Rosemary Café & Bistro – Maladee Rendezvous Hotel, Chiang Mai
Words: Monica Tindall
Photos: Han Sen Hau
Tucked away in a picturesque garden at Maladee Rendezvous Hotel in Chiang Mai, Rosemary Café & Bistro is a laid-back eatery serving global and Thai cuisine, refreshing beverages, and barista-brewed coffee. Skilled chefs prepare the dishes with locally grown, seasonal ingredients, reflecting their love of food and the abundance of fresh produce in this region. Spring-green walls adorned with leaf-print wallpaper, marble tables, and rattan chairs create a welcoming setting. Birdcage-inspired lampshades and white plantation shutters add a colonial touch. Glass walls allow natural light to flood in and open to views of the manicured gardens and pool.
Rosemary Café & Bistro Menu
The all-day-dining restaurant serves breakfast to hotel guests and lunch, afternoon tea and dinner to all.
Afternoon Tea
Afternoon Tea at Rosemary Café & Bistro is just the right portioning in a pretty poolside setting. The three-tiered set consists of savoury sandwiches on the bottom, madeleines with honey and chocolate sauces in the middle, and a trio of sweets on top. Tea or coffee comes with the set, or guests can choose some gorgeously presented mocktails. Honestly, I’m not the first to take on a booze-free drink, often thinking they’ll be far too sweet for my taste. However, Rosemary Café and Bistro’s recipes are refreshing, well-balanced and pretty as a picture. The set is priced at THB 590 and runs daily between 1 pm and 5 pm.
Thai Delights
We stay local for our first meal at Rosemary Café & Bistro, with Chicken Satay (THB 220) and a Thai Set (THB 690) for two.
Satay is similar to the familiar Malaysian version, but the Thai-style sauce is more refined, a little smoother and with coconut milk alongside the usual peanuts but without chilli. There’s also finely sliced cucumber, red onion and red chilli in a bowl of vinegar on the side. It’s like a palate cleanser between bites.
The Thai set is a collection of well-known favourites: Pad Thai, Tom Yum Gong, Jasmine Rice and Sticky Rice with Sweet Mango, accompanied by two glasses of roselle and lychee refreshment. Everything is superbly fresh and generously portioned. We sure are benefiting from the abundance of food grown in this region.
An open omelette blanket holds the wok-fried noodles, veg and tofu of the Pad Thai. Raw bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, chilli flakes and spring onions are served apart to add your own level of crunch. However, the crowning glory is a handful of plump prawns, perfectly cooked with spring to each bite.
The spice aversive has nothing to fear with the Tom Yum Gong, which can be made milder in heat if you desire. Mushrooms, ginger, lime leaf and tomatoes bulk the broth once again with those magnificently fat prawns as the jewel garland.
Lastly, the Sticky Rice with Sweet Mango is everything you want it to be – superbly juicy, sweet and tart Thai mango, a mound of sticky rice, and a lightly savoury coconut sauce on the side.
International Recipes
Alongside Thai favourites, Rosemary Café & Bistro serves a selection of international recipes seeking to satisfy diverse palates. The Cheese Platter (THB 450) is a great order with cocktails by the pool. An unoffensive (nothing too funky for non-cheese aficionados) assortment of cheeses, cold cuts, pickled cucumber, olives, dried fruit, honey and crackers are well-presented on a wooden board.
We can see why the hotel is proud to have its name on the Maladee Signature Salad (THB 390). It’s an impressive-looking platter of avocado and mango chunks, halved grapes, shaved radish, a tangle of mixed greens and four plump prawns with wasabi mayo on the side. It’s fresh, would make a light lunch on its own, or would also be appropriate as a shared salad to go with a main.
Rosemary Café & Bistro’s Fried Rice with Salmon (THB 370) is another easy-eating recipe. The mound of fried rice is flecked with egg, caramelised onion and greens. Three salmon fillets lay across asparagus spears, turning this rice plate into a complete meal.
Another dish from the sea, Seabass Fillet Steak (THB 470), looks as pretty as it tastes. Pan-fried sea bass comes with mashed potatoes and sauteed broccoli, providing a splash of green and a white wine cream sauce.
As a non-dessert-eater, I think the Chocolate Brownie (THB 230) is big enough to share. Those with a serious sweet tooth are welcome to beg to differ. The large, dark, dense square is dense and moist beneath a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.
We also polish off a few drinks during this lunch and find the Strawberry Lassie (THB 140) and Mango Honey Smoothie (THB 140) thick enough to be meal substitutes. They’re icy cold and super refreshing on a warm afternoon. The first is syrup sweet, while the latter is fruity sweet. Both are tastefully garnished.
Chinese Selection
Later in the evening, we sample some of Rosemary Café & Bistro’s Chinese items. Han Sen is ready to pass his mother’s judgement on each recipe; “could make it better herself at home”, “would like to know how the chef made it”, “or worth going out to dine for.”
The Wonton Soup (THB 220) is another mild, unobjectionable recipe. Pork wonton dumplings float with roasted red pork in a clear soup. There is no heat (there’s not usually anyway) to the broth. It’s a great calming meal, especially if you’ve outdone your palate adventurously attempting to eat like the locals with some fiery Thai recipes from the street.
Those prized tiger prawns are once again featured in the Sweet and Sour Prawns (THB 290) alongside wok-fried pineapple, cucumber and tri-coloured capsicum in a sweet and sour sauce. Vibrant reds, yellows and oranges are broken with green spring onions on top. It’s best, soaked up with some steamed rice.
Lastly, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Han Sen and I bravely complete a bar hop of seven bars on our final night in Chiang Mai – all in the name of thorough gourmet coverage, of course. However, the point here is that we need some high-absorption foods to soak up those bevvies and find the Chao Mian (THB 220) and Yangzhou Fried Rice (THB 320), flawless counters to the booze.
The fried egg noodles have a nice springiness and are bulked up with chicken, carrots, cabbage, greens and assorted mushrooms. The fried rice is topped with vibrant green bok choy, roasted red pork and three fat prawns. It’s comfort food, could appeal to a wide range of palates, and is highly recommended prior to or after a night out on the town (wink).
Reasons to visit Rosemary Café & Bistro: an international menu with plenty to please a variety of tastes; superbly fresh, clean and wholesome food; simple glass-walled setting overlooking manicured gardens and the pool; great coffee.
Rosemary Café & Bistro
Maladee Rendezvous Hotel
150/1 Charoen Prathet Road, Chang Klan Sub-District
Muang District, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
Rosemary Café & Bistro Opening Hours
Breakfast: 06:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Lunch & Dinner: 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
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The Tom Yum Gong looks good. Had that here the other day – rather disappointing.