Burger At The House Ain't Too Bad, Yet Another Food Review

[Maccheroncini]

 My order was cheese burger and a side order of home made freedom fries. Burger it self wasn't too bad, if you like thick home-style burger patty rather than fast food style burger patty.

Also, it had to be the best thick cut fries I had ever tasted and I don't mean just in Thailand.  

 

[jdinasia]

ummmm and where is this place? etc

[Oneman]

.

Very tempting: Thank you, Maccheroncini, for posting that.

http://www.thehousethailand.com/restaurant.html

- Oneman

Chiangmai

Edited January 21, 2010 by Oneman

[Asmerom]

The House Restaurant flaunts its elegance, magic and romantic atmosphere, to be savoured with a whiff of faraway places, where the customers can weave their own dreams among the handpainted lampshades inspired by Venice's Rialto............... and you order a burger !! I must say, you've got guts. I suppose you could argue that a burger is classier than cod and chips but that might be controversial.

Edited January 21, 2010 by Asmerom

[Ulysses G.]

I love the House itself, but always found the food overated. How much is a Houseburger anyway?

[amexpat]

The House Restaurant flaunts its elegance, magic and romantic atmosphere, to be savoured with a whiff of faraway places, where the customers can weave their own dreams among the handpainted lampshades inspired by Venice's Rialto............... and you order a burger !! I must say, you've got guts. I suppose you could argue that a burger is classier than cod and chips but that might be controversial.

To someone who uses the term "freedom fries", a cheeseburger is probably the ultimate in fine dining.

[Ulysses G.]

I can't remember anyone but you who has used that term for quite some time.

[Asmerom]

I can't remember anyone but you who has used that term for quite some time.

Well, it's not surprising you can't remember, as it was about five hours ago that Macccheroncini first used the term in this thread.Or perhaps you are refering to the term "fine dining" which wasn't too clearly expressed in your post.

Edited January 21, 2010 by Asmerom

[Maccheroncini]

I love the House itself, but always found the food overated. How much is a Houseburger anyway?

Hi UG, Could not remember exactly how much it was but it is over a hundred baht.  Another new burger joint on Nimmanhemin near Kantary Condo was cheaper but no match for the killer fries. 

[Maccheroncini]

The House Restaurant flaunts its elegance, magic and romantic atmosphere, to be savoured with a whiff of faraway places, where the customers can weave their own dreams among the handpainted lampshades inspired by Venice's Rialto............... and you order a burger !! I must say, you've got guts. I suppose you could argue that a burger is classier than cod and chips but that might be controversial.

To someone who uses the term "freedom fries", a cheeseburger is probably the ultimate in fine dining.

Well I did have some spring rolls...  

[flying]

I was surprised one day to drop into Love at First Bite & have a very good Cheeseburger

http://www.loveatfirstbite-cm.com/home/default.asp

PS: Leave room for desert & coffee......After all that is what they are famous for.

Edited January 22, 2010 by flying

[Ulysses G.]

I love the House itself, but always found the food overated. How much is a Houseburger anyway?

Hi UG, Could not remember exactly how much it was but it is over a hundred baht. Another new burger joint on Nimmanhemin near Kantary Condo was cheaper but no match for the killer fries.

Last night, I was thinking about this thread and trying to decide between a burger at The House (I'm guessing 300-400 baht), Da Naga Cafe (about 140 baht with a few potato wedges) and McDonald's (about 130 for a Big Mac set with fries and a soft drink.)

Da Naga is nice looking place and it has some excellent, but pricey baked goods and good Thai food, so I decided to give it a try.

It looked great and the potato wedges might be the best in town, but the bun was overly heavy, the beef in the burger was not tasty at all and pretty much raw on top of that - the burger was just not very good.

McDonald's is much better and less expensive as well.

I might save up to try the burger at the House just to say I did it, but I have the feeling that the Duke's is tastier and probably at half the price.

[jdinasia]

I was surprised one day to drop into Love at First Bite & have a very good Cheeseburger

http://www.loveatfirstbite-cm.com/home/default.asp

PS: Leave room for desert & coffee......After all that is what they are famous for.

Yummmmm ... saved that site to my favorites

[Asmerom]

'Asmerom'

The House Restaurant flaunts its elegance, magic and romantic atmosphere, to be savoured with a whiff of faraway places, where the customers can weave their own dreams among the handpainted lampshades inspired by Venice's Rialto............... and you order a burger !! I must say, you've got guts. I suppose you could argue that a burger is classier than cod and chips but that might be controversial.

