YAANG COME VILLAGE Sridonchai Rd. Tel. 0-5323-7222 Open daily: 6am - 11pm

Not only does the shady environment of Yaang Come Village provide guests with peacefulness and privacy, but its superb restaurant also serves a variety of Thai and international cuisines all day long, attracting people from different countries to this exquisite Tai Lue-style boutique hotel in the heart of the city, on Sridonchai Road near the Night Bazaar.

Given the chef's great concern about the customer's palate and overall satisfaction, all dishes including Thai, European and Chinese cuisines are delicately prepared with respect to taste and appearance. Among Yaang Come Village's most delicious dishes is the deep fried sea-bass with sweet fish sauce and honey-topped crispy pandanus leaves. In addition, the roasted prawns with butter sauce, a Chinese cuisine decorated in fusion style, is a great meal that should not be missed; the stir-fried squid with red eggs paste is recommended as well. And for Italian cuisine lovers, try the Spaghetti Marinara, a special international dish with high quality ingredients including moon scallops imported from America and mussels from New Zealand.

Various kinds of beverages are also served. To cool down and relax, try a glass of the colorful Yaang Come Dream Cocktail or their vast collection of Thai and international wines. For the fruit juice aficionados, the all-seasonal Blended Mango is a welcome treat.

And all these culinary delights can be enjoyed only in the refreshing atmosphere of Yaang Come Village.

Mathuros Restaurant Ratanakosin Hotel, Ratanakosin Rd. Tel: 053-234 800-3 Open daily: 11am - 2pm & 5.30- 8.30pm

You know, sometimes when people get slightly hungry, they want to entertain themselves with pretty varied options of fine delicacies. And that was the reason I visited the Ratanakosin Hotel for a meal at the Mathuros Restaurant.

The catch here is the ‘all-you-can-eat' campaign at only 69 baht. At this price, you can't expect top notch sophisticated dishes. Nevertheless, the choices on offer are rather decent. On a daily basis, there is a combination of Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and European dishes. To get a full account of what's on offer, the editor would have to give me another ten pages to ramble on and on, and so I will just give the best examples here. On the domestic side, to begin with, several kinds of nam prik or chili paste is available with steamed vegetables. The much-loved khao soi (noodle in chicken curry) or somtum (papaya salad) are also there, and so is my favorite vegetables and flowers tempura. Sushi with various toppings is on offer for Japanese food enthusiasts.

However, it was the dessert selection that really got me. Their version of khao kreab pak mo (sweet pork steamed in soft dough wrap) is one of the best you can find in Chiang Mai, really. So, if you plan to throw a big party on a limited budget, consider this place. It can hold about a hundred seats. But if that's not enough for you, then the hotel offers convention rooms for 150 - 200, and 250 - 300 people. Other standard entertainment facilities are also there, such as the cafe, and the karaoke halls with separate VIP rooms.

If that's not your cup of tea, then what you need isn't food, but a Thai massage perhaps. No kidding, they have that too!

Pia-Oo Kuayjub Tung-Hotel Rd. Open daily: 7am - 5pm

At first glance, Pia-Oo Kuayjub (up the Tung Hotel Road that starts outside the railway station) doesn't appear to offer anything different from what your average noodle stall provides, apart from lots more space for customers.

However, you quickly find out that all those extra tables are there for a reason - that Pia-Oo has arguably the best kuayjub dishes in town!

Kuayjub is a remarkable kind of noodle soup that is both popular and different. What's going for it is a distinctively aromatic spice of the kind much used in certain Chinese dishes, and the fact that the noodles are almost square-shaped, but boiled to the point that it softens and rolls like a scrolls. Usually in your bowl of kuayjub, you'll find pork, chunks of chicken blood, pig innards (bits of heart, liver, intestine and lung), tofu, and boiled egg. While I was there the other day, I saw a couple of tables occupied by farangs, who apparently weren't having any trouble downing what was in front of them - in fact it looked as if they couldn't get enough, slurping it down Chinese-style as they were.

And the prices too - commendable! For your average-sized stomach the 30 baht bowl should see you satisfied. If you reckon to have exceptional capacity, try the 35 baht 'special' bowl. There's also a spicier noodle dish with pork that costs 25 - 30 baht a dish. Slurp away, folks. You won't be disappointed.