Thai-French Restaurant

[Ulysses G.]

I finally tried the Thai-French Restaurant after hearing good things about the steaks for many years. I knew the steak/beef would be too tough, but it was very acceptable for Thailand. It took some extra chewing, but I did not have my usual impulse to just spit it out (like I did at Gecko Garden a few weeks ago). The sauce was great and so was everything else and the price was not bad. Real French bread comes with the meal.This place gets a thumbs up from me.
Does anyone like anything but the steak? Any other recommendations? It seems like they know what they are doing there. One of my customers told me about a plate with French cold cuts and pate that he said was excellent, but I could not figure out what it was called on the menu.

[Bleacher Bum East]

I assume you are talking about Franco-Thai restaurant.

I have been eating there quite often lately (and putting on some un-needed kilos as a result), and have found almost everything good and good value for the money.

But I would particularly recommend shifting from beef to pork and trying the Pork Steak with Mustard Sauce and Mashed Potatoes as the side.

It is absolutely delicious ... actually rising almost to the level of "to die for" for my personal tastes.

They mustard sauce is wonderful, the pork has always been soft and tender with a generous helping, and the mashed potatoes are the second-best in Chiang Mai from my experience, running neck and neck with O'Malley's in that department. (I'll claim to be number one until someone knocks me off the throne).

The pork steak with mustard sauce and mashed potatoes and small side salad and great fresh bread is around 230 baht.

BTW I think all the sauces there are good ... but I can't help order the mustard sauce each time since I've tried it.

[JulieM]

Where is this place? Can you give me a rough idea?

[Bleacher Bum East]

Where is this place? Can you give me a rough idea?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Franco-Thai-Restaurant/219982358016098

The restaurant is difficult to find: it's on a small dead-end soi back behind Icon Square on the outside of the northwest corner of the moat. I think you go down the soi where S&P is, then instead of veering left you go straight and will run into a vacant lot ... go right to the end of the soi and you'll find it there. I may be wrong on the initial turn being by S&P ... in any event it's back in that area.

[WelshPagan]

Google is your pal

[haybilly]

It's a great little, well run, French style restaurant--was also a nice quiet little place for good food and a game of pool.

It's going to get busy, I guess.

[Bleacher Bum East]

Google is your pal

It is in most cases, but you still have to be careful because maps on Google can be wrong or misleading as well...

For example, the map you provided, which is helpful, shows a through street after the soi that Franco Thai is on that now does not exist, and it shows you being able to continue on the soi after Franco Thai, when in fact it's a dead-end. And since Franco Thai is somewhat hidden at the far left end of the soi, someone who had never been there before could come to the soi with this map, think they were in the wrong place, and turn around.

The map provided on the Facebook page I linked to is more accurate...

But both would probably suffice.

If you're looking for it just realize it's in a location where you wouldn't necessarily expect to find a restaurant, and to my knowledge there's no big signs pointing the way or the destination.

[amexpat]

Odd that Franco-Thai doesn't serve Thai food.

But I also like the cordon bleu with the sliced potato side, whatever it is called.

[dave2]

re

Where is this place? Can you give me a rough idea?

here ya go ... with an easier map to follow

i like the beef steak with red wine sauce and mash there and its closed on mondays !

dave2

[Ulysses G.]

Thanks for the tip on the pork. I had mushroom sauce and I thought it was excellent and pork here is always better than beef. I did think the beef actually had a good taste, even if slightly too chewy compared to back home. It tasted more like American beef than the more tender Thai steaks at Marco's.

On directions:

Do you know where Computer Plaza is? There is a small soi right between that and the next plaza (Icon Plaza?). You turn there and go all the way to the end (North) and turn right. It is just a little bit further and then there is a dead end. It is an old house with a roofed area outside that reminds me a lot of how expat restaurants used to be in the old days.

[JulieM]

That's about a 30 minute walk so me so I plan to hit it up very soon. Thanks for the directions and photos.

[slapout]

That place has been there for several yearsand are normally highly recommended. Is it still under same management as 5 or 6 years ago?

I use to help transport the French students from a local school there, for a evening of french influenced dininng, They use to haqve escargot on the menu as a special. So good, i made a pig of myself and ordered a second order.

[jonwilly]

Not visited for a few months but always found the food good and the price was right.

john

[jobin]

I went there one evening. Saw men eating white bread sandwiches. I looked at the menu found nothing desireable at a fair price.

[dave2]

I looked at the menu found nothing desireable at a fair price.

cheap charlie or broke ? ... ;(

dave2

[Ulysses G.]

The "white" bread is from good, crusty French baguettes - hard to find in Thailand.

[jonwilly]

Thai French expensive !

Not laughed so much since the Sausage King expensive comments in a different thread.

john

Keep up the good work.

[CMSteve]

Its good to hear things have turned around. We used to love Franco Thai and went there almost once a week. Back then, they had the butter/roasted garlic mash and better-than-local beef steaks at 150B. Then something changed. Of course they price went up, but it wasn't a major jump. The beef became the local/chewy beef and the mashed potatoes became very plain. Sauces were still good though. Would love to go back and give it another try. Do you still need to shower in mosquito repellant before going?

