CHIANG MAI, Thailand (2 August 2022) – Chiang Mai’s newest five-star hotel has
unveiled an intimate fine-dining restaurant serving contemporary Northern Thai
dishes with Mediterranean influences accompanied by spectacular vistas and a
compelling design that references the city’s rich culture.

Meliá Chiang Mai, on Charoen Prathet Road in the heart of Chiang Mai, has opened
its signature restaurant Mai Restaurant & Bar on the hotel’s 21 st floor with panoramic
views of the city and famed Doi Suthep Temple on the mountaintop to the west.

Adjacent to the hotel’s executive lounge and tucked under the highest rooftop bar in
the city, the 38-seat restaurant is a visual marvel. Diners enter the venue under an
arch that pays homage to a nearby temple. In a salute to Chiang Mai’s Bo Sang
Umbrella Village, large lit installations of umbrella ribs cling to the ceiling. Various
artworks of umbrella canopies hang on the walls, such as those made from antique
Chiang Mai textiles. The carpet’s concentric patterns, in the likes of gun-metal gray,
periwinkle and soft amber hues, reference umbrella tops in a striking yet subdued
way.


“Given there are so many local restaurants in our vicinity that offer a great bowl of
food, we knew from the outset that Mai Restaurant & Bar needed to be different with
not just an aesthetically pleasing environment and a great view but also with one-of-
a-kind dishes,” said the hotel’s general manager Edward E. Snoeks.

     

“The menu celebrates traditional Lanna cuisine in a contemporary fashion with
Mediterranean touches, each dish is so distinctive due to profound combinations of
ingredients and textures, and the ‘360° Cuisine’ program promotes healthy and
sustainable eating based on ‘farm to plate’ and ‘plate to farm’ processes.”

      

Under the stewardship of award-winning executive chef Suksant Chutinthratip
(Billy) and sous chef Karn Phojun, each dish from the restaurant’s seasonal menu is
prepared à la minute from an open kitchen. Recommended dishes include the Mai’s
Samplers Northern Thai-style pork sausage, grilled green chili relish on crispy
salmon skin, Vietnamese sausage and edible flowers salad roll with yellow chilli
puree, warm spicy tomato relish in golden-fried tortilla and Crisp fried fluffy catfish
and pomelo salad scented with rice field crab jus and main dish Pappardelle soi neur
is made up of fresh homemade pappardelle with creamy khao soi curry sauce and
slices of seared Australian sirloin, served with homemade pickled vegetables and
chili oil or Pla salmon nham prik oung: Baked salmon fillet with northern Thai-style
tomato confit, sautéed gurmar leaves and pickled garlic served upon steamed pandan
rice.

Of the 28 vegetarian, vegan, meat and seafood menu options, 12 belong to the hotel’s
‘360° Cuisine’ concept, which has been designed to minimise waste and carbon
emissions. Under the program, the chefs craft dishes using produce from the hotel’s nearby organic gourmet farm partnership with ORI9IN, and use every part of each
ingredient possible before leftovers are returned to the farm as compost.

With 28 years of hospitality experience, Chef Billy was previously the executive chef
at some of Bangkok’s top hotels. Chef Billy began his hospitality career in 1994 as a
cook helper and climbed the career ladder at various hotels in Thailand as well at
Lotus One in Dubai and Raffles Singapore.

After 19 years as a chef, Chef Karn joined Meliá Chiang Mai late last year from work
as a sous chef at Bangkok-based Michelin Guide restaurants Baan Suriyasai Royal
Thai Restaurant and Saneh Jaan. Starting out in 1993 as chef de partie at Mahanaga
Thai Fusion Restaurant, his career has taken him as far as Switzerland where he was
the head chef at Michelin Guide restaurant Patara.

Mai Restaurant & Bar is open for dinner from Wednesday to Sunday from 6pm –
10pm. Dishes are priced from THB 190 – 850. Call 052 090 603, email
fb@meliachiangmai.com.