We had planned to go out for Mu Kratha (Thai BBQ) the other night but in keeping with our fluid schedule it just never came to fruition. It turns out though that fiddling with the schedule worked out in our favor and the net result was a great night out!
The night we had intended to go out we were a little sluggish in our wandering around, and Tee and Ian were busy at the restaurant anyway so we just wandered down to the cafe to have dinner there. Another friend of Ian’s had also shown up and we are introduced to Rich who is originally from the UK, but has been travelling around a bunch of places for several years and now lives and works in Chiang Mai. We join our tables together and spend the next few hours exchanging stories over some great food and a few Thai beers! At any rate as the night breaks up we make plans for now the 5 of us to meet up the next day to go for Muu Kratha.
We have heard and read a bit about how Muu Kratha works, but as we arrive the reality is nowhere near what we had expected! In my mind I had sort of visualized a spot with maybe a couple of dozen tables and the customers being 90% or more locals – I guess the 2nd part was right as the crowd here is easily 90%+ locals, but the unexpected part is the size of the place. The ‘restaurant’ has 2 permanent walls and a roof, the rest is open to the air, and there are hundreds and hundres of people here! It is a block or 2 off the main street in behind some other buildings and apartments, so unless you knew where you were going this is clearly not a place that some tourists would just stumble into.
The BBQ is basically a pot with some very hot charcoal that burns in the bottom and then they put sort of a domed cover over the top. You season the dome with some pork fat so that your foods do not stick, and then cook your meat, seafood, etc. on the top of the dome. At the bottom of the dome is a rim that creates sort of a moat that you fill with water and that allows you to cook noodles, vegetables and such in the hot water that has been seasoned with the drippings from the stuff on the top of the dome.
The dinner is 200 Baht (around $6.50US) and is all buffet style. Arranged in the center of the vast floor space are rows of tables with all sorts of meats (chicken, pork, tofu), seafoods (shrimp, squid, fish), vegetables, noodles, desserts, drinks, and some traditional cooked Thai dishes. It is a bit overwhelming just to look at the array of choices, and fortunately we are with some people who have done this before because Mrs. Columbus and I have no idea what a lot of the things are, and left on our own might have just ended up with french fries and Phad Thai.
After filling a bunch of trays and plates with what seems like enough food for 10 we head back to our table to settle in for some cooking and chatting. Tee explains to us that for the Thai people a dinner like this is just as much about the visiting as it is about the food, so there is no rush to get through the meal and we are able to just enjoy the food and the company. A few Thai beers and some cold drinks and things are shaping up to be a good night. I’m sure that the pictures wil not do it justice, but it was a great experience and one we will both remember (and recommend to others).
After we are done at the BBQ we jump into a Songthaew and head back to Ginny Cafe for a beer or two to round out the night. Special thanks to Tee, Ian and Rich for a great night out!!
