More food pics (by request) and dialog. It begins on Christmas Eve night....
Office of Fish ( the coolest sushi restaurant name .... ever)
The style would be called Omakase. Which pretty much means the chef picks out what you are having. The menu was decided days ago depending on availability of ingredients. Sushi on steroids if you will.
Diane and I had separate selections. Mine leaned Omakase/Nigiri. A combo of sushi and sashimi. Diane had the premium selections because she is the queen… and team leader… and paid the bill.
What made this unique and really in my wheelhouse was the lack of pretention of the guys who prepared each small plate but at the same time these were serious guys. Quick to laugh though focused on that they were doing. The music in the background grooved me. Even the hallway to the bathroom was so cool, I took a picture of it. Each of the 30 different plates were explained. (We each had 15 or so).
The music is chillin’. There are eight seats total in the restaurant. Though tonight there are three couples, two languages. Thai, and English. We all sat at a single counter. I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and Diane has chilled sake. Hers arrived in a white wine glass. I’ve never seen it poured that way. It seems elegant. It’s crystal clear. I am not knowledgeable with sake, but I do like it.
The first thing to arrive is the most complicated, yet delicate glass of tea on the planet. In a stemless wine glass, they have the bottom 3rd frozen with water with a sprig of rosemary planted in the ice. It must have been done yesterday to set it up. It looked like a Christmas tree at the North Pole. Then blue pea blossom tea surrounding the small makeshift iceberg, then in a separate cup there was a citrusy sparkling Yuzu juice (think lemon and grapefruit) for us to self-pour. Ok, we are off to a fantastic start. Mind you it’s Christmas Eve and we splurged with Seattle/London/New York prices for dinner. Thailand is very inexpensive and affordable, but you can spend a lot if you want. A lot. A lot of money.
My appetizer was the smallest cucumber salad in the northern hemisphere. My mouth just watered a little as I am typing up my notes from last night’s dinner. The few small slices had depth and a spectrum of flavors that truly surprised me. This became the norm for the rest of the evening.
I am not a professional writer nor a food critic, so I will spare you the details on each dish since there were 30 or so courses between the two of us. Each were bite sized. I learned quickly that it is customary to eat the bites with your hands rather than with chopsticks. I might remind you I do have serious skills with chopsticks. With one pair of chopsticks, I can juggle 3 single grains of rice 😊. But when I asked about this to our personal chef, he gave me the skinny and I learned something. So, I used my hands. Yay!
Only one of the 15 did not groove me. It was squid. It was a bit chewy for my taste. The sea urchin surprised me. All my sushi friends said that they thought that sea urchin texture is a little hard to take. I thought it was delicious. I can’t wait to try it again someday. It was fun to watch them work. Whether using smoke on one dish or adding dry ice to another to make it visually spectacular, they were magicians of the culinary world. The pace seems right. I ordered a second glass of really good wine. We have eaten a fair amount of sushi in our lifetime, but this was hands down the best I have ever had. This was not ‘have one sushi, have them all’. All unique, ranging from delicate to powerful, simple to artful.
Christmas Evening Dinner 2023
Ok, I like Scotch whiskey. Our dinner begins with that. A dram of scotch with a single ice cube. Served by the bar manager after our favorite waiter, Herman, said he didn’t have a vast knowledge of scotch. In the end Diane has a vodka martini with extra olives and I have my rare but go-to drink. I mean Drink, with a capital D. I place the glass under my nose and savor it essence and it takes me back to 39 good memories, all at once.
The musician for the evening was someone who Al Di Meola (jazz guitar great) would have liked. The guy played acoustic guitar with percussion done with his hands, clicking and thumping. Open tuning allows him to play both rhythm and lead with two separate hands. He was an accomplished musician and guitarist. I was honored to sip scotch and listen. I have an open invitation for Al to come to Chiang Mai and join us for an evening.
This is Christmas evening. It’s dark and many people are out for a stroll. Young couples, small families, and small groups of friends. Many Thais dressed in red, some wearing antlers or Santa hats. We sit at one of our fav restaurants and it and the streets are lively and busy. Diane and I chatted for some time but eventually opened the menus and ordered marinated grilled pork, chicken satay and pomelo salad. Since this is quite the fancy restaurant it was done up right.
