Palaad Tawanron Restaurant, Cm Zoo

[AndyW]

Just back from an aborted lunch at Palaad Tawanron near the back entrance to the zoo. Forget about the pleasant decking overlooking the lake shown in the glossy CM mags, because they only have enough sunshades for a couple of tables, so chances are you'll have to dine inside - which loses the appeal of the restaurant straight off. Pleasant enough inside though, wandering musicians playing relaxing music. Great menu if they actually send someone to market to stock up on ingredients. We ordered drinks & then chose 3 meals. "Sorry, no have one". OK order an alternative. First dish arrives. "Sorry no have the other two..." OK, we'll have this. "Sorry no have". OK we'll try this.... You can guess the rest. Well there was nothing else on the menu that we (the customers) wanted. So I asked for the bill, to the astonishment of the waiter. Then told my wife to explain that we'd pay for the drinks but not the dish we'd received & not touched, because we wanted a few things to eat & would have to go elsewhere. Of course the missus is wishing she wasn't there because she can see the tell tale signs of I'm thoroughly pissed off but not showing it to everyone, yet. Manageress turned up & was explaining to the wife how they'd been very busy the night before etc etc. I guess it's too much to expect someone to buy some fresh food in that case. I fully understand that in cheap restaurants you expect lower standards, but in places trying to be a bit upmarket & attracting more well heeled customers you need to have higher standards. I don't include myself in the "well heeled" bracket, but looking at the other Thai customers there it was obviously the more well to do members of CM society. Next time it will be Galae nearby - much better location, decent food.

Anybody else had better luck than me at this restaurant?

[chuchok]

Had a meal there in November.Food and service was great.Maybe you got them on a bad day. tit.

[AndyW]

As I said, the menu looked great - just didn't have any of the interesting items.

What with our 9 mth old baby, we don't get out much, which made it more of a let down.

Not often we try somewhere new - usually go to the same places. This place wont be one of them. Can't say I 've had so many "not haves" ever before.

[Suthep_Steve]

We went a couple of weeks ago due to a favourable review in Citylife magazine. It was very busy and we were shunted inside as we didn't have a reservation. OK not their fault. The review said it was OK for vegetarians. We looked at the menu which didn't have many vegie things on it. OK again not their fault either. Never mind I thought most Thai resturants can be talked into providing something pretty good. Asked the waitors in my bad Thai what they had for vegetarians. He gave me a look somewhat akin to a rabbit in the head lights of an on coming car. After he calmed down a little all he could come up with was Pad Pak Ruam, even more boring than the vege lasgne which is the normal fair for vegetarians in the UK. I found a couple of other things on the menu namely chips and fried cashew nuts. The food we had was quite good but it wan't a great meal. Have to admit that I enjoyed the Galae much more.

They really pack in the tables and there wasn't much room

We did get our revenge however as when the roaming muscians came to our table my Mum who was out here on holiday sang along to "Lay down your head Tom Dooley"

We didn't stay long.

I guess for meat eaters when it's not so busy it might be good but I would advise vegies to stay away.

[chuchok]

I can't remember what the name of one of the dishes was,but it was a pork and ginger curry??? just flaming georgous

[AndyW]

pork & ginger curry?

was that "Hang Lay"? My wife cooks this so superbly, I've stopped ordering it in restaurants as it's always disappointing. Mind you it take her half a day to prepare it!!

In fact, eating out is more for her benefit as I find her cooking superior to most restaurants - but, then you can't expect them to pay so much attention to one or two dishes at the prices they charge. On the whole I think we're spoilt for choice eating out in CM.

[chanchao]

> Next time it will be Galae nearby - much better location, decent food.

Or Huean Huay Kaew, also nearby.

( http://www.netasia.org/album/thumbnails.php?album=6 )

[Hibernia]

Palaad Tawanron Restaurant has only been open for six weeks and who would have thought that it would be so popular amongst Thai people. Thais are of course the most picky when choosing a restaurant with Thai food.

