I love a good value. I also love friendly service with a smile. After the experience I had this morning at a terrible restaurant for breakfast I was really hoping that my lunch experience would be better. Zalux Coffee Cafe (which also goes by the name of Phumokfa Cafe and I have no idea why,) truly impressed me.
Since I am currently restricted to riding a bicycle in the city, I am able to get down some of the tighter streets and alleyways, many of which you can not enter with a car at all and if you were on a motorbike you might be moving too quickly to even notice this gem of a place.
The first thing i noticed when I pulled over is that it was very quiet and this is something you don't often encounter in the city center with a population of a million people. It was right next to a temple and it just seemed like the kind of place that I would be willing to take a chance on. I am STILL in the touristy part of town, but I don't think that a vast majority of the tourists come down these alleys because there is very little indication of there being anything inside of them from the main roads.
I also enjoyed the fact that the prices for the coffees are easily visible from the street on a chalkboard, so you don't have to be embarrassed to walk away after perusing the ubiquitous menu that every shop puts at the entrance.
I was the only customer when I walked in, and a very kind lady responded to my "sawat dee krab" (again, "hello" in Thai) with a hello-back and a big smile. This is the polar-opposite of what I experienced at the horrible-restaurant-with-an-attitude-problem that i had attended just 4 hours prior.
I wasn't even sure if I wanted to have a carafe of coffee but I'll try anything once as long as there aren't needles involved.
The drink came out fast and I asked the 2nd staff member I met if i could order some food. He responded in the same extremely pleasant way that the first person did which again was in stark contrast to the experience this morning at a place I will never set foot in again
The food, while not exactly gourmet, came out fast, hot, and was delivered by a 3rd person who smiled and was very friendly.
this is called a "Rad-na" which is basically meat, noodles, and vegetables served with a savory gravy sauce
Their location is something you will need to be quite careful in order to find and I didn't notice any on-street advertising for the place on the main roads. This is the first "hidden secret" of Chiang Mai that I have discovered. I can't recommend this place enough. My big bowl of Rad Na and my humongous carafe of iced coffee came to less than $3. This is half what I spent at the tourist trap I ate at this morning.