Normally I would write up a piece on the dinner but rather this is about the evening as a whole. It was magical and sparkly. As we do sometimes, we talk about fellow diners, guessing who they are and the relationship they have to each other. With experience in the dining industry and a seasoned diner, I am aware of my surroundings and when people come and go. How fast they get service. What other people order. Much like former law enforcement who are aware of security I am aware of ‘restaurant’. It is a delightful night.
After my perfect scotch, I ordered a red wine with dinner. Our ‘sommelier’ suggested a few options. I suggest he pick his favorite and send it my direction. When he returned and while he was in the middle of his pour, we chatted. Thus, I ended up with a healthy amount. Which pretty much represented how the entire evening went.
We had an enjoyable stroll back to our place which is 3 or 4 blocks away. Dodging scooters and the occasional car we walked the streets with many people. We approached our home away from home, walked down our private pathway, unlocked the door, and immediately put on ‘comfy’ clothes. I then wrote this up and now we are watching a little local news and calling it a day. A wonderful day. Merry Christmas.
Ginger Farm Kitchen
A Bib Gourmand Michelin distinction restaurant. It’s family style and comfortable, with a pro staff. Best restaurant in Chiang Mai, our favorite, just hit the spot, or all of the above I just don’t know. But I enjoyed myself.
The little things catch my eye. Having a waitperson walk by and refill my beer in a room that is super busy. An apology that a drink order took more than 2 minutes to deliver. Garnishes, many times are meaningful to the dish. We missed this idea with the marinated grilled pork. The greens would have made it just right and we missed the magic of the mint, arugula, and basil with pork. Now we have an excuse to come back and reorder this dish. Then we can include those delicious greens to our bites of tasty pork.
As I write, I’m a couple of beers in, and happy. We had a mystical walk back to our place, listening to live music at a handful of night clubs as we walked past. I threw a 100 baht into a guitar case, took some artistic pictures, and just soaked up all the goodness. As we stay up and are venturing ‘out and about’ later and later, Chiang Mai comes alive. Trust me, we are older. We may identify as hip, but we are not. We have been there. We have done that. Young people always think they were the first. I did. I wasn’t. They are not.
The night is warm. Best described as t-shirt weather somewhere in the neighborhood of 75°. Something changes when it goes from upper 80s or even 90s down to 75° at night. It’s a magic switch. You want to be outside. Back in my old life, after dark was different. Here, it is permission. Permission to laugh, to smile, to let the hair down because of the stark difference from the daytime. Sure, I’m from Seattle, which has its temperature issues. I once wrote that Thailand is not a country, it is a drug. We have hit methamphetamine row. The young men are handsome and drive mod scooters, and the young women are strikingly beautiful and stylish. We kid each other on being old, we are… and we are not. There is much more for us to experience.
Osaka Pop-Up (I'm not sure what its real name it)
We call this ‘Osaka pop-up’. Someday I’ll take a picture of the sign and figure it out its real name. We probably go here twice a week for lunch. The menu only has a few things on it. All having to do with pork. So, I’m in.
The parent restaurant Osaka is only open for dinner. So, this family must rent the courtyard space during the day, bring their own cooking gear and make a living. Mostly local Thais eat here, which seems to be our speed especially for lunch. BTW we also go to dinner twice a week at Osaka.
Today we discovered another locals place a block away but a brick-and-mortar version. It was excellent. There is no lack of good places to eat in Chiang Mai.
This does beg the question “geez, Bill how often do you two go out to eat at excellent and tasty restaurants?” Well, after two months here, we find ourselves going out 14 times a week for lunch and dinner. We have peanut butter toast, with coffee and fresh fruit for breakfast. We’ve never eaten so healthy, delicious, or cheaply… ever!
As much as we enjoy cooking, we have not, other than toast. It’s actually less expensive, healthier, and better in Thai restaurants. We have discussed if we leased a house for a year, we would have to stock up on kitchen and food items needed to cook at home. But for now, it is a waiter, a cook, a dishwasher, and beer poured for me by an attractive Asian woman… that would be referring to Diane of course!’
ForCryingOutLoud!! Another restaurant.... we can't take any more 🙂
Just one more.
This is now our favorite Indian restaurant in Chiang Mai. We’ve only been to two, so…..
Accha is the name. Lovely, delicious, filling, and just what one needs.
I’ll spare you all the musings I have. Since at this point you are just looking at the pretty pictures 🙂
