Greetings people! Nomnomnoodle is back for a food post in my hometown, Chiang Mai.
This time my friends and I went to one of my favorite Indian place in Chiang Mai, called Bombay Hut by Chef Chang. (Fun fact Chang in Thai means elephant and yes that is his name) I absolutely love it there. Because it's a chef's table kinda meal, that means the menus are chosen for you, so when you book for reservation, you will need to tell him what you´re allergic to or what you don´t want to eat. and he will take care of that.
When we arrived at the place, we will be seated to enjoy the interior of the restaurant. These 2 photos are posted on the Facebook page of Bombay Hut and Chef Chang is so kind to let me use them to show you guys.
The vibe inside is quite vibrant and maximalist decorative style which honestly I expect nothing less for an Indian Restaurant.
I love how every decoration is hand-picked by Chef Chang and during the meal, if he has some time, he´ll come over and tell us a story about how and where he got that specific thing. And it´s always such a fun story to hear every time to go there.
And a nicely and neatly set table
Ok! Now let´s get into the most (literally) delicious part. THE FOODDDDDD :P Oh right! First of all, I have to explain the concept of this place. Bombay Hut doesn´t just do Indian food, but it´s Indian food mixed with the fusion of Thai and Western food, as you will see later on.
Start with some nibbling snacks while Chef Chang tells us what will be served today, sometimes he has some choices for us to choose from. I´ll try to explain them in rounds so you can catch up.
First round, We had baguettes, cake, grapes, crackers, and butter. The grapes just make everything so fancy and tasty.
Second round, today we had 2 kinds of soup: The pumpkin soup
and the Tom Yum snake-head fish soup. Tom Yum is traditional Thai spice and snake-head fish, which sounds so scary in English but it´s very common for Thai people to eat them.
Round three is the starters. Again we had 2 different ones today.
This one is a Shrimp cocktail (without alcohol lol) It tastes very good. The shrimps were very very fresh combined with the orange and cantaloupe just go almost too well together, honestly.
Another one is a beef kebab with a little salad and sauce on the side.
Round 4 is the salads. Fortunately today we had 3 different ones. Technically one for each person but we shared everything on the table so we can try them all.
My favorite out of 3 is this one, called salsa mango. It´s because I love the freshness of the mango with a kick of salsa spice. What I don´t love though, is the crabstick. Crabsticks and I never get along.
The original chicken Caesar salad. I like it, but it´s nothing very extra special about it.
And the last Salad is grilled mushroom with pear and Feta cheese. For me, this dish got such a distinct and unique taste, which I don´t understand it much. I felt like it´s an acquired taste for some people. It´s almost like alcohol mixed in there too, because the pear tasted like it´s been soaked in alcohol.
Round 5 is the main dish. I know, I too forgot that we still have the main dish to eat.
Starting with my favorite one out of the 3, Rice with curry served with Pineapple and avocado stir-fried with curry. It was so delicious and so well put together. The creaminess of the avocado and the (small) slices of pineapple are a great combination. Love!
Next is chicken masala with Naan beautifully placed on a gold plate. Tasty and creamy curry. I can feel that Chef Chang really knows how to make curry. Very savory.
The last main dish is called stuffed Naan. It´s stuffed with potatoes corn and a little spice. Frankly to me, it´s too dry and doesn´t taste much, even with the side sauce, so I preferred the others. I believe Chef Chang created this menu to be an alternative for Vegan people.
The last round/ round 6 are desserts. Even though, at this point, we were really stuffed (I believe even more than the stuffed Naan dish lol). The desserts are so good, we still managed to finish them.
What I love is Banoffee like this dish. Chef Chang sprinkled a little specialty in it by using "Leb-meur-nang" banana, one of our local bananas here in Thailand. The size of this banana is not only thinner and longer, but the taste is also a little sweeter. Still, I believed Chef Chang also candied the banana to make it more flavorful and contrast with the bitterness of coffee.
Soft and sweet chocolate cake. Fun fact about me, I´ve never a big fan of chocolate, but this one is ok. I could eat some.
The last one is a fusion of Western and Thai style-kinda dessert called "Vanilla Ice-cream and sweet sticky rice with Longan". Vanilla ice cream is pretty common, so I won´t talk much about it. But, if you know Thai food, you must have known sweet sticky rice as dessert. I love how Chef Chang is using local ingredients from our province to make this dessert. And it was a nice touch at the end of the dinner.
So, no need to tell you guys that after all of this, we were basically rolling (not walking) back home. I would honestly say that there were times when I loved every dish of Chef Chang. This time might not be it, but the great dish are still up to standard and I´ll definitely come back to explore his new ideas and stories for sure.
Thank you everybody for joining me with this dining experience. If you have questions about anything at all please feel free to comment and see you again on the next one!
Khob khun kaa,
Nomnomnoodle 🍜