Meliá Chiang Mai’s signature restaurant Mai Restaurant & Bar has unveiled a menu of innovative dishes created via a thoughtful cooking process designed to minimize food waste and reduce greenhouse emissions.
As part of the urban hotel’s 360° Cuisine concept, executive chef Suksant Chutinthratip (Billy) and Mai Restaurant & Bar’s Sous Chef Karn Phojun have crafted dishes, featuring produce from the urban hotel’s nearby organic farm, that use as much of every ingredient as possible. Leftovers are returned to the farm as compost and leftover cooking oil is sent to be recycled into biodiesel.
The menu’s recommended dish Mai’s Samplers (THB 390++) comprises tasting size portions of five different delicacies:
- Crisp fried fluffy catfish and pomelo salad scented with rice field crab jus
- Vietnamese sausage and edible flowers salad roll with yellow chili puree
- Grilled green chili relish on crispy salmon skin
- Northern Thai-style pork sausage with grilled ginger and pickled cucumber
- Warm spicy tomato relish in golden-fried tortilla
The thoughtful cooking process to reduce waste is summed up by the likes of another recommended dish Pappardelle Soi Neur (THB 350++). The dish is made up of fresh homemade pappardelle with creamy khao soi curry sauce and slices of seared Australian beef sirloin, served with homemade pickled vegetables and chili oil.
“We make the pappardelle fresh on every order, the chilli paste is homemade and incorporates every part of each ingredient possible including chilli, shallot, garlic, galangal, coriander root and more. With the leftover fat trimmings from the Australian sirloin, we extract oil that we then use to make chilli oil,” Billy said.
Underscored by baked seasonal vegetables from the hotel’s organic farm topped off with pomelo zest sour cream, microgreens and fresh herb crumbles, Phak Ob Samun Prai (THB 250++) is another menu highlight.
“For this dish we only use fresh vegetables we receive from our farm each day, and the pomelo zest sour cream is made from coconut milk and leftover pomelo zest from other dishes,” Billy said.
The menu’s items start from THB 190++ and are available 6pm – 10pm Wednesday to Sunday at Mai Restaurant & Bar from 1 July 2022.
Situated on the hotel’s 21st floor affording vistas of Chiang Mai, Mai Restaurant & Bar specialises in contemporary Lanna (Northern Thai) cuisine with Mediterranean influences.
For more information and reservations, please phone Mai Restaurant & Bar on 052 090 603 or email fb@meliachiangmai.com
Prices are subject to 10% service charge and 7% government tax.
Under the 360° Cuisine program, the hotel’s kitchen works closely with local farmers to help them improve sustainability and encourage ethical production. Meliá Chiang Mai recently partnered with ORI9IN The Gourmet Farm, a gourmet organic farm located in nearby San Sai District, to grow an array of fruits, vegetables and herbs on a two-acre plot on the broader ORI9IN property for its restaurants, bars and spa that also promote healthier eating.
The first five-star to open in Chiang Mai since the onset of the pandemic, Meliá Chiang Mai debuted on April 10 on Charoen Prathet Road. Drawing on Meliá’s Spanish origins and celebrating Spain’s famed gastronomy, the hotel’s dining landscape encompasses restaurants Mai Restaurant & Bar and Laan Na Kitchen, bars Mai The Sky Bar and Tien Pool Bar, and lounges Ruen Kaew and The Level Lounge.
