From all the restaurant’s I’ve visited in Chiang Mai, few come close to having a clearer mission than &Then. Walk inside and you might mistake it for just another wine bar, but as soon as you open the menu, you’ll find something different – and dare I say, deeper inside.
But before we get to the food, let’s take a step back and share the story of how &Then came to be, and then some (see what we did there?). Behind the fancy yet casually approachable restaurant and wine bar sits three partners – each of different heritage (this becomes important later).
Trish is the chef, and with a mixed Burmese heritage, she spends her time exploring the region discovering new food and reviving old ones too. ‘I grew up eating lots of Burmese food. Kapi, fish sauce – all Burmese,’ she said over a glass of wine when we visited to hear the story. ‘This influences a lot of the menu, but we don’t want to frame today’s Burmese community as the only group of migrants in Chiang Mai. Rather, we believe that all of us are migrants who have come to live in this place in different ways and at different times.’
Flicking through the menu, this is made more apparent. Some pages more recognisable than others, the options dart between Thai, Burmese, Chinese and Muslim dishes – all deeply connected to the roots of each partner.
Kanwara ‘Ben’ Huangsuwannakorn, another founder and creative director of &Then adds, ‘I grew up in a Chinese family, with many children, aunties and uncles under one roof. There were 20 of us at home and we weren’t wealthy. When it came to food, we bought ingredients at the market and cooked together.’ In fact, like all three partners, it was the food of their mothers and grandmothers that have made the menu you find today.
And to bridge the gap between Thai-Bengali, Chinese and Myanmar is Pattranit ‘Namtan’ Srichandorn founder and curator at &Then who brings the rich curry-like recipes of Thai-Muslim influence to the menu. ‘You find many different communities along the River Ping, and we try to represent the main ones – Burmese, Thai Chinese and Muslim,’ she says. ‘Muslims and Christians both settled on the river, making way for communities of Burmese, Bengalis, Pakistani, Yunnanese, Chinese, Thais and Sikhs – all who have left their influence on the city’s cuisine.’
The restaurant is so invested in their story, they even created a documentary that explores more about who they are and the culinary discoveries they have made along the way. In it, historian Sitha Lertphaiboonkit backs them up. ‘200 years ago, northern Thailand was under Burmese rule, and their influence still shapes the region today,’ he explains while sitting in the bar on camera. In short, everything from temples, textiles and crucially, on the plate, have clear regional influence. Coconut milk drifting into khao soi, Indian spices weaving into broths, Chinese migration shaping noodle traditions – the north is, and always has been, a flavour crossroads. &Then do their best to tell this story.
And for a restaurant wearing their heart on their sleeve as much as here, it’s pleasant to be served food that’s not interrupted by gimmick. Flick through the pages and you’ll easily meander through braised classics like buffalo and bamboo curry, Chinese-influenced pasta-style noodle dishes made fresh every day and lesser-known Northern Thai and Myanmar morsels that really pop out of the plate. Our favourite may well be the double whammy of smoked eggplant dip (think baba ganouche but better) and jungle catfish, grilled with mulberry leaves and bamboo shoots, served steaming inside a banana leaf, similar to northern and Dawei-style ‘aep’. The buffalo jin-thop – a meaty salad tossed with Kachin herbs and Sichuan pepper – is also a real show stopper.
&Then there’s the wine (see what we did there, again?). With a highly curated focus on natural-style wines and old world classics, their collection is exclusive to vineyards that are certified organic and biodynamic. Don’t let Namtan’s Muslim heritage deceive you – with over 10 years under her belt distributing and exploring some of the best wines around the city, there’s real meaning behind the bottles they serve.
Pair the wine with their elevated cuisine and you’re set, whether that’s for a date that’ll impress or a friendly catch up with added local flavour. The restaurant celebrates differences, yes, but more importantly, it reveals the similarities that were always there. In a city shaped by migration and shared heritage, &Then unapologetically serves food that connects us all.