just_Elaine

I was a very frequent visitor to Salsa Kitchen when there were at their previous location off Ratwithi. Adored sitting out on the deck with a huge plate of ribs, rain pouring down and the additional sound of 4 bars each playing different reggae tunes. Loved it.

Must stop buy and check those ribs again.

Umm. I used to get those once in awhile, but I don't think they are on the menu any more. At least, I don't remember it being on the menu. Maybe call first, so you don't get disappointed?

Salsa Kitchen changed their menu a bit. The chipotle chicken taco was pretty tasty as was the pork burritos. The combo is a lot of food! Good thing I was hungry. There is a duck carnitas (crispy duck confit carnitas) that sounded tempting, but I did not try that.

Best wishes for a long and healthy life for His Majesty The King! Happy Birthday.

. I lived in Saudi and didn't like too much of their food so ate mostly Indian or Thai food when I went out, what's wrong with that and more importantly, why should anyone else care what I like or dislike?

.

Really? Last week, I was just thinking about a lentil dip (not fooul, which I also like) and the bread people brought into work. I had what I thought was very good food there - shwarma, korma chicken, various biriyani rice dishes, rice and lentil dishes, kabsa, mandi chicken, baklava, falafel (homemade), hummus, tabouli, moutaba, pita bread, pebble bread, fattosh, zaatar, shish tarouk, grape leaves, stuffed vegetables and those pastries with a bread like base. Anyway, to each his own especially when it comes to food... I was fortunate. It was over 10 years ago though...

Sometimes the toilet paper won't go down. At those places, there is usually a basket nearby for your toilet paper, but there is normally a hose that you can use instead.

I never even thought about who owned the transportation. I don't know, but I guess I always assumed they were independent.

I've only seen people dressed up as you described doing gardening work so I thought they were wearing it for protection.

Anyone know anything about the new Indian Restaurant in Maya?

Someone mentioned it to me the other day and something about an all you can eat buffet but I'm not sure if It was a dream or not as I have done a few Google searches and can't find any mention of an Indian Restaurant at Maya..someone tell me it's true not a figment of my imagination

We were there a week or so ago and was surprised to see a Middle Eastern restaurant. We had already eaten, but being curious I asked if I could look. I saw a lot of Indian food that looked pretty good. I did not remember the name and saw your post so I did a google search and found a review for Babylonian Middle Eastern Restaurant referencing the sister restaurant at Maya Mall. It was highly rated. Hope this helps... If you try it out, let us know.

Dante,

Not odd at all. It is well accepted and other people in north or south america really don't seem to have a problem with it.. People in these other counties prefer anyway to use their country name/nationality for ID purposes....

I know your intention is to criticize Americans but it is the only country that has the name America in the name of the country...

I have never heard mexicans, americans or canadians refer to themselves as north americans which they are entitled to. I am going to guess ditto that for south american countries.....

It is just the use of how written/speaking language evolved in this one issue...

Lets not try to hijack this thread.in something you really have not given any meaningful thought as to why...

CB.

From Wiki

The English-language use of "American" as the demonym for citizens of the United States has caused offense to some from Latin America[96] who may identify themselves with the term "American" and feel that using the term solely for the United States misappropriates it.

For me, I do that here in Thailand because I get a blank/questioning stare when I say the United States. So I got in the habit to say "America" because people here at least kind of understand approximately where it is. I, recently, learned the word for the US so I just have to try and remember the word the next time it comes it!

Oh, and I agree with the need for some kind of transport if one is living in Hang Dong. We lived just North of the turn to Night Safari from canal and we used our car quite a bit. Now that we live in town, we use our car maybe 3 or 4 times a month.

Was in the Chiang rai forum and noticed a thread with this title.

Thought it would be useful to have a similar one for Chiang Mai..... ;-)

In many ways the Chiang Mai forum is more personal and useful than the Bangkok forum (where I now live), but when you look at a thread like this asking for 'good restaurants in Chiang Mai' and see a load of saddos suggesting food courts and McDonalds, you realise that the more functional style of the Bangkok forum has its pluses!

Chiang Mai has a fantastic range of restaurants. I'd suggest some myself, but until I come up at Christmas and sample them afresh, I don't like to review them. So how about a few of you 'foodies' telling the OP about the current situation at Chez Marco, Rioja 2, Le Terrasse, Billys', Pern's, O'Malley's, The Olive Tree (if thats what Jerusalem Falafel is now called, Le Lapin, or the excellent Thai places from different regions, or the Chinese /Japanese/Korean/Indian/.

Such a wealth of restaurants, such a paucity of bankrupt contributions.

