Anantara Golden Triangle
The Restaurants
Sala Mae Nam
Baan Dahlia

Green rice seedlings shoot out of a small pot on the tables of Sala Mae Nam, Anantara’s Thai restaurant. It is an elegant whimsy, harbinger of delectables to follow. Fans hang from the teak and Thai-peaked ceiling gently stirring the night’s soft air. On the restaurant’s veranda, traditional Thai music drifts down from the lounge above and the night crickets’ chorus floats up from the jungle below.

Super-sized potato, pumpkin and tapioca chips are to love and to munch while digesting the menu and selecting a meal. Generally, Thai meals are served family style with all the dishes arriving at once. Thai food is based on a balance of hot, salty, sour and sweet flavors. Chili peppers, along with ginger make the heat. A briny brew of fermented fish sauce adds the salty flavor. Most often, lime adds the sour and palm sugar the sweet. Balancing these flavors, as well as texture and color, both within a dish and within a meal is the art of Thai cuisine.

The chef takes care of balancing the flavors within a dish; each party creates the balance of the meal with the dishes they select. Or, you can just order—it’s all good, but don’t skip the sticky rice.

Sticky rice is to Northern Thailand what potatoes are to Maine. It’s long, glutinous rice grown locally, prepared by soaking and then steaming. It arrives at the table cosseted in a tightly-covered bamboo basket. Each diner grabs a lychee-sized clump and rolls it into a ball to sop up the spicy bits and sauces.

One day at lunch, a pro ordered for us. Here’s what we ate:

*Cold steamed long beans, lotus and fried pork skins with a green chili dipping sauce.

*Northern-style, hot and salty, minced pork salad cooked with chilies and fish sauce.

*Sautéed shitake mushrooms and asparagus in a mild oyster sauce—Thailand’s other salt.

                    *Roast duck curry with sweet lychees.

*Fresh papaya salad of shredded green papayas dressed with lime, dried shrimp and fresh chilies and chopped peanuts picks up all four Thai flavors.

                    *Sticky rice.

In Thai, Sala Mae Nam means three countries. And all three of the golden triangle’s countries can be seen from its terrace. Burma is across the Mekong and Laos is the jungle to the north. Lingering over lunch is luscious.

Dining alone, I eat Thai in the western order. Eggplant salad, my starter, arrives with plump and smoky-grilled Thai eggplants sitting by a curly nest of white jelly mushrooms. The mushrooms, looking more like a sea creature than a plant, are cold, slippery and the perfect foil for the salad’s spicy-sweet marinade. Sesame seeds and chopped peanuts mix with red-hot Thai chilies, cilantro, lime juice and fish. The Thai flavor balance reigns. Cilantro accentuates the young eggplant’s sweetness, the chilies turn up the heat and the jelly mushrooms cool it down. The fish sauce totes a kicky salt, lime juice a tart sour, and the sesame seeds and peanuts crunch with each bite.

I choose Goong Phad Ka-Prow Ma-Kuea Yao for my main course because I’ve fallen in love with Thailand’s sweet pink shrimp. These are stir-fried in a garlic and oyster sauce—Thailand’s other salt. Bright red chili peppers and dark green Thai basil leaves round out the flavors. Thai basil, sometimes called holy basil, has a deeper, spicier flavor than Italian basil and Thai peppers are hot, hot.

Thais usually end a meal with fruit and save their sweets for snacking. Those with a taste for a sweet ending, however, will not be disappointed. As an ice cream aficionado, I recommend both the coconut ice cream and the passion fruit sherbet. Traditional Thai offerings are the sticky rice with mango, fresh bananas in coconut milk, and steamed coconut custard.

Tired of Thai? Then Baan Dahlia is the place. Think serene, cool, refined wine cave away from the tropical heat. Think rustic Thai accents on tawny brick walls and linen napkins on hand-woven reed placemats. Think fresh, authentic Italian cuisine and a global wine list. My Caesar salad was first rate. The seafood pesto fettuccini featured Italian basil and tender shrimp and sweet scallops. Desert was scrumptious, and yes! chocolate. Baan Dahlia is the perfect counterpoint to Sala Mae Nam.

Dining at Anantara Golden Triangle is the perfect counterpoint to a great elephant ride.

 By Kate Crawford  June, 2006

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