"amexpat"

To someone who uses the term "freedom fries", a cheeseburger is probably the ultimate in fine dining.

Well I did have some spring rolls...  

So, you had a burger, freedom fries and some really up-market spring rolls. I imagine for the spring rolls they must have pulled out all the stops ; but didn't the whiff of under arm burger conceal, "the scent of northern thai rose and frangipane petals on the snow white tablecloth" ?

Its about 10 years since I last tasted a burger but I can't find any of these delicious delicacies on their online menu? Why is that? Do you have to whisper your order in the waiter's ear? Are they served sort of, "under the table" or maybe they hive you off to one of their upstairs executive rooms where they have special menus listing these gastronomic gems?

[flying]

I was surprised one day to drop into Love at First Bite & have a very good Cheeseburger

http://www.loveatfirstbite-cm.com/home/default.asp

PS: Leave room for desert & coffee......After all that is what they are famous for.

Yummmmm ... saved that site to my favorites

Well worth it & the owners are so nice.

[swain]

Gecko Gardens and bar has a very good Hamburger that has 200 grams of beef, generous portion of fries, and generous amount of trimmings plus salad. He makes his own dill pickles which are sliced large. Price is 99 baht with cheese 1.09 baht and on Tuesdays he has burger madness which the same burger is only 79 baht. Its the best deal in Chiang Mai for burgers that I have seen and it tastes great. Will get a picture next time.

Plus for being downtown and central to everything it has good beer specials Chang 3 for 149 baht. Plus they just started serving Lao beer.

Edited January 22, 2010 by swain

[Maccheroncini]

Gecko Gardens and bar has a very good Hamburger that has 200 grams of beef, generous portion of fries, and generous amount of trimmings plus salad. He makes his own dill pickles which are sliced large. Price is 99 baht with cheese 1.09 baht and on Tuesdays he has burger madness which the same burger is only 79 baht. Its the best deal in Chiang Mai for burgers that I have seen and it tastes great. Will get a picture next time.

Plus for being downtown and central to everything it has good beer specials Chang 3 for 149 baht. Plus they just started serving Lao beer.

Thanks for the tips will persuade the wife to Gecko Gardens soon.

[Ulysses G.]

I love the House itself, but always found the food overated. How much is a Houseburger anyway?

Hi UG, Could not remember exactly how much it was but it is over a hundred baht. Another new burger joint on Nimmanhemin near Kantary Condo was cheaper but no match for the killer fries.

The Houseburger is 220, but it is only served at lunchtime. That is why it is not on the dinner menu.

We went there last night and I had a bunch of good soups and appetizers, but the main course - some sort of filo, vegetarian pie - was absolutely disgusting and my freind's lamb seemed much more like mutton than a young lamb according to him.

I have always found The House very spotty and the Fusion dishes that they "specialize" in, usually suck, but if you stick with a steak, you should be fine.

[Sanchez69]

I love the House itself, but always found the food overated. How much is a Houseburger anyway?

Hi UG, Could not remember exactly how much it was but it is over a hundred baht. Another new burger joint on Nimmanhemin near Kantary Condo was cheaper but no match for the killer fries.

The Houseburger is 220, but it is only served at lunchtime. That is why it is not on the dinner menu.

We went there last night and I had a bunch of good soups and appetizers, but the main course - some sort of filo, vegetarian pie - was absolutely disgusting and my freind's lamb seemed much more like mutton than a young lamb according to him.

I have always found The House very spotty and the Fusion dishes that they "specialize" in, usually suck, but if you stick with a steak, you should be fine.

you prefer Mcdonalds? huh!!

[Ulysses G.]

I prefer McDonalds to most local hamburgers - at least it tastes familiar - but to be fair to The House, I have not tried their burgers yet.

I did go there for breakfast today because the breakfast menu looked so good, but you actually eat in the shop next door which is called Ginger and it is pleasant, but nothing like the House which really looks great these days.

I love the Egg's Benedict at Art Cafe, but the House's were terrible - the English Muffins have a really weird yeasty taste and the hollandaise sauce seems like something else completely - but the coffee was fine and I also had a cinammon roll that was OK, but nothing special.

Actually, the best thing on my plate was the English style chips, just as the OP reported. I just wish that I could find something tasty to eat them with.

