Chiang Mai: Meena Rice Based Cuisine – A colorful lunch

Before the pandemic, I visited Chiang Mai, but I didn’t get around to blogging much about it, which is a shame because I had some really great experiences up there. The culinary highlight of my trip was Meena Rice Based Cuisine, a modern Thai restaurant with a focus on healthy food and rice. Sylvia from Chimmuwa had recommended that I try Meena, knowing that I am very interested in food and that I love restaurants that stand out positively in one way or another.

Meena is located in a traditional Thai house by a small lake, surrounded by lots of trees and nature. When I arrived, it was pretty busy, but after a short wait, I was seated outside. Everything on the menu sounded super delicious, so I asked the staff for their recommendations and ended up ordering most of what they suggested, which turned out to be way too much for one person.

I had a delicious spicy dip with vegetable sticks, and blue fried rice served with a lotus pod, which I thought was just a decoration at first, until the staff explained to me how I could take out the seeds from the pod and eat them. I also tried the fish with lemongrass salad on the staff’s recommendation and I wished I had more room in my stomach because it was a really tasty dish. For dessert, I ordered mango sticky rice with Meena’s famous 5-colored rice and plenty of fresh and delicious mango, and I even managed to drink two beautiful drinks from the menu: A blue drink with butterfly pea flowers and a fresh soda drink with strawberries, as it was a very hot day and I didn’t want to risk evaporating completely in the heat.

I saw that Meena has been awarded a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide for Thailand 2023. If the food is only half as good as it was when I was there, it is definitely well-deserved, because Meena is a great place if you’re looking for modern, healthy Thai food in nice, rustic surroundings.