I may have gone slightly overboard with photo taking during my trip to Chiang Mai and I thought I’d share some of the other food highlights that didn’t make it into their own blog posts.
These fish ball noodles were my first lunch in Chiang Mai and gave an indication of the good things to come. At only 30 baht (50p), this was a generous bowlful of rice noodles, a variety of fish cakes and fish balls (all with different textures), and morning glory. While the broth was very soothing, I was looking for something a little more exciting and punched it up with the various condiments on the tables. A little of that chili powder and wow!
This was a steamed sticky pancake filled with pork and peanuts, topped with both coconut cream and fried garlic. The skin was like that of the dim sum dish har gow and while the peanuts weren’t apparent, the whole combination just sang in my mouth. I had this at the Nangnual Seafood Restaurant’s lunch buffet, part of a trip organised by the workshop I attended. The manager there took me under his wing and pointed out all the northern Thai specialties that I absolutely had to try and helped me with which garnishes to eat with them – and the garnishes are the most complicated part!
Still at the lunch buffet, I tried their full spread of dips and raw vegetables, again another typically northern Thai spread. Click on the photo for labels for each item.
On the last day of the workshop, we were brought to the Chedi Chiang Mai, an extremely beautiful and expensive hotel, for a dinner reception. The highlight of the meal was this banana flower and chicken salad – both meaty and refreshing at the same time.
Not Chiang Mai related but I just wanted to direct you to my latest Shoot and Eat entry on Canteen at Londonist!
Sun, 13 Apr, 2008 at 23:29
what a delicious trip you had!
Mon, 14 Apr, 2008 at 00:13
How much is 30 baht when compared to US dollars? If the exchange rate is good, I could feast on this soup for weeks!
Mon, 14 Apr, 2008 at 13:09
Pork and peanuts?
That’s an unusual combination, which I must try sometime. I’ve had chicken and beef satays, and the Gambian ‘domada’ (beef stewed in a peanut purée) but never pork.
(Unless you count the bacon and peanut butter sandwich I once had!)
Mon, 14 Apr, 2008 at 22:06
kat: Hehe, it was definitely filled with food!
White On Rice Couple: At the current exchange rates, 30 baht is about 95 cents.
travelrat: Pork satays are delicious! They really are good with the peanut sauce.
Tue, 15 Apr, 2008 at 02:16
The sticky pancake thing with pork and peanuts sound really delicious. I saw it on your flickr and it makes more sense now to know what it was! Were the suggestions all good? What do you do if a suggested item does not taste good?
Tue, 15 Apr, 2008 at 14:43
I’ve mainly eaten satay in Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands, and since Indonesians are mainly Muslims, pork is usually off the menu!
But, I’ll keep an eye out for pork satay …
Tue, 15 Apr, 2008 at 21:03
Danny: All his suggestions were very good – especially regarding the toppings. I did see some unfinished plates but they were cleared without anything being said. That said, I don’t like to load my plate at buffets and prefer to try little portions of everything.
travelrat: Yes, in Malaysia, it’s only available at Chinese stalls.