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Le Grand Lanna
As I drove toward Le Grand Lanna, I was expecting lavish for sure,
a sense of the history of Northern Thailand without a doubt, but
I can honestly say that I was taken aback as I drove through the
gates. For as I drove through the portal separating Le Grand Lanna
from the rest of Chiang Mai, I saw extending before me not just
a restaurant, but a whole new world under construction, a grand,
exquisitely crafted Lanna Kingdom of buildings and flora.
Le Grand Lanna is much more than a restaurant and cooking school,
although it is quite active in both these roles at the present.
The much bigger idea slowly taking form is to combine the restaurant,
a conference centre, a spa and a resort into one grand complex.
Le Grand Lanna is in the process of expanding exponentially outward,
providing a bounty of choice for the discriminating high-end consumer
over 100 rai of land.
My visit to Le Grand Lanna was facilitated by Staff Member Niramol
Udomsilp, who led me on a tour of the complex, a good hour of time
strolling through tastefully-decorated wood dining rooms, a modern,
gleaming cooking school and an expansive lawn area surrounded by
greenery and white walls. Accompanying us were the sounds of building
everywhere - in one area, a Burmese-style building, part of the
aforementioned spa rising out of a forested area; in another, the
impressive outlines of the future Conference Centre.
The food is surely a major component of one's visit to Le Grand
Lanna and diners can choose Northern or Central Thai or even French
upon their visit. But the real choice comes in the "way"
to dine. For depending on one's predilections, the choice of where
and how to dine is very much up to the visitor.
Udomsilp explained that the restaurant maintains a staff of 40-50
people, but that that number could swell upward and include a backup
staff of performers depending on the function. A number of events
have been catered here, including weddings, theme parties and even
functions for the royal family. Both the King and Queen of Thailand
have dined at the restaurant.
Several of the house specialties tempted us, as we explored the
menu. The restaurant offers raw fresh salmon in a spicy lime dressing
served with fresh garlic and mint leaves as one of its signature
dishes. Others that leapt off the page included spicy prawn soup
served in a fresh whole coconut, crispy fresh water fish soup with
lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, choo chee pan-fried salmon and
a creamy Panang prawn curry.
Our tour of the eating areas themselves began on the second floor,
through some of the specially-themed rooms that diners can choose
to hold private parties. All of the rooms are readily accessible
by a wooden causeway, close enough to access and yet tucked away
from the others, yielding the distinct possibility of concurrent
parties and get-togethers. The restaurant can be reserved either
in bits and pieces or as a whole.
The first stop was Diana's Room, a converted Lanna rice barn hung
with silks and adorned with wall paintings, named after the Late
Princess of Wales after her visit in the 1980's. The heavy antique
door swung open to reveal a snug area, an air-conditioned room well
equipped for smaller get-togethers.
The largest dining area, the 30-person Colonial Room, felt like
a step into the past, with glittering chandeliers and teak verandas
and a blend of antiques, modern reproductions and glass-encased
cabinets filled with silverware and laquerware treasures from the
past. No less grand is the 20-person King's room, named after the
current monarch who has dined in its confines. This room carries
a similar blend of new and old, with a mix of Lanna-era antiques
surrounding diners.
The Chedi Room was our last stop and is a converted barroom at
ground-level, one wall of which is a glass-cased backlit wine rack,
displaying classic vintages from French vineyards. The food in this
room is exclusively French. Entrees include fillet of salmon served
with Genevoise sauce, King Prawns thermidor served with butter rice
and filet mignon with foie gras or pepper sauce.
The Chedi room is close to another converted rice granary, in this
case, one of the elaborate restrooms near the pool area. If attention
to detail is an indication of the refinement of an establishment,
then Le Grand Lanna is sparing little in its dedication to excellence.
Each area of this bathroom is a study in detail, from the carefully
carved, thick wooden doors, to the fine copper piping topping the
large sink basins. Sensual paintings of Siamese couples grace the
skyway.
A walk about the buildings turns into a leisurely stroll, as the
area is covered with coconut trees and hidden corners reveal themselves
like little jewels to be explored on the way. Visitors are also
treated to the aural strands of classic northern music, in this
case, a tape adding a classic touch during the early afternoon for
both diners and walkers.
The inner dining sanctums are only a tip of the option for the
creative-in-mind and our guide discussed others, as our tour continued
around the pool and coconut-frond covered walkway and monkey-figurine
topped torch stands, to the outer lawn, that stretched like a green
sparkling sea in the sunny afternoon.
One oft-selected choice for patrons is Kad Kom service, which recreates
a small northern village during the day. With Kad Kom, restaurant
staff members act as street-stall workers, ladling out generous
portions of noodles, kao soi, rice dishes and Thai coffee in elegant
theatrical buffet style. Another option is the Kantoke dinner, a
combination of northern dance theatre and banquet. The lawn provides
a fantastic sunset setting for open-air affairs. Night time is the
best time to dine at the restaurant, as the lights come on, the
various torches are lit, the construction fades and the whole area
takes on a romantic, festive air.
In all, Le Grand Lanna can handle functions of up to 600 people
and can include performance art by musicians, actors and other performers.
The options seem limitless. Udomsilp described one house specialty,
asked for at times by braver patrons, of Lanna-style foot massage,
called "yip kang," in which the masseuse places his foot
on a hot iron and then walks on the intended recipient's back!
Our host took us across the lawn through the heat of the day to
the final destination, a replicated temple building surrounded by
transplanted Sala trees (the tree under which the Buddha was born).
Inside was the looming figure of a Burmese-style Buddha, head encased
in a pointed crown, gazing serenely at our party. Not surprisingly,
there are interesting details to behold in even this - Chinese birthday
figurines carved into the stand (announcing the birth years of the
owner, his wife and children) and down in the left-hand corner,
a lazy ogre figure, holding up the Buddha image with seemingly minimal
effort.
With our tour ended, we headed back to our car, noticing anew the
sounds of construction and activity and yet peaceful quality about
the many rai of Le Grand Lanna. Already a vibrant dining option
now, what will become of it when all the pieces of the puzzle come
together in the future? Of that, we can only eagerly wait and see.
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