Huen Phen, located along Ratchamanka Road in Chiang Mai Old City, is a well-known restaurant serving Northern Thai cuisine. It is very popular among locals. The restaurant has two operating sessions a day. The day session from 8:30am till 4:30pm serves local dishes, including the local-popular khao soi, a curry noodle dish, in one side of the restaurant. The evening session from 5pm to 10pm serves cooked dishes in the other side.
Huen Phen is housed in a building with a rustic wooden shopfront. In the evening, dinner will be served in dining halls decorated with wooden carvings of Thai ancient culture. It gives diners a feel of dining in an elegant antique shop but its prices are cheap and reasonable.
One traditional Northern Thai dish to go for when dining in a group of at least 2 person is called khan toke. The term refers to the wooden round table where Lanna people will place multiple dishes on. Thus, a set platter of local Thai dishes served in a round table or tray is collectively called khan toke in northern Thailand and is the best way to sample a restaurant's popular dishes in small quantities.
Huen Phen's khan toke set for two pax comprises several popular Thai dishes:
Burmese-style pork curry
Northern-style minced pork salad
Northern-style chicken curry with assorted vegetables
fried crispy pork cracklings
Northern-style green chilli and minced pork with tomatoes
Huen Phen-style pork sausage
2 servings of sticky rice
2 servings of banana in coconut milk
Both the pork curry and chicken curry, without coconut milk and in clear broth, are flavourful, mild sourish and mildly spicy. The Northern-style minced pork with salad (laab moo) is flavoured with a number of fresh herbs and spices.
Northern Thai green chilies (nam prik noom) and minced pork with tomato chilies dip (nam prik ong) are usually eaten with sticky rice, pork cracklings and vegetables. These are must-tries when in Chiang Mai. The green chilies dip is spicier than expected and the pork-tomato dip is sweet-sourish.
Huen Phen's pork sausage (sai oua) has a number of spices stuffed with minced pork and is tasty with some spiciness. The banana in coconut milk (kluai buat chi) is a sweet dessert but it is not too sweet. The coconut milk has a nice banana aroma.
The tom yum goong is served with big fresh prawns in light creamy tom yum soup added with coconut milk. It has a mild sweet-savoury taste instead of overly sour or spicy.
Huen Phen's khan toke set is a great option to go for most of the must-tries of Chiang Mai with other traditional Thai dishes.
Address:
112 Ratchamanka Road, Si Phum, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
Opening Hours:
8:30am to 4:30pm; 5pm to 10pm | Daily
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