

Merry Christmas, everyone! Sorry I'm a couple of days late! 

Today's post is about an unexpected Christmas dinner I had. My family don't really celebrate Christmas, but we thought we would pay a second visit to a restaurant recommended by a friend. 

I will have relatives coming to Chiang Mai soon (tomorrow!), and I'm always scratching my head as to where to take visitors. You'd think I'll have a list of restaurants ready in hand, and I do, (and will share with you soon), but it's always nice to put in a mix of new restaurants. 

... So here we were, back at I am Gourmet, to try out other dishes on their menu to see if it makes the cut (to bring visitors). 

I am Gourmet has a selection of good American food, as well as good Thai food...and it's not easy to find a restaurant with good Thai food, and Western food all in one place! 

So, there we were for our Christmas dinner! 

The special of the day was the Turkey Dinner Set. My first ever Turkey Dinner, and I had it in, of all places, Chiang Mai! There were several pieces of roast turkey (very nicely done, I must say), mashed potatoes (very good!), stuffing (I haven't had these for years! ... and it was great!), bean salad, and what I thought was beetroot (LOL), which turned out to be cranberry jelly (I guess), and a plate of salad. The whole thing was great, but my favourite on the plate was the stuffing! 250 baht for the set - very, very good value! 

The next thing we wanted to try from the previous visit were the BBQ Pork Ribs, which were nice and tender, and falling off the bones. The sauce was very tasty as well. You have a choice of chips or salad on the side.  Only 100 baht!

As my 6 year old nephew and 3 year old niece from Australia will be visiting, we were on a look out for something that they'll eat. I am Gourmet has a good selection of Thai dishes at very reasonable prices. Last time we tried the Pad Thai, which was pretty decent. This time, we had the spring rolls, which were very nicely done - nice and crispy, probably too peppery for the kids, but fine for us.

The most astounding thing for me here is the very reasonable prices, particularly of the American dishes eg. Pork or Chicken Burger cost 50 baht plain and 70 baht with cheese, onions and bacon; a reasonably generous serving of green tossed salad cost 35 baht! And as mentioned before,  the BBQ ribs were 100 baht.

The restaurant itself is simple and unpretentious, and it's totally unexpected to have a Western restaurant in a setting more like that of a large Thai noodle's shop. So don't expect anything fancy here! The service is warm and friendly, and the American owner very approachable. 

I am Gourmet

Chiang Mai-Doi Saket Rd (118)

If you come from the city towards Doi Saket,  once you pass the pedestrian bridge at Bohin, slow down and stay in the left lane. I am Gourmet is on the left just before the next U-Turn. 

GPS: 18.851894,99.093761 

(Keep in mind the restaurant wasn't there when Google came around a few years ago!) 

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Matsu Japanese Restaurant

How fortunate us Chiang Mai-ers are to have a plethora of Japanese Restaurants to choose from. It's amazing how many good Japanese restaurants there are here. The other day, I visited the new Central Festival Mall, and wow, there must be about 25 Japanese restaurants there... Thai people must really like Japanese food!

And here I am to introduce another Japanese restaurant to you, thanks to the recommendation of a couple of my friends. This one is a little hole in the wall place in the Old City. The shop looks a little ordinary, and the service so-so,  but their salmon sashimi is great! Served at just the right temperature, very buttery and smooth, melt in your mouth deliciousness! 160 baht.

Ten Zaru (Chilled Buckwheat Noodle with Tempura and Dip). Very nice and refreshing. The tempuras were quite nicely made and the prawns tasty. Very nice dish as well, and pretty good value! 95 baht.

Well, that's all I tried, and I was quite impressed with the quality of the food, and the price! The restaurant was packed when we arrived, and there were quite a few Japanese patrons too, which is always a good sign.

So, I'll definitely want to go back to try other dishes, which also look pretty good. The offering is pretty standard Chiang Mai Japanese restaurant menu, but the salmon sashimi is one of the nicest ones I've had here in Chiang Mai.

Matsu Japanese Restaurant
74/2 Singhrat Rd
Muang, Chiang Mai
(In the Old City)
Tel: 081 472 0171
Opens: 11am-2pm & 5pm-10pm
Closed on Mondays



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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!

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



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