Hate to disagree but CM does not have "a fantastic range of restaurants." Billy's? The Olive Tree? O'Malley's!? Please. You are much better off in Bangkok.

The so-called "saddos" suggesting food courts and McD's are just having a bit of fun.

I'll add that some of the worst service I've ever received has been at Pern's, so much so that I refuse to go there ever again.

When you are one of two customers in the place - and you're bussing your own table because the staff can't be bothered - and the bartender thanks you for "helping out" while the owner sits, watches, and says nothing.....then it's time to go elsewhere.

I agree service or lack of it can really make a difference to one enjoying an dining experience. Sounds like you did not have a good experience, but I was just at Pern's last week and the service was good. The owner even came over to talk with us and mentioned that they are coming up with a new tapas menu. He said he extended the bar area because people wanted that. I had a delicous lamb shank with mash potatoes and a lot of vegetables.

I agree about Chez Marco being good, but I have not been there for a couple of years (just hardly in that area) so keep that in mind.

I agree with Duke's (Maeping branch) good for hamburger and pizza.

For Thai (fusion), W by Wanlamun, is a very nice place - very nicely presented and fancy Thai food. Also, they have delicious desserts. Note: Ullysses (thank you!) had posted here about this a few years ago so we tried it and liked it.

For gaiyang - Doi Cherng near Nimmanhaemin. A classmate gave me this recommendation last year.

My favorite Thai restaurant for years is "Kaeng Ron Ban Suan".

Oh and on another thread someone said "don't bother" about Lemon Tree (on Huay Kaew). I can kind of understand that comment depending on what one ordered. We get stuff "to go" regularly there and have a few things that we really like.

Also, I wanted to really thank TV members who have recommended places in the past. It is really helpful because there are so many places in Chiang Mai that it is difficult to select.

Oh for vegetarian, I haven't been for awhile, but Khun Churn lunch buffet used to be good. Imm Aim has some good vegetarian food too (kao yum phuket is good).

It has been a long time since I took a cooking class, but I think they have some nice courses here. I found the ones that I took very informative. You learn about Thai ingredients and how to prepare them. The place I went is no longer in businsess, but I found that it is nicer if you could find some with a smaller class size.

The Y has a short Thai class (2 weeks or less) that I heard was very good (I think Kru Ice is teaching it). Here is their current schedule: http://www.ymcachiangmai.org/UserFiles/File/program/Thai%20for%20foreigner.pdf

The only other thing that I heard about was people taking Thai kick boxing courses. I think that might be popular, but I don't know.

Does anyone know what time an application can be submitted? Last year, I think the times last year excluded something like Wednesday afternoons which is why I am asking... Thanks.

I found out by myself. Just fyi, the office is opened:

Mon - Fri 8am to noon

Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri 1pm to 4pm

Does anyone know what time an application can be submitted? Last year, I think the times last year excluded something like Wednesday afternoons which is why I am asking... Thanks.

For me, I bank, get foot and Thai massages and get my hair cut there with a nice shampoo massage. On occasion, I buy something at Central Department store. The food court was okay - khaaw man gai, namtook muu. The Northern food area has pretty good curry, but I rarely go there. The night market (can't remember what nights) is nice. Earlier this year, I commissioned a guy in the painting/drawing area to make a drawing of my Mom and Grandson. It was pretty good (not cheap) and Mom loved it. There are some cute skirts nearer that area as well. Tops is okay and I shop there because I'm doing something else at Kad Suan Kaew. Also, I like the people at the Pharma Choice. Sorry to hear that IT City is no longer there. Needless to say, I really hope nothing is wrong with Kad Suan Kaew, but I won't be back to check things out until next month. Is the movie theatre and bowling alley still there?

We tried one bottle of the Peter Vella red and it was sugary like PostmanPat said. I have to say that it was the worst wine that I've ever tried (that was not corked). Of course, I guess it could have been a bad batch, but never again will I buy that brand. I haven't tried Bodega yet.

binjalin -- Are you drinking the red or white of the box wines you are mentioning? I ask because I have not found a reasonably priced white wine which is why I am sipping Montclair red (which I still think is better with food).

Yesterday, we were lucky enough to have a good tasting bottle of wine. It was a Sicilian Syrah and it went well with our duck leg confit. It was about 700 baht.

Regarding box wines, I like it because the packaging keeps the wine in a drinkable state for awhile.

yes I'm a Bodegas fan at the moment - far superior to Mont Clair (wish I had not mentioned Peter Vella)

I'm sorry... I guess I worded that too strong. Thank you for the Bodegas recommendation. We will keep it in mind.

