Food4Thought, Chiang Mai: Blogger Review

18:33 Amy 7 Comments

I glance again around the cheery, airy space, beautiful with grass, fairy lights, and vases of wildflowers. Sure enough, each table its own well-thumbed Book for Thought. The one in front of me is old, stained with the memory of a hundred fruit smoothies, stuffed wraps, and juicy burgers.

Opening the book is like delving into the collective psyche of Chiang Mai. The comments and graffiti range from insightful to cliched, from annoying to inspiring, from serious to lighthearted. There are messages of gratitude for life, travel, and perfectly toasted bagels loaded with local avocados and cheddar. Poems about the life-changing nature of travel and declarations of love for friends, long-term partners, and new lovers. Illustrations of temples, Buddhist symbols, local fruit, logos of new online businesses, and caricatures of people we've all met on the streets and in the bars of Chiang Mai. I find notes scrawled in Thai with carefully penned English words scattered throughout the text, often next to extremely cute cartoons, emojis, and manga drawings. I see too many of the travel quotes that grace a million travel-and-lifestyle Instagram bios (you know). And over and over again I read the words "love", "thank you", and "amazing".

The menu is amazing.

A post shared by BOOM (@abchuthai) on Feb 2, 2017 at 2:09am PST

My eyes try to take it all in, and I smile. This is the kind of creative, healthy food I love - with plenty of not-so-healthy options if I fancy it. Including cake.

Fries: Locally grown potatoes tossed with rosemary, pepper, and sea salt, served with house ketchup and cilantro, garlic & lime aioli sauce.

Mushroom and Kale Ciabatta: shitake, kale, peppers, parmesan, and sundried tomato with chilli mayo.

The B.L.A.T. Bagel: Smoked bacon with sliced avocado, fresh tomato, lettuce & cream cheese on a sesame bagel.

The Black & Blue: Beef burger with garlic, onion, basil & parsley Topped with blue cheese, bacon, lettuce & tomato, served on a grilled brioche bun with roasted-chili-mayo.

Falafel Wrap: Falafel made from chickpeas, herbs & spices rolled with house tabouleh salad, tzatziki yogurt & garlic hummus.

The waitress comes over with my smoothie and asks what I'd like, informing me that they were out of avocado already. That's ok - avocado is delicious, but I know what I want already, and it doesn't call for avocado. I ask for the curried salad: chicken or tofu, apple, cranberry, raisin, cashew, almond, & pumpkin seed tossed in curry-yogurt dressing and served atop fresh greens with mango and cherry tomato. I've never had something like that before, and I'm excited.

This limana smoothie is so refreshing.

I flick through the Book for Thought and spy on other dishes being carried out. I have that familiar food-envy and order-panic combo: "Wow... that looks good... I should have ordered that."

A post shared by Food-4-Thought (@food4thoughtcm) on Jan 13, 2017 at 7:13am PST

Oats cooked with masala-chai tea, milk and local honey, then topped with apple, banana, raisins, cranberries, chia seeds, cashews, almonds, and pumpkin seeds.

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Waffles served with brie, probiotic sour cream, smoked bacon, fried egg, mango chutney, and honey.

Thankfully, my salad doesn't take long to arrive.

Oh wow. It's beautiful. Those bright pops of yellow mango, red tomatoes, and creamy orange sauce. The bowl looks full to overflowing, and I can't wait to take a bite.

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Heaven. The greens are fresh and crunchy. The hint of spice in the yogurt dressing is gorgeous. The sweet mango cubes, cranberries, and almonds make it feel like a special-occasion meal. Food envy vanishes: this salad is delicious, and has so many exciting textures. This is absolutely one of the best salads I've ever eaten, anywhere.

As I eat I watch people drinking coffee at Bay's Cafe coffee counter. I've heard great things about his coffee, especially the cold slow-brew, chemex, and nitro coffee. I know I have to come back when I see the lemonade coffee.

A post shared by Zoi's Lifestyle (@zoimpichtas) on Jan 20, 2017 at 12:19am PST

Want to go to Food4Thought and Bay's Cafe?

Food4Thought is open from 08:00 - 17:00 Sunday to Wednesday, and 08:00 - 21:00 Thursday to Saturday. It's pretty easy to walk to from Nimmanhaemin road, see a map here. Food is midrange prices, about 150 - 250 baht for most dishes.

Since I went this first time, I've tried the lemonade coffee (AMAZING, try it), falafel wrap, laab wrap, harvest salad, mexican salad, laab burger, rise n shine smoothie - everything is so, so, so, good.

Maybe this is my new favourite restaurant in Chiang Mai?