chiang mai

best thai since thailand. this restaurant instantly became my favorite thai spot in town. it's a small place that doesn't have a lot of ambiance or decor, but it's definitely the spot where anyone would return to for the best thai food in town. some friends that i've brought here say they're coming back the next day!

the flavors of my favorite curry dishes are truly authentic to what i experienced on my visit to northern thailand. even their pad thai is leagues above others in pdx. the owner comes from the northern thailand city of chiang mai and uses family recipes taught to her by her mother and it really makes a difference. this restaurant even serves fresh coconuts and they make for a lovely appetizer while you wait for the hot food.

if you close your eyes, you just might think that you're in chiang mai...

northern souls. must....try....something....different... this is what i was chanting to myself yesterday as we found some seats at chiang mai. i always order either a red, green or masaman curry when i go to thai restaurants. i needed to expand my horizons, even if it was only for the day. anyhow, looking over their menu there were quite a few items outside my usual arena that seemed to fit the bill. i finally narrowed it down to three (gang om, khanom jeen gang keow wan luk chin pla grai, and the yum jeen gai), before finally settling on the yum jeen gai, which is a northern-style curry with shredded chicken, banana blossom, chili, lemongrass, galangal root, garlic, shallots, cilantro, thai herbs and green onion. tell me that dont sound rightolicious! she asked he how spicy i wanted it, i said spicy! she said how spicy from 1 to 4. i said how about three and a half. mamasan mcstyles has been having a love affair with larb lately so she continued down that extramarital path. once that was out of the way we were greeted with the arrival of our roti mataba, which is a large roti stuffed with yellow curry, potato, carrot and onion served with cucumber sauce. the cucumber sauce was sweet and crunchy and complimented the roti nicely. what spare moments we had in between were spent sucking at a couple of thai iced teas, which were more than up to snuff.
alas, the entrees arrived just along the right lines and everything smelled wonderful. i quickly mixed the contents of my bowl with the jasmine rice i'd requested and got the fork moving. id never had banana blossom before and was a little afraid of them at first because they resembled sliced mushrooms (i do not do mushrooms) but after a bite; i was in, they brought a texture to the dish that was indispensable. as for the rest, i was in heaven; spice was right, the broth was divine and there was an ample amount of chicken. it is certainly something i would revisit down the line and it also boosted my confidence to try the 2 runners up on my list above. the wife was getting along just fine on her side of things as well. she was pleased that instead of giving her just 3 pieces of cabbage to work with, like most places do, they gave her an entire quarter of one. allowing her to scoop, scoop, scoop to her hearts content. this was coupled with attentive, friendly service throughout. could this possibly be our new favorite thai spot? only time will tell....
grade: a- (its a shame they dont offer the lunch menu on the weekends, guess ill have to get over it.)
update 12/12/12
i can now say, with complete confidence, that chiang mai is indeed; the best thai restaurant in portland. hands down.

i haven’t tried the whole menu, yet, but i’ll tell you a bit about those dishes i keep ordering every time i visit chiang mai. my favorites:

wonderful meal. i was originally only going to have soup when i visited here tonight, buy due to a miscommunication, a discussed entree was brought by mistake, and i was so glad they brought it. the soup was fantastic and different than the standard tom yum or tom kha found at most thai restaurants. this had pork, cabbage, onion, seaweed and celery in a light broth and was called tom jued salai. it had a great salty flavor and not too mug seasoning to overpower any of the ingredients. the mistake entree was called khao soi gai, and apparently the restaurant is famous for it. it had a curry soup base with two chicken drumsticks, and soft noodles in the soup, along with fried noodles on top. it also had pickled vegetables, onion or radish and lime on the side. i threw everything in the bowl with some hot sauce and mixed it up. this dish had the kind of memorable flavor you remember and tell your friends about and want to bring people to the restaurant to try. i had friendly service from the unforgettable ashley. i can't believe how much good food is in this city. chiang mai (shang-my) is an outstanding example.

disappointing. under seasoned except for salt which was way out of proportion with traditional thai food.
i am a thai food lover and have traveled extensively seeking it out, however both my specialty northern curry and salad rolls were underwhelming. i hope this was a one off because the place was packed with apparent locals.

incredible thai. i visited this thai place in a whim, trusting in the culinary wisdom of portland to carry me through, and i was not disappointed. perfect sticky rice, amazing flavors, great service, affordable.

a great standard for incredible thai. also, its small, so go early if you don't want to wait.

amazing food....terrible service. will give them 1 second chance.

food excellent. service poor. the freshness of the food far overcomes the lack of american service we are used to. panang beef curry was one of the best i've ever had, even medium spice, my two young girls loved it.

the best ever!!

however, for lunch he suggested chiang mai, what he (and many others) consider the best lunch time thai in portland, which i surprisingly haven’t before visited nor even heard of as pictured above, i ordered the pad ga prao khai dao; which is ground chicken with garlic, fresh chili, onion, chopped haricots verts, basil…and the best part: a crispy fried egg atop:

hands down my favorite thai place so far in portland. we've been to probably 8-10 different thai places since we moved here a year ago, and this has been the best. the most authentic, and spiciest, we've sampled.

eat here. eat here and be happy beyond words. we're done looking for new thai restaurants. nowhere can beat this place.

great & tasty food. excellent food - soups, salads, appetizer as well as the main course. totally different from other thai foods. lots of varieties available in menu. love to eat there every week.

place is small and service was slow. but owner & family members were very polite and cordial and make you feel at home.

once you visit, i am sure that you will visit again & again.

wow.. i have never taken the time to write a review of a restaurant online. after eating dinner at chiang mai i felt compelled to share my experience. the flavor and quality of the food was exceptional. the price of the food was reasonable. the ambiance was welcoming. the service was excellent. without a doubt, i will be back.

best thai in town.. the waitstaff was very attentive, spot on with recommendations and pleasant.
the food was amazing on all things ordered. fantastic flavors, perfect portions, and top notch ingredients. i have stopped my quest for thai food and will make chiang mai a staple when i am having a thai craving.

try the #10 special, it was increadible!