This week the Dining Out Team lunched Italian style. The
restaurant, La Casa, is housed in a very modest wooden building, and from the
outside is unprepossessing. However, inside it was a different story. It was
like stepping back in time! Forgetting the Humphrey Bogart movie poster, the
wood theme continued, floor, walls, central wooden wine racks to divide the
area, adorned with imitation grapevines, wood fronted bar, wooden tables and
chairs - endless. They must have sacrificed a forest to get this place open!
Looking
at my notes, I had written the word ‘funky’ but perhaps ‘kitsch’ would
be more applicable, but don’t give up - keep reading!
Along one side is a totally glassed in Smoking Room (shades
of Don Muang Airport - but there it’s a praying room for poor flyers). H.M.
the Queen has dined there, and we were shown photographs and the small
‘shrine’ to mark the event in a place of prominence on the back wall.
Be warned, the menu is huge! It begins with Antipasti
(appetizers), and there are 25 choices! These range from B. 50 through to B.
220, with the bulk averaging around B. 160 including traditional starters like
Parma ham with melon.
Salads
are up next, all 19 of them (B. 110 for the majority) including an interesting
asparagus vinaigrette with bacon and eggs or a classical Tuscan salad with
tomatoes, garlic, capers, anchovies, black olives and a Balsamic vinegar
dressing - how Italian can you get?
Twelve soups are next with most B. 90 including lobster cream
soup. A restaurant isn’t Italian without pasta, and La Casa offers you 42
choices here. Yes, 42! Most are around B. 160 and include Fusilli, Penne,
Rigatone and Spaghetti plus Fettuccine, Gnocchi, Lasagne, Ravioli and
Tortellini.
Keep going, there’s more to come yet. There’s a page of
risotto choices (B. 155-200) with even a cuttlefish and its own ink sauce.
Pizzas and Calzone gives you another 23 chances of finding
just what you last ate at the Trevi Fountain, with most around the B. 160 mark.
Fish and seafood get their own section, with most items B.
220, but there are a few high-ticket items such as the King Prawns flamed with
brandy at B. 530. These are followed by grilled meats, with most imported,
ranging in price from B. 220 (pork spare ribs with honey and rosemary sauce) to
B. 440 for the imported T-bone steak. Then there are more pages of meat dishes,
with again most at B. 220 including sizzling goose livers with garlic, chilli,
rosemary and vinegar at that price and an Australian venison with Drambuie and
ginger sauce top of the bill at B. 420. Still it goes on, with fondues, cheeses
and finally desserts.
Yes, there is a wine list, and yes, the reds are Italian with
all under B. 990, and the whites under B. 900 with representations from Italy,
Australia, France and Chile.
The restaurant manager had prepared a selection of some of
the dishes from the enormous menu, so we sat back and waited. From the moment
the food arrived we knew we had stumbled on something. The presentation was
excellent, and even the little touches of supplying oregano with the pizza
elevated the restaurant. The choice of Bruschettas, with each being a flavour
sensation was just getting us ready for the wonderfully aromatic Gorgonzola
Fettuccine, which drew you in like a magnet. The mixed salad with garden greens,
tomatoes, bell peppers, sunflower kernels, coriander and vinegar was excellent,
as was the pizza and the spicy seafood soup, which came with a large prawn on
top and underneath filled with clams, mussels, squid and shrimps.
This was real Italian food, and at the price it was real
value. Be prepared to overlook the kitsch surroundings and you can have a great
meal. Well worth a visit. There’s enough choices for everyone. Take the
family, as the menu says, “Essere di Casa - Be like one of the family.”
Highly recommended.
La Casa, 5 Kunklong Cholpratan Road, M1, T. Changphuak,
Chiang Mai, telephone 053 215 802. Open 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.
