Chiang Mai International Food Festival 2011

[OpenChiangMai]

Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association, Restaurants and food clubs in Chiang Mai with the Tourism Authority of Thailand Chiang Mai office invite you to enjoy the international food in "Chiang Mai International Food Festival 2011" at Chiang Mai Hall, Central Airport Plaza Chiang Mai on 14 -18 July 2011.

Chiang Mai International Food Festival 2011 promotion of cultural exchange activities in national food of countries from around the world as well as a source of food and drinks from various countries. Visitors can taste food and drink from each country at the event.

For more information

http://www.ciff2011.com/

[Thailand]

Just been today, plenty of choices of international cuisine. Had the Indian and finished off with Tiramisu.

The one downside, the noise from the speakers can probably be heard on other worlds outside of our solar system!

[LadyHeather]

I went yesterday and the Chinese food looked quite good but I didn't get a chance to try it. Spicy Bollywood has the Indian booth, I know the Pub is doing the English food there. There seems to be a good selection but I see that they are doing the coupon style of purchase, I understand it makes it easier on the vendors to not have to carry change but I am not that fond of the coupon system so popular in food courts here.

[CPT]

Perhaps my expectations were too high but I was rather disappointed. The concept is great but the execution was rather poor. Very noisy, rather disorganized, food of unimpressive range and quality. If they hold it again I would suggest reworking the sound system to better suit the space (turn down the volume), adding open seating not associated with a particular vendor (it wasn't always possible to find somewhere to sit and eat), pushing vendors to sell tasting size portions as well as larger servings, and finding a better way to communicate where and when scheduled events are going to happen (the printed schedule lacked location info and was poorly organized and the information booth was unhelpful). Great idea and I hope it grows into a great event.

Edited to add: With regard to the coupons, perhaps consider issuing coupons in a single value (say 20 baht) to simplify things (being given a fistful of 5 baht coupons was rather annoying and sorting through stapled stacks of mixed denomination coupons increased the time that each transaction required).

Edited July 15, 2011 by CPT

[Yelly]

Great event, but limited selection. I had a nice, big German beer and sampled a lot of food. Husband had some fish'n'chips.

I was a little irked, though, at the "advertised" selection versus what was actually there. About six different coffeeshops (all Thai), the major supermarkets, and a handful of actual "country" cuisine. Advertised foods I was looking forward to, but weren't found included Greek and Mexican food.

VERY happy, however, to find EXCELLENT avocados at the Rimping stand, and for only 29 baht apiece!

[Pikey]

I went saturday with a mate and the concensus was that whilst what was on offer was decent enough quality, for the size of the portions, it was dam_n expensive - 80B for 2 English "banger" sausages with no trimmings from The Pub and 140B for an extremely small serving of Chicken Vindaloo with a single chapati from Spicy Bollywood. In no way am I a "kineow farang" but I do like percieved value for money and it seems that the vendors there took advantage of the event and charge IMO, excessively for the grub.

@Yelly - yes, the German beer was very good and the Mexican was outside between the fountain and the entrance to the shopping centre.

Cheers,

Pikey.

Edited July 18, 2011 by Pikey

[shepsel]

The venue was aimed at a Thai audience to familiarize them to cuisines other than Thai.

Although it was a rather a poor represtation of western foods available in Chiang Mai, it was a start. Greek food, French food, for example were advertised and I saw non available. There should have been more western products and tasting of samples given out so that Thais would try something before buying it.

Unfortunately none of the smaller Thai companies that package foods were not there, and when I asked about purchasing some Italian products there were no prices on them, and the staff didn't know what they cost.

It was nice to see that Movenpick Ice Cream is now available here, but if the price doesn't scare you, nothing will.

[Yelly]

There was a huge French booth in the back, diagonal from the Pub. Also, there were a bunch of samples. I think I got a sample from every booth.

The "Mexican" booth was not open, I guess, when I was there. There was not a booth outside by the fountain.