I really don't understand why so many dishes at the House are perfectly fine, while others are almost tasteless, but it makes ordering a real dice toss, unless you don't mind throwing the expensive failures away.

Edited January 23, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[getgoin]

I went with my family to The House, actually the Ginger Cafe, for lunch because I like having a nice relaxed good lunch. We ordered a lot of dishes, we were six people, everyone was either not good, cheaply presented or just plain old bad. My plate was particularly bad. I ordered a simple ham and cheese sandwich. It came out as a small portion of bread with julienne Proscuitto and a small portion of non melted Emmenthaler.

The Thai dishes were equally as bad or worse. I am always surprised when someone recommends this location.

My opinion has always been that the House is living on it's ambiance, just like The Golden Chicken and a few other Chiang Mai upscale restaurants.

The House has a great reputation for pushing old over the hill wine. Because they bought it at a cheap price.

It just goes to show you that good food doesn't always have to be pretentious or expensive.

Sorry but the OP asked for honest opinions when he opened this subject.

If you would believe Citylife you would believe that this place is a really great restaurant. Good thing about the payoff for them.

The House? Pretty bad. And I know food.

Edited January 24, 2010 by getgoin

[Oneman]

Another new burger joint on Nimmanhemin near Kantary Condo was cheaper but no match for the killer fries. 

Everything about the food at "Burger de Tu" screams of being the cheapest possible.

It was the worst burger I can ever remember eating: totally bland flavor, bits of gristle in the meat.

Bun had no flavor, either.

French fries tasteless -- suggesting potatoes frozen for a very long time.

Service was no better.

Mid-afternoon and I was the only customer ordering.

Waited a very long time, but when served, the burger was only slightly warm.

An unusually hot day in January, but air-con was not functioning properly, or maybe was off to cut costs.

As a result, inside the restaurant, that stifling closeness that Thais don't seem to notice.

Not even a fan.

Could sit outside: but that offered frequent traffic passing plus dust from construction site directly across the soi.

The Coke® was fine.

-- Oneman

Chiangmai

.

Edited January 23, 2010 by Oneman

[Gonzo the Face]

While I have never had the pleasure/displeasure of eating at The House, I would not deem myself qualified to comment on their burger. I would , however, like to offer the following. Sometimes when we see that a customer, new to our place, decides to order the basic hamburger I may offer the following suggestion. Let us not serve the burger directly atop the bun.

We will give them all the essentials, lettuce, tomato, bun, pickle etc, but with the burger pattie placed beside the other.

I think that in a hamburger, the burger patty is 75% or more of the hamburger meal, with the 25% made up of the other [essentials]

We make our own burger patties [ 150 gram-er's or gramp-er's for that matter] and I suggest to the new guest, that they try just a bite or two of the patty before putting together into the sandwich structure. Our patty is more on the juicy side rather than the dry, and the bun and other essentials tend to difuse and distort the taste of the patty. Just my opinion,cuz I think in this way they can taste the smoky-ness of the burger patty first, undiluted. We do get guests that eat all and leave the sesame seed bun, which is really good in itself, or even order with no bun......They say its for the diet....

I seem to be rambling so enough..... just my opinion.

gonzo

[Ulysses G.]

I feel like jumping on my trusty bicycle and heading over there for a morning burger.

[Gonzo the Face]

I feel like jumping on my trusty bicycle and heading over there for a morning burger.

Might I be so bold as to suggest with egg and potato pancake ???

.... not that we have potato pancakes.....................................................yet.

[Ulysses G.]

In 1991 0r 1992, there was a nice little German restaurant in Chiang Rai with wonderful potato pancakes. We used to go up on weekends for the potato pancakes and Italian food at El Cantina which was much better than any Italian place in CM at the time.

[el jefe]

In 1991 0r 1992, there was a nice little German restaurant in Chiang Rai with wonderful potato pancakes. We used to go up on weekends for the potato pancakes and Italian food at El Cantina which was much better than any Italian place in CM at the time.

Now that we've gone from 'burgers at The House' to 'Where to get great potato pancakes', it's Bake and Bite. They serve 3 thin crispy pancakes where you can actually see and taste the grated potatoes. I assume Art Cafe's are the same as The Hideaway's, which I don't like at all. Thick and mushy, they're like fried mashed potatoes.

So, where's the best fish n chips?

(If we can't get a food sub-forum, maybe we can just post all food comments in one thread.)