Accha Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Chiang Mai Province

If you're hankering for an authentic Indian in Nimman, look no further than the rather self-assuredly named Accha (meaning 'good' in Hindi), hidden a few blocks behind One Nimman. The front door is not the grandly carved black double door you're immediately presented with - this is just decorative, or perhaps an entertaining prank; the real door is a more pragmatic glass one on the left side of the building.

The young Indian-looking manager, with his traditional kurta top and Adidas sweat pants greets and seats you at an appropriate table. As you look around you'll notice the subtle décor tries to reflect artistic Indian symbolism, from the detailed chairs through to the hanging lights and the charming dark red walls. Even the dessert spoons harken to Indian royalty in their faux embellishment of bejeweled brass. There's no air-conditioning here but the building doesn't seem to need it as it's about the right temperature with standing fans blowing.

English is spoken and a menu written in both English and Thai is given with visual descriptors of some of the dishes. A thing to note here which I found odd was that they claim to cater in 'Fusion Indian' cuisine. However, by my extensive experience of Indian fare I found 99% of the dishes were predominantly derived from northern India, specifically with influences from UP and Punjab. A strange marketing move then that better reflects the manager's fashion choice than the food, but this doesn't hinder the chefs in any way from executing a masterful job with their creations.

I ordered the vegetarian thali for one for about 250 baht which comes with a carb-heavy array of items: The tadka daal is thick and fragrant like a good daal should be; it also packs a small spicy punch so be wary. The mixed veg sabji works as an excellent filling accompaniment. Rice and naan tie off this thali nicely although I thoroughly recommend upgrading these to jeera rice and garlic naan respectively for 40 baht more - your taste buds will thank you! With the meal comes a single conicular poppadom and a plethora of delicious chutneys and acchars (pickles) with which to experiment - my favourite was the mysterious yellow one which introduced a sweet and tangy flavour not found elsewhere.

Being impressed with the mains, I did indulge in the gulab jamun as my usual Indian restaurant benchmark. Two small sugar dumplings are presented in a fist-sized bowl. Unfortunately, they're not too flavoursome being positioned more at the bland end of the sweetness scale. Although it could've been sweeter for my liking, the spices and crumbled pistachio keep this dish from sinking.

Staff are generally attentive, working quietly but diligently. Card and cash are both welcome here with the caveat that a 3% charge will accompany a bill under 500 baht. At just under 330 baht this meal was certainly a treat in an area where other restaurants will charge closer to half that or less.

Still, if you're looking to splash out, relatively speaking, Accha represents a good example of how Indian cuisine can bring a smile to a hungry face far from India....

Since I like Indian cuisine I was glad to find out there's an Indian restaurant in Chiang Rai But unfortunately there was disappointment in my experience. I ordered 2 items with Grab, on Friday evening 26/10/2024. (Customer: Grab/GF-189). Food was delivered, at 20,21 hours. My order was: DAAL Soup Aloo Gobi Dry Everybody knows that Daal is made with lentils and that is fairly thick, rich with well cooked lentils (or perhaps some similar legumes ?)..

To my disappointment that soup was very watery RASAM apparently made from RASAM powder commercial packet. Definitely it was not a Daal !! Besides, Aloo Gobi was not "Dry" but a mushy kind of 'masala curry' with only 2-3 small pieces of potato; it was in very rich and hot (spicy) gravy. TASTE was very coarse. (I just spent 4 weeks in India before coming to Chiang Rai; and I often eat in Indian restaurants in Melbourne Australia. I'm familiar with taste of Indian food !!).. I expect that you will refund part of my money. ......... P.S. Judging by your replies you try to justify your actions which is not fair to genuine customers. For example one complaintant said the food was COLD and you insisted that he should have complained on the spot but that's not always possible because we are...

Of the four-five Indian restaurants in Chiang Mai, Accha easily tops the ratings when it comes to authentic Indian taste, cleanliness, and value for money. As an Indian and having visited Accha, New Delhi, Taj Mahal, Spices and Rajdarbar Indian restaurants, each one at least thrice, Accha offers better food at reasonable rates, and is far cleaner and spacious. The best part is that condiments such as Raita that normally come free with main courses such as Biryani, are served free as here in India. On the other hand, all other Indian restaurants charge extra for such side dishes. IMO, it's pretty annoying when Indian restaurants charge separately for condiments that are supposed to accompany the main course. When even wayside restaurants here in India serve these free, it's pure fleecing on part of the other restaurants, milking unsuspecting guileless tourists. The only drawback I could find with Accha is the price of Indian bread which is 10B higher. The prices of main courses are however on the lower side compared to others. The fact remains that you get better food served at a cleaner place at a bill that would surely be lesser...