Baan Landai Fine Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Chiang Mai Province

After reading some dramatic bad and good reviews of this restaurant, I finally got to try it tonight. My adventure with this place started about six weeks ago with an email I sent to all 17 of the Michelin-rated restaurants I wanted to try when I landed in Chiang Mai. This place was the only place that did not reply to my request for a reservation, which I should have read as a bad sign; but I am a cultivator of positive energy, so I decided to call the restaurant a week after being here for a few days and asked for a reservation. The reply was curt: “sorry, all full. Click.” Ok, well hold on, let me ask about other nights. Since, I am staying only 500 meters from the restaurant, I decided to walk there to make a reservation, for which I was greeted by a pleasant maître d’ who happily made one for me, which was followed up with a confirmation the following day. So it FELT like things were getting brighter. But sadly, the meal today reflects the overall operation of this restaurant, which I am now baffled at how they got a Michelin rating. I ordered five dishes: the pork neck in red wine sauce, which was so awful, I asked for it to be removed from my table immediately because I could not stand the smell of it. The stir fry omelet with pickled fish was pretty good, as was the fried rice with Thai sausage, both of which I cannot imagine any place getting them wrong. The stir-fried pumpkin was a so watery, it was really a bad soup, which I also asked to be removed from my table. The most audacious entrée was the fish that I ordered: this restaurant obviously wants to gaslight the world by offering several entrees with the option of “Ruby fish” OR “red snapper.” I am no scientist, but I believe red snapper can also be Ruby fish so I asked for red snapper. But what I got was stripe bass, which I cannot eat. I asked for that to be changed to red snapper, or ruby fish, or whatever they wanted to call it, but take away the stripe bass. My tender complaint was met with some confusion, which was quickly changed when I asked to speak to the owner. “oh sorry, we will change it for you to red snapper.” The fish came out very tasty but by that time, I didn’t feel like eating it so I had a small bite and left it 90% uneaten. Now, as if the food was not disastrous enough for a Michelin restaurant, the service at this place is worse than what I’ve been getting from the street hawker, whose khao soi I’ve been trying every other day next to my hotel. In sum, if you are thinking of trying this place: read all the negative reviews...

This is one of the Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants in Chiang Mai so we had to try it while we're here. Came here for lunch on Christmas eve, and boy this place did not disappoint.

Since it's Christmas eve, we decided to have a huge feast. Here's what we had:

Thai ribeye beef with sweet basil - One of my favourite dish amongst everything we tried. Beef is so tender and the spicy kick from the chilli balances out the sweet basil flavour really well.

Spicy noodle salad with pork sausage and pork snack - This is the Thai version of the Singaporean dish mee siam. Noodles has a nice tangy flavour, it's good, but not as exciting as some of the other dishes.

Pork ribs with red wine sauce - I'm not a fan of pork so this isn't my favourite but it's one of their signatures for a reason. Fall-off-the-bone tender pork ribs was soooo yummy.

Crab meat curry soup with rice noodles - This is definitely the HIGHLIGHT of the meal. The curry is an absolute amalgamation of flavours paired with super generous chunks of crab meat. It is however super spicy..but even if you don't have high spice tolerance, it is worth 'suffering' the after effects for

Fried dried fish with watermelon - Interesting combination, never had anything like this before

Khao soi - This is the 4th Khao Soi of my Chiang Mai trip, and the best one so far (granted I have not tried other Michelin khao sois)

Mango sticky rice - Usually served with vanilla ice-cream but we asked to switch it to coconut ice-cream and it's the best combination everrrrr

I also had this tomyum inspired cocktail which is really good too, just wish it's a tad stronger.

Paid about USD 80 for 2 people, including a drink each. Great value for money given the quality of food and ambience of restaurant. They are always full so remember to make a...

Loved the food and Interiors in this little restaurant. A bit touristy but nonetheless a beautiful one. The food is exceptional but would be considered pricey by local standard.

Dishes I love are: the miang kham, pineapple morsels with pork. The Pork ribs in red wine is Amazingly delicious that I am still thinking of that dish even after I left ChiangMai. Another dish that I loved is the Ruby fish baked in turmeric. Reminds me of an Indonesian dish called Pindang Ikan - Sour and Spicy. If you can’t take the Chilli that well, I would suggest you ask them to tone down the chilli as this is a very spicy dish by Thai standard.

The signature watermelon with Fish floss was complimentary. Though it is one of their signature dish, it would be an acquired taste for some people. I didn’t enjoy the first bite of it, the second bite I made sure I had it the spices of garlic and shallots in the bite, it was better because it wasn’t too “fishy”. I understand what it is all about but still not as good as it is hyped to be for me.

We ordered another of their signature dish: a noodle dish, unfortunately we ruined the dish by mixing everything together. You need to mix all the ingredients EXCEPT the roasted Chilli powder and Sugar…. We did not know and ended up with a very sweet and very spicy noodles 🫣😵‍💫.

Overall an enjoyable experience. The staff was courteous though a bit disconcerting that they are on their phone most of the time, and hard to get their attention for service. Apologies for nitpicking :). I would definitely be back again as it is Too yummmm to miss out when...