Everything Random

I love beautifully designed restaurants. I am also a sucker for repurposed places. So it is not a surprise that my Chiang Rai picks are these two. I also love restaurants that have a very close affinity to nature – and thus these two by-the-river restos are just a perfect fit.

1. Chivit Thamma Da

Chivit Thamma Da is a stunner. It looks like a colonial mansion set against the banks of the Kok River. The white two-storey building punctuated with lush shrubs and vines that seem to grow from everywhere is just beautiful. I can spend the whole day sitting here, in one of the benches in its alfresco seating, or inside the airconditioned spaces that normally gets full during warm afternoons.

The food is good and well-curated. The thick menu is a mix of Northern Thai and European dishes – so it has everything that can potentially match a discerning palate. For this visit, my daughter ordered a carbonara, my wife a spicy smoked salmon salad with the sauce on the side, while I got their famous pork chop. We also ordered calamari for starters. All good.

I can probably stay here the whole day – start with a brunch with friends, then dive into reading a good book, and then have high tea as the atmosphere cools down, awaiting the sunset. Service is good and crew is very attentive to your needs. Definitely worth another and a dozen visits.

2. Melt in Your Mouth

This cafe, which looks like an old Victorian building along the Kok River, on the opposite side from Chivit Thamma Da is also a stunner. One whole side of the building is decorated by live greens, while the other side looks like red bricks of old. My favorite place is the Rak Piano, which is a separate building of small rooms for individual piano lessons – with the pictures of the great masters like Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven adorn the walls where upright pianos and a baby grand are placed for daily practice.

While the food is not phenomenal, they were delicious. We get Baked Cheese New Zealand Mussels, Lightly Grilled Maguro with Salad, and Slow-cooked Spare Ribs in Fruit Sauce with Rice. And because they said they were famous for their desserts, we ended our meal with Caramel Banana Pancake.

The food is pretty, yes. But most of them are leaning towards the sweet side, including the dessert of course. We were thinking, maybe we could have ordered the Melt Lanna Platter, for example, and savour the difference. But some other time. I still think it is worth a second visit when I come back to the city again. I can imagine spending one whole day here too, read a book, write some stuff, or just stare at nothingness.