Don't know if you have thought about this or not, but if you are gone for awhile, you might want to make sure someone is checking up on your car once in awhile. I only mention this because we had some trouble with rats in our car while we were gone. I think it happened when we parked either at the lots at Hillside 3 or Hillside 4. The car smelled awful for quite awhile even after we had the engine area cleaned up and blasted. We were very lucky they did not chew through the wiring.

Also, we make sure that we are here when the car inspection (required > 7 years), road tax and car insurance are due. Just thought I would mention this for your planning. Oh, I think someone had mentioned something about the drivers license requiring a specific type of visa (not tourist), but it might have been for the 5 year renewal.

We have a 'dunlopillo' mattress. It is an okay mattress and we lived with it for awhile. It is a bit on the hard side. We saw a previous topic regarding Latex Innovations, looked at their website and decided to get the mattress topper. We were going to leave town so we called Mam to talk about delivery and payment. She said they don't store the items and she gets them made as you order. She called them to make sure they could complete the mattress topper in time. We paid by bank transfer which was nice since we don't want to pay foreign transaction fees for our credit cards. The topper arrived on time and we slept very soundly. It was the best sleep we had in awhile! We also noticed that we don't feel the mattress bouncing when one of us gets in or out of bed any more. We are very happy with the product and the good, efficient service. So thank you to the people who commented on the other topic (I can't find it right now).

OP - I hope this is helpful to you.

Bodegas is the best for my taste too, haven't seen it at Rimping or Macro for 2 months,

Hate buying a big cask and its off. . . that's why I avoid the mom and pop Thai bottle shops for wine.

Agree with not buying at mom and pop shop... We had an off tasting cask and we were able to return it.

Good to know that Bodegas may be another choice. Thanks.

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1392465231.458105.jpg

Just got this sent to me by a reverse wine snob...

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555555... I think I fit into a few of those categories....

We tried one bottle of the Peter Vella red and it was sugary like PostmanPat said. I have to say that it was the worst wine that I've ever tried (that was not corked). Of course, I guess it could have been a bad batch, but never again will I buy that brand. I haven't tried Bodega yet.

binjalin -- Are you drinking the red or white of the box wines you are mentioning? I ask because I have not found a reasonably priced white wine which is why I am sipping Montclair red (which I still think is better with food).

Yesterday, we were lucky enough to have a good tasting bottle of wine. It was a Sicilian Syrah and it went well with our duck leg confit. It was about 700 baht.

Regarding box wines, I like it because the packaging keeps the wine in a drinkable state for awhile.

Rimping Narawat has loads of boxed red Mont Clair.

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Well, that is one of the four places we went to that did not have any about a day or two before this topic was started. Maybe some of us were unlucky in our timing. Oh well. It made us go around town anyway and get out of our routine!

P.S. This is one thing great about T.V. -- lots of eyes around different areas of town and sharing of information.

Well, that is encouraging. I just wish I wrote down the names of the two bottles we threw out this morning (one we had the first sip and knew it was going down the drain, the other was better and we managed to get more than 1/2 the bottle down). If we buy bottled wine again, I'm going to try to write them down so I know what not to buy!

Anyone know why the place is for sale?? Just curious ... but I plan to stop by and try one of the mango burgers while it is still there.

Oh, I hope they are just looking for another place.

By the way, just wanted to let you know the mango burger is 150 baht and you can add a side of fries for 30. We've had it within the last couple of weeks and it was very tasty. One thing that I thought was a bit weird is that they open at 1pm. That seems kind of late for lunch to me. So check their facebook page or call them to make sure they are there. For us, we have to go a bit out of the way to eat there.

It's been a few years since we flew through Singapore, but we used to get good deals on hotels with the Singapore Stopover Package. So if you are flying Singapore Air, you might check out their website for that package. If you decide to stay at the airport, there is a very good food court there. I don't remember the directions, but people outside the airport go there for a meal.

soi across the road from the shell garage on huay kaew road is lady with a small stall, will do all types of clothing repairs,quite good to.

There is a lady that does some work out on the street at the location 'true blue' mention (towards Chiang Mai Lodge), but down Sanjai near Huay Kaew (bank on the corner) was a small shop/stall with more than one lady there. The moved from there around the corner towards YMCA, but they are now near on Charoensuk Rd (per google) near the Santitham circle. From the circle going west, it is on the right hand side. I've had hemming done there and repair work on duffle bag (stuff coming out of the edging). Everything came back looking very good. Ummm. I never asked them to replace a zipper, but I would not hesitate to check with them.

Take some tiny fish hooks and embed them in a piece of popcorn and tie the hook to the rail. Catch the bird daily for a good squab soup.

Ha. ha... don't think I can handle "dressing" them (feathering, etc)...