There is already a new lunch menu as many dishes take up to four hours to prepare in advance, these will only be available in the evening. Seafood, Palaad Tawanron's speciality, comes direct from the sea and not from Chiang Mai, so if the restaurant is out, it means that the customer cannot order their preferred dish. The chefs are extremely choosy and will not serve dishes made from ingredients that are not fresh. They are however getting to know the likes of the Chiang Mai people better so stocks will be more efficient in the future.

As to vegetarians, there is actually quite a lot for the Western vegetarian which is much easier for the chefs than the Thai vegetarian who eat 'jay' or 'mangsaweerat', i.e. no onions, no garlic etc. etc.

Extra umbrellas for the outside balconies have already been bought and there are also fans to keep you cool or you can choose light indoor aircon as well.

There is also a planned childrens menu, childrens high chairs are being ordered and there should be a playroom for younger children and a nappy changing area. For bigger children there will be an adventure playground and hopefully weekend and holiday activities with nature, animal and environmental programmes. Also planned is better access for the disabled and a wheelchair-accessible toilet.

There will also be a nature trail with labels in Thai, Northern Thai, Latin and English for your information. Would love to do this in Braille too. About 2000 orchids have been planted from Queen Sirikits nurseries as well as a few thousand new trees.

Previously there was no electricity in this area, i.e. no road lighting, and a very dangerous road, this has all been improved and needs to be improved even more.

Staff have had no English training as yet, as you may have noticed, they need to learn a lot for working at the restaurant and we hope that they will be very efficient in their work soon and then English classes will start. Please bear with us.

Lots of plans and lots of things to do, give us some time.

We hope that you will continue with your comments. Preferably write directly to the restaurant in Thai, English, French or German as it takes time to log onto internet forums. You can also write to [email protected].

Best wishes and thanks for writing,

the hard working owners and staff at Palaad Tawanron Restaurant.

Just back from an aborted lunch at Palaad Tawanron near the back entrance to the zoo.  Forget about the pleasant decking overlooking the lake shown in the glossy CM mags, because they only have enough sunshades for a couple of tables, so chances are you'll have to dine inside - which loses the appeal of the restaurant straight off.  Pleasant enough inside though, wandering musicians playing relaxing music.  Great menu if they actually send someone to market to stock up on ingredients.  We ordered drinks & then chose 3 meals.  "Sorry, no have one".  OK order an alternative.  First dish arrives.  "Sorry no have the other two..."   OK, we'll have this.  "Sorry no have".  OK we'll try this....  You can guess the rest.  Well there was nothing else on the menu that we (the customers) wanted.  So I asked for the bill, to the astonishment of the waiter.  Then told my wife to explain that we'd pay for the drinks but not the dish we'd received & not touched, because we wanted a few things to eat & would have to go elsewhere.  Of course the missus is wishing she wasn't there because she can see the tell tale signs of I'm thoroughly pissed off but not showing it to everyone, yet.  Manageress turned up & was explaining to the wife how they'd been very busy the night before etc etc.  I guess it's too much to expect someone to buy some fresh food in that case.  I fully understand that in cheap restaurants you expect lower standards, but in places trying to be a bit upmarket & attracting more well heeled customers you need to have higher standards.  I don't include myself in the "well heeled" bracket, but looking at the other Thai customers there it was obviously the more well to do members of CM society.   Next time it will be Galae nearby - much better location, decent food.

Anybody else had better luck than me at this restaurant?

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[sabaijai]

I've eaten at Palaad Tawanron (or Phaalaat Tawanron for those picky about translits) twice and the food was superb both times. Their kaeng khae is the best I've ever eaten.

It is mobbed at night, so reservations are a must. If you don't reserve in advance, you'll definitely not end up at a good table.

As for Kalae and Nam Tok Huay Kaew, I like the atmosphere at both very much, in fact more than I like the atmosphere at Palaad Tawanron, and they're both easier to access and to find parking at. But there's no comparison foodwise, they're not in the same league as Palaad Tawanron.

[sabaijai]

Ate at Palat again two nights ago, since a Thai friend was visiting from Bangkok and wanted to try somewhere new.

They don't have kaeng khae anymore, so strike that suggestion. Instead we ordered kaeng som, which was excellent. Another impressive dish that evening was aw suan, oysters fried in a rice flour/egg omelet. Service was excellent, and once again it was completely full -- I rang for resv two days in advance.