THE RESTAURANT AT PHU CHAISAI
MOUNTAIN RESORT
Northern Thai and Akha
dishes are the highlights at the
resort’s restaurant, which uses
vegetables and herbs from its
own garden and meat from local
farms. Akha standouts include
moo pad hom choo (stir-fried
pork with hooker chives and chili
paste). The homemade sai oua
sausage is especially good. Three
courses around £15 per person.
phu-chaisai.comLAAB SANAM KEELA
Yes, it specialises in laab, but
there are other fabulous dishes
here too such as the deep-fried
tilapia covered in battered shards
of garlic. The yang ruam (mixed
grill) is mostly pieces of fatty
pork, including intestines and
ofal. Everything comes with
fresh vegetables and herbs. Main
course dishes from around £2.CHIVIT THAMMA DA COFFEE
HOUSE, BISTRO & BAR
Located next to the Kok River,
this place exudes an aura of a
bygone era. It’s owned and run
by yoga and meditation teacher
Nattamon Holmberg, an advocate
of slow, ethical food. He grows
his own rice and does all the
baking; all the other produce is
locally sourced, including the
organic Arabica cofee. The
menu features international
fare but there’s a great selection
of Northern Thai starters,
including sausage platters, pork
scratchings and bowls of kow soi.
A mixed platter of local Lanna
delicacies costs around £10.
chivitthammada.comA TASTE OF
Chiang RaiHere, sticky rice is a staple, served in a
bamboo container called a kratip khao. Kay
teaches me that in Thailand, rice is more
than just a side dish. “You don’t ask if you’ve
had dinner yet, you ask ‘tarn khao ayang?’
— have you had rice yet?” she explains.
Growing up in Thailand, working here
and then travelling to and from her London
home, Kay has gathered recipes from all
over the country. Up here in her beloved
mountains, Kay sought out dishes from the
Akha — indigenous people who crossed into
the countries of the Golden Triangle [the
area where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar
converge at the conluence of the Ruak and
Mekong Rivers] early in the 20th century.
“Akha food is interesting in that it uses very
little to no fat for cooking,” she says. “Most
dishes are steamed or grilled or dry fried.
The lavours are clean and bright, herbs and
chillies enhanced with salt and smoke.”
We take the market produce we’ve bought
up into the foothills of Doi Mae Salong
mountain to the kitchen at Phu Chaisai
Mountain Resort, where Kay has been
working with the culinary team to put
Akha dishes on the restaurant menu (later
this year, she’ll begin teaching classes at
its beautiful, airy cookery school). What
soon emerges to be laid on our outdoor
table is nam prik Akha, the Akha version
of a ubiquitous dip made with tomatoes,
chillies, shallots, coriander and salt; plahor bai tong (ish steamed in banana leaves
with herbs and spices); kua gai (chicken with
chilli, lemongrass, galangal and garlic); mok
hed (steamed mushrooms and acacia leaves);
and moo pad hom choo (dried belly pork
with hooker chives, garlic and spices).
Phu Chaisai was created by M L Sudavdee
Kriangkrai, an award-winning architect
and interior designer known as Mom Da.
Here, the landscape has been allowed to tell
its story and has dictated the whole ethos,
one of authenticity rather than luxury. It’s
a place to breathe. A jolly and loving soul,
Mom Da takes us on a tour of her organic
gardens and tea plantation, bouncing down
from the back of the truck and across her
ields like a nimble goat. She tells us that the
region, which once cultivated poppies for
heroin production, now grows some of the
best cofee in the world. Later, over cocktails
in her open-air bar, she introduces me to
sai oua (a pork sausage with herby, spicy
and salty notes) and pufy pork scratchings,
served with nam prik. Nature thrums all
around us and we take in views that roll
right out to the border with Myanmar.
At Laab Sanam Keela restaurant, we try
Lanna food, the more typical fare of the
area, inluenced by Yunnanese Chinese
cooking. The menu is all in Thai, so Kay,
a regular here when she’s in the north,
does the ordering. There’s pla tabtim tod
kratiem — deep-fried tilapia topped with aFROM LEFT: Phu
Chaisai Mountain
Resort cooking
class; Akha food
at Phu Chaisai
IMAGE: YINDEE
March 2020 53EAT