I first learned of Maenam while at the Farmers Market Kitchen last year where Chef Angus An was giving a demo and have been wanting to go try it ever since. Last week, I joined a group of other food bloggers to indulge in the Chef's menu - the chef's selection of five or more savory dishes served in traditional Thai style. This menu is served in family style where everyone shares the dishes.




First came a selection of appetizers starting with Green Papaya Salad. It was pretty good. Light and refreshing. The green papaya was firm and slightly crunchy. It was a great start to the meal.

Next came Steam Lemongrass Mussels with Thai Aromatics and Nahm Jim Sauce. It smelled so good and was yummy too. I love mussels!

Hot & Sour Soup with Halibut Cheeks, Oyster Mushrooms and Thai Basil. The waiter advised us to remove the red chili pepper if we didn't want the soup to get too hot. I liked the soup! I liked that it was full of ingredients and the flavours melded well together. It wasn't too hot...at least not at first...I inadvertently scooped one of the peppers into my bowl and it got sooooo hot at the last few spoonfuls...I was in tears...yeah don't do what I did. lol

After the we finished the appetizers, they replaced our plates and served us our main dishes, starting with Stir Fried Pork Rib with julienne red peppers, baby corn and fresh peppercorn. Those ribs were awesome! Fall off the bone delicious!

Another mussel dish: Southern Style Curry Mussels. Our mains came with a big bowl of steamed jasmine rice to share and I loved pouring the curry over my rice. So yummy!

Dry Red Curry of Crispy Lingcod. Very tender and delicious!

Grilled tuna salad with green mango, mint and cashew nuts. I loved this salad! I love tuna in general but yum! The cashews are a nice touch.

Because we had the Chef's menu, the desserts are discounted for us to $5 from the normal $8. Four of us decided order every one to share just to be able to taste everything.  

Citrus and vanilla bean frozen cheesecake parfait. It tasted like cheesecake though maybe not as rich.

Dark chocolate pot de creme. I enjoyed the semifreddo.

Coconut Panna Cotta. This was the dessert I was most drawn to on the menu and it was also the one I liked best. It was delicious, light and airy with a taste of coconut when you savor it.

The Chef's menu was a total of $32.50 and I believe it was worth it. Some of what we ate were not on the regular menu, it is totally up to the chef what he makes for us but he is certainly capable of serving us delicious dish after delicious dish! Though I was a little disappointed that Pad Thai wasn't among the dishes served. Oh well maybe it's too common. I did like that there were TWO mussel dishes. Mmmm. Mussels.