[neilrob]

Maybe I went during the bad period mentioned by CMSteve, but we left the food largely uneaten last time I was there. The steak was just inedible and the potatoes very poor.

[junglechef]

Me too, first time there a few yrs back and the steak was good, service ok and bread great! Later one of the two fillets was good and the other was so tough and service lacking. Next time all steak inedible and no service, but at least it came with a scowl .

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear that things might be looking up, will have another try soon.

[Awk]

I suspect the difference in steak quality might be due to how long they've had the beef.

Once I was warned that they had just killed the cow (if I understood things correctly, though now I'm not sure if they do that or just order the beef pieces), so the beef was not recommended that day. The next few times the beef was fine, then once it was significantly more hard than usual. After finishing my meal, I enquired as to why the beef today was not so good, and was told they had just got the beef in that day; they normally need 3-4 days to make it good, but today was the first day.

Not my business to tell them how to run their business, of course, but had that day with the mediocre beef been my first visit, I would not have bothered to visit again. I guess one is supposed to ask if the beef is

"good today" before ordering ;-), and if not, opt for something else.

[junglechef]

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I suspect the difference in steak quality might be due to how long they've had the beef.

Once I was warned that they had just killed the cow (if I understood things correctly, though now I'm not sure if they do that or just order the beef pieces), so the beef was not recommended that day. The next few times the beef was fine, then once it was significantly more hard than usual. After finishing my meal, I enquired as to why the beef today was not so good, and was told they had just got the beef in that day; they normally need 3-4 days to make it good, but today was the first day.

Not my business to tell them how to run their business, of course, but had that day with the mediocre beef been my first visit, I would not have bothered to visit again. I guess one is supposed to ask if the beef is

"good today" before ordering ;-), and if not, opt for something else.

The enzymes in meat need time to break down.

But it is not my job to have to manage their stock and ask the server when the particular piece of meat I am interested in ordering was killed, not that I would expect all the staff to be that well informed especially as I once was served there two pieces on the same plate with different textures.

They also should be responsible for their purchasing procedures and can always offer the all to familiar "no have" when they fail.

Do they expect all their customers really know understand intricacies of hanging meats? I doubt many even know what the terms means, nor should they need to.

I agree it's not my business in telling them theirs (but I can't help myself often ) but they should be responsible for serving palatable food if it's for offer that day and especially if they are charging me for it. And as Awk says if they want repeat business.

[Beng]

We used to go there quite often. Quality always good. But during the last few visits in 2013/14 it was more of a hit and miss.

Last time, I ordered the "specialty of the house" french sausage salad. The dressing was awfully fishy and made the dish inedible. Still hungry, I ordered fish filets in white wine sauce. When the waitress took the order, she didn't even ask why I hadn't eaten the first dish, just took it away.

The fish I was served afterwards was partly uncooked. Very poor performance.

They charged me for both dishes in full. Haven't been there since.

[Farangdanny]

I see a number of negative posts among the good ones. Maybe we were unlucky. We went on Friday night after reading this post. I asked if the Pate was smooth or coarse. I was told smooth. It was coarse and more or less tasteless.. It is best summed up by my wife's comment as we left after trying one mouthful of main course, "That was the worst meal we have tried in Thailand !". She usually prefers Western food.

No Thai food in a Franco-THAI restaurant !! The lady, whom I guess is the owner, seemed completely uninterested. . I asked where the beef came from, she replied, "market". .

[nicksal37]

Oh dear! I Used to eat there 2/3 years ago and i found the food was OK but nothing special.Thai/Franco restaurant ? My Thai wife had a very limited of food she would like to eat.Most men,like myself, would have a Thai partner with us.They do not cater for the Thais..I think to be successful they should have a few things on the menu that the ladies would like.In my opinion I would give this place a miss.

[Bleacher Bum East]

I see a number of negative posts among the good ones. Maybe we were unlucky. We went on Friday night after reading this post. I asked if the Pate was smooth or coarse. I was told smooth. It was coarse and more or less tasteless.. It is best summed up by my wife's comment as we left after trying one mouthful of main course, "That was the worst meal we have tried in Thailand !". She usually prefers Western food.

No Thai food in a Franco-THAI restaurant !! The lady, whom I guess is the owner, seemed completely uninterested. . I asked where the beef came from, she replied, "market". .

I do agree that the pate is pretty bland ... although the fresh country bread it comes with is excellent.

I've never had the beef there and tend not to order steaks anywhere in Chiang Mai because of the generally low quality of the beef, but I would still highly recommend the pork with mustard sauce and mashed potatoes, as well the sausages and mashed (although they haven't had the sausages the last several times I've been there). I'll keep going back just for those hearty and tasty dishes when I need comfort food (usually after a rough previous night out or a hard day's work, or both).

The waitresses do seem to take the "Franco" part to heart more than the "Thai", although as with most places, I've been enough that they now recognize me and even smile once in a while

[augustwest]

Getting to Franco-Thai. On the western side of the moat go straight instead of left onto Huay keaw. Make your first right then your first left then first right,down the street on the left