Huan Soontaree: Lanna Food & Music

One of my favorite places to soak in sensuous Lanna Thai culture in Chiang Mai is to enjoy the atmosphere, food and music at Huan Soontaree's restaurant. Huan is local gam muang language for house and Soontaree's, with its big, open-aired spacing and colorful hanging embroidery, is truly an ode to local folklore, decor, cuisine, and music. Khun Soontaree Veechanont is a well-known musician specializing in Lanna folk singing. Opening acts start early evening, and Soontaree regularly goes on around 830-9pm to intone difficult nasal notes in gam muang to an applauding, mostly Thai audience. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Lanna style music in general, but when Soontaree sings, I just can't get enough! I've even bought several of her albums and always end up singing along with her.

You may also want to enjoy the Lanna puppet show if you're seated downstairs. I prefer to head upstairs since it has better acoustics and an eye level view of the performers. And the show by no means takes away from the quality of the food which is very tasty: the stuffed serpent fish, tom ka guy and penang tofu are just a few excellent dishes.

Khun Soontaree is not only famous for her musical talent, but also for her engagement in Thai politics. The current political crisis is on all of our minds these days, and as I write this, Bangkok's airports are closed due to protests. She speaks out regularly against ousted Prime Minister Thaksin, dangerous political posturing in Chiang Mai, his very supportive home town. She gives a speech in this picture on her wall (above) in front of a caricature of Thaksin devouring the Thai flag. Her old restaurant which was closer to the center of town was actually bombed a few years ago, may be one of the reasons why she moved to this new more remote location up the Ping river.

Whatever your political stance, you can still enjoy her friendly house. If you're as lucky as I have been, you'll be around a night her daughter comes to town. Like her mother, Lanna Commins is also a musician, and has several albums out of fusion folk and pop. Hearing them sing together is quite a treat. We chat with Lanna and Khun Soontaree below (to my left and right).
I leave you with my favorite Soontaree song. I don't speak gam muang, but there's something in there about a Chiang Mai girl and her everyday adventures eating khao soi in the mountains of Doi Pui :) Sabai Sabai ...

[Listening may require Quicktime plug-in and settings]

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Red Tips Location - Driving directions: Huan Soontaree is located on the west bank of the ping river, north of town. Get on the super highway toward the Ping river. If headed eastward stay left before the bridge to go north up the river (westward go over and under the bridge); go about 5-6km, it will be on your right. Drivers know where it is, just make sure to have them stay or come back and get you later. Phone: Call 053 872 707 if you want to make sure she's on that night.