My First Thai Dining Experience

Arharn Thai Kitchen
Leonard Wood Road
Baguio City, Benguet
16 November 2010

This being our last dinner in Baguio City, I hoped K and I would eat at Cafe by the Ruins, because I have read and seen so many wonderful raves and pictures related to the restaurant. Coming from Tam-Awan Village, K and I took the jeepney and strolled around Burnham Park. He was still not feeling well, so I didn't push for us to see more tourist attractions. Strolling around and taking a seat while people watching seemed to be a good way of enjoying Baguio City.

I was more than willing to stay at the park until it was time to eat dinner, but as soon as the night ate the day, I started feeling the chilly weather of the city and I started having cold feet and my fingertips were starting to turn blue. When K got alarmed, he decided for us to go back to the chalet.

I started shivering. I couldn't finish my sentence without a shake on my voice and my dark lips got darker. I am a person who doesn't like wearing sweatshirts and jackets (because of my size - wearing one would make me look like a big potato), so K just let me use his jacket and wrapped me with the blanket. It helped get me warm but I still was shivering.


I fell asleep and woke up around 8pm. Both of us were hungry, and since I still was shaky and my hands were sort of numb, we decided to just eat at Arharn Thai Kitchen - just outside Chalet Tepeyac. At first we didn't want to eat there as this is basically part of the chalet, but I am not feeling so good, so it wouldn't be a good idea for us to hail the taxi and go somewhere else. Changing my perspective, it was my first taste of Thai food (well, I might have tasted Thai food before, but this was the first time I dined at a Thai-themed restaurant), so it still made the experience very unique.


People checked-in at the chalet can phone the front desk and place their order, but K told me that would somehow lessen the essence of the dining experience, so we went out to dine at the restaurant. Aside from the Nest, there was this dining room - possibly for the Arharn Thai Kitchen, but we didn't want to dine here as the room was basically empty.


They also have an alfresco area - not as pretty as the restaurant inside, but the idea of watching the vehicles pass by while eating made us choose to stay here.

Their menu wasn't that extensive because this was a new restaurant at that time. From the list of dishes, we had:


Combo 3. I wasn't really that hungry and I still didn't know if I would like Thai food, so I just went for the value meal that I would seem love. I chose the combo with Bagoong Rice, Chicken Pandan and Lemongrass Tea. I liked the rice - it had the right amount of saltiness, and the dried alamang at the top was a revelation for me. The Chicken Pandan tasted alright, but the sauce that came with eat (satay, I presume) was so good! I also liked the Lemongrass Tea - truly different from the many drinks I have already tasted.


Green Curry Seafood. K went for this one because the wait staff said it would be good for two people, but one hungry person can eat it, too. This was one of their stand-alone dishes (no rice or drinks included), so K thought eating this would be a good idea. I have tasted a lot of curry dishes before, but what made this different was the coriander leaves. I am not sure if this one had the Kaffir Lime leaves, but the overall taste of the dish was wonderful.


Shrimp Cakes. From their list of appetizers, one thing that interested me was this. Since they have the option to get just two small patties, I also ordered this. It wasn't over the top good, but it made me wonder how they cooked this so I could cook it at home, too.


Green Papaya Salad. While making the decision which appetizer to order, I was sort of torn between two dishes - the Shrimp Cakes and this. I asked the wait staff which he thought I should taste, and he told me to go for the Shrimp Cakes and he will just give me a sample of the Papaya Salad just so I would know how it would taste. This one isn't tangy like our Papaya Atsara - it was mildly sweet, salty, and spicy rolled into one salad. It paired really well with the Shrimp Cakes.


Coco Pandan Pie. This wasn't my initial choice for dessert, but when the wait staff told me that my choice was unavailable, he suggested if I would want this. Since it was my "mission" to include desserts in our meals, I went ahead with it. Well... it's basically a slice of Buko Pie topped with pandan cream and vanilla ice cream. I am not so into it, but it was okay for a dessert.

Somehow, the idea of eating ice cream while shivering and complaining about the cold weather made me feel a bit worse, but at least I was able to enjoy ice cream on a cold night. Brr... :)

The next morning, K and I had our breakfast at the Nest, before going to Victory Liner where we took the bus going back to Metro Manila. On to the next chapter of this holiday.