Good Morning Chiangmai News Magazine

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Some people gaze at the mountain, some meditate. But this month, Ric Klein strung his hammock beside the River Ping.

OLD AND NEW ALONG THE RIVER

Someone once told me that The Gallery was the first local restaurant to establish itself on the east bank of the Ping - and the owner's office is the former family living room! The Riverside followed some years later and both places have fine reputations and high profiles.

But ever seeking the elusive, I found myself wandering along the riverside walk (north of the Nakorn Ping "cycle track" Bridge) which is beoming known rather stylishly as "The Esplanade". Couples chatting quietly under the trees, lights from the Town Hall spreading out over the water and the Rimping Condo towering above me. Only then did I notice smart, white-shirted waiters flitting between tables in the Condo's front garden, others serving people seated in a cool, glass fronted sala slightly reminiscent of a traditional British bandstand. And all SOOO quiet!

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Eat in the bandstand or on the balcony

This was how I belatedly discovered Krua Mae Nam Ping which, of course, you also access via the lobby of the Condo on Charoenrat Road. From that direction you're in danger of thinking that this is just another 'lobby coffee shop'. Don't. Sample it's quiet delights (especially the vegetables and light meat dishes - like the pork with garlic); note how many Japanese Condo residents enjoy the place; gaze at the river and wait for the bill. No, the waiter didn't make a mistake! If you can imagine riverside style on a back-packer's budget - this is IT! Count me as a new regular.

Only another few meters up the same path, I'm already a regular at The River Deli, a unique Swedish-flavoured restaurant established only a few years ago by Khun Fon and husband Lennart, already famous for his Bangkok restaurant The Wall. Almost opposite the Town Hall, this is the place to book your table for the best free firework show of Loi Krathong, but practice first to check the smorgasbord and the new and varied Viking Platter. A great family place daytime; boisterous and multi-national good company around the pool table night-time. From true Thai and Scandinavian themes, it's a 10 minute drive south to the newest English arrival on the river just past the excellent little Rimping supermarket. Apart from "big British breakfast" and "fish and chips", no culinary phrase is more redolent of those Isles than "tea room", which is why River Garden Tea Room is the totally apt title of our latest arrival here.

Patrick's new place (in the stylish premises of a previous short-lived French restaurant) has a truly gorgeous garden reaching out back to the river, speciality teas and coffees of course, Indian curries (which now out-sell fish and chips in England) pizzas and American desserts. Prices are about half what you might expect from the totally up-market image and the cream is there, just waiting for Chiangmai's fresh strawberries!

Ric Klein