When some pals of mine said they have a seat left at a fancy-pants establishment type place that requires shoes and a reservation, I immediately thought that this isn't my norm, but what the hell! Why not. I'm glad I went but this is not how I roll normally.
The first thing I noticed when eyeing up the options was the raw bar. While I don't generally indulge in these sorts of things it is normally because of the fact that they tend to be quite expensive. They had a ton of oysters with all the trimmings and each of us had about a half-dozen of those.
Next, we moved on to the Salmon sashimi, which was fantastic and there was lots of it. The sushi / sashimi chef is preparing the cuts right in front of everyone, which always puts me at ease. I think the only complaint I had was the fact that the wasabi was not wasabi, it was the fake stuff that is basically just green horseradish.
Their presentation of the BBQ area was actually a lot better than this pic represents. You had a choice of Australian rib-eye, tiger prawns, salmon, chicken (who would do that?), lamb and ribs. When you order, you just give the chefs a number from your table and they bring it over to you. I had a bit too much rib eye to be honest, but boy oh boy, did they cook it perfectly. I was incredible and I regret nothing.
Since I had already resigned myself to the fact that I was definitely going to end up spending $50 tonight, I perused the wine racks and pretended that i know what is good and what isn't. We ended up getting an Australian white and red because they were the 2nd cheapest bottles on the menu (which according to Gordon Ramsay is the bottle you should always order at any restaurant because the "house wine" is normally always crap and marked up even more than the most expensive bottle.)
I am not a fancy diner so this is actually pretty outlandish for me to have 2 glasses of wine in front of me at the same time. One of the guys at the table is a retired executive chef, so he kept advising me about what wine to have with what food item.... I think it is a bunch of bull-hicky but whatever, it was fun.
As an American, I think it is safe to say that lamb, generally speaking, isn't a major part of our cuisine. Therefore, this might actually be the first time I have ever had roast lamb.... and it was good, but I still think steak is better. I'm glad I tried it though. I don't think i will seek it out on a menu anytime soon, but it was nice that they had it there.
During all of the dining experience there was a Thai bluegrass band playing at a perfect volume. I gotta say, bluegrass is not something you expect to encounter while in this country and I thought it was a nice touch.
Since I mostly eat at dives and street stalls, I have very low expectation of bathrooms and while this might seem a silly thing to get excited about, the bathrooms were off the hook. Maybe I am showing how low-class I am but the idea of having cloth towels is not something I am accustomed to.
Overall a delightful experience, A dinner at Vivo Bene is definitely going to set you back around $50 a person - I know this is just the normal price of a night out in Europe and America, but over here in Thailand this is about as posh a place as I am likely to ever set foot in. Is it worth it? I would say for sure. Vivo Bene is consistently ranked as a "Top Ten in Chiang Mai" and I would say the definitely deserve it.
location including GPS coords
93 Moo baan Mai Rim Klong, Moo 9, T. A. Chiangmai, ตำบล ลวงเหนือ อำเภอ ดอยสะเก็ด เชียงใหม่ 50220
053 496 000 (yes, they answer the phone and speak multiple languages)
website
I agree (who would do that). Go out and have some chicken when you have such a vast choice of other meats and seafood. Nothing wrong with lamb as long as it is medium. I would take lamb over steak as I have steak at least twice a week normally.
Wait until you go into the bathroom and there is a gentleman sitting down offering steamed towels with a lemon grass cent and a choice selection of after shave. You know you are paying for it so you may as well go full out. What you spent in one night would feed you for a week with the other restaurants you have been showing us lately.
I'm going to have to fight you over preferring steak to lamb.
My family (on my mother's side) were cattle ranchers, so I grew up with tons of beef but very little lamb, so it's not even like I'm acclimated to the taste or anything.
Lamb is fantastic if it's prepared right, with a flavor much more like what you'd expect from a rich red meat, but a texture that's much softer. I'd compare it favorably to veal (admittedly, I have had veal only once, and it was perhaps not the best preparation). One challenge about getting lamb here in the States is that at least where I live any mutton can be advertised as lamb, which means you don't always get the best experience.
A Mediterranean place near me has a great lamb tongue gyro/sandwich (they call it a sandwich, but it's wrapped in flatbread and comes with gyro trappings), and I have to say it's probably the only time I've ever enjoyed tongue.
Oh don't get me wrong, the lamb was great. I just like steak better. I'm sure me and lamb will meat again :P
That would have been my wife eating the chicken because she doesn't eat any of the other stuff. We often think it is a good idea to go to fancy places, then we get there and realize that we are more corner bar type people. This looks like a really great place with an awesome selection of food. I agree that more places should serve lamb. We used to have a Greek restaurant near my house that served gyros with actual seasoned chunk lamb meat, not the strips they cut off the thing. It was fantastic!
yeah, i felt the same way after I left. While $50 isn't a lot in USA it is a massive extravagance in this country. For the most part this is what I spend on all food that I consume in a week, maybe longer. I'm not poor but I have a hard time justifying this more often than just once in a while.
I totally understand. My wife and I dropped about $75 on one meal at a decent but not fancy place. No way we would do that every day or even every week. It's funny how the bill creeps up if you order a couple drinks...
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yep, it's always the booze. dammit!
Steak over Lamb anyday!
In my opinion the restaurant is attractive, clean and luxurious
I like the shellfish menu.
Man, you really had a good time out there. Nice food and great place.