Restaurant in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Countryside Thai cooking, two Bib Gourmands.
Meena earns its two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand years (2024 and 2025) with home-style Northern Thai cooking in an open-air countryside setting east of Chiang Mai. The five-coloured rice and pork ribs with longan curry are the dishes to order. At ฿฿ pricing with a 4.4 Google rating across nearly 1,900 reviews, this is one of Chiang Mai's stronger value arguments — if you are willing to make the trip to San Khlang.
Picture a wooden open-air sala surrounded by trees, a plate of five-coloured rice arriving at your table in shades that look almost too vivid to eat, and a quiet that tells you the city is genuinely far away. That image is the first reason to book Meena — but the Michelin Bib Gourmand, held in both 2024 and 2025, is the reason to trust the food once you arrive. At ฿฿ pricing, this is one of the better-value arguments for leaving Chiang Mai's old city and heading out to San Khlang.
Meena sits inside the Lhong Him Kaw creative compound in San Khlang, a district east of the city centre. The setting is what you see first: a semi-open structure with greenery on every side, designed for long, unhurried meals rather than table turns. The visual centrepiece is the five-coloured rice, a dish made with natural pigments from local plants, which arrives at the table as something you want to photograph before you eat it. That instinct is fine , this is exactly the kind of place where the visual and the actual converge rather than conflict.
The kitchen works across home-style Thai and Northern Thai registers. The most discussed dish in the record is pork ribs with longan curry: a combination that delivers spice and richness alongside the subtle sweetness of the fruit. That balance , something recognisable pushed a degree sideways by a local or seasonal ingredient , is characteristic of what Bib Gourmand recognition tends to signal. Not fine dining precision, but real cooking with a clear point of view.
The lunch case here is compelling. The open-air setting in San Khlang reads better in daylight: the greenery is visible, the wooden architecture shows clearly, and the slower midday pace suits the slow-dining format Meena is built around. If your goal is to understand the food , to work through the rice, try the curry, and eat at a pace that makes sense , lunch is the better frame. The natural light also makes the coloured rice photograph well, which matters if you are visiting with that intention.
Dinner shifts the mood. The open-air structure at night, surrounded by trees, has its own atmosphere, and for a date or a small celebration, the evening visit carries more occasion weight. The tradeoff is that some of the visual detail that makes Meena distinctive , the greenery, the setting , recedes after dark. For a special occasion dinner, Meena works, but its advantages are strongest when you can see the whole picture. If you are choosing between the two, lunch is the higher-value slot; dinner is the better choice when occasion matters more than optimisation.
At ฿฿ pricing in a countryside setting with two consecutive Bib Gourmand years, Meena is a credible choice for a low-key celebration or a meaningful date. It is not a white-tablecloth environment , the rustic open-air format means this is a relaxed occasion, not a formal one. That works well for couples or small groups who want the experience to feel personal and unhurried rather than ceremonial. For a business meal where formality matters, you would be better served by a different venue. For a birthday lunch or an anniversary dinner with someone who would appreciate the setting and the food over the trappings, Meena is well-suited.
Meena is outside Chiang Mai's city centre in the San Khlang area of Amphoe San Kamphaeng. You will need a car, rideshare, or arranged transport , this is not walkable from the old city or Nimman Road. The Lhong Him Kaw compound gives you a destination that feels worth the trip rather than merely remote. Booking difficulty is rated easy, which is consistent with the venue's accessible price point and non-central location. That said, the Bib Gourmand recognition has driven meaningful attention, and turning up without a reservation on a weekend carries some risk. Check current availability before assuming a walk-in will work.
| Detail | Meena | Busarin Cuisine | Ekachan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price range | ฿฿ | ฿฿ | ฿฿ |
| Cuisine | Northern Thai / Thai | Northern Thai | Thai |
| Michelin recognition | Bib Gourmand 2024 & 2025 | Check listing | Check listing |
| Setting | Open-air countryside | Indoor/restaurant | Indoor/restaurant |
| Booking difficulty | Easy | Check listing | Check listing |
| Google rating | 4.4 (1,885 reviews) | , | , |
Meena holds a 4.4 Google rating across 1,885 reviews, which is a meaningful data point at that volume. Bib Gourmand recognition in consecutive years (2024 and 2025) confirms consistent kitchen quality rather than a one-time highlight. At ฿฿, the price-to-recognition ratio is among the stronger you will find in Chiang Mai's dining scene. For Thai food context at higher price tiers elsewhere in Thailand, see Sorn in Bangkok or Nahm in Bangkok , both operate in different registers but help calibrate what Michelin recognition means across Thai cuisine formats.
If you are building a broader Chiang Mai itinerary, the following venues are worth considering alongside Meena: Aunt Aoy Kitchen, Baan Landai, Baan Suan Mae Rim, Ekachan, and Food For You. For a full picture of what to eat, drink, and do in the city, see our full Chiang Mai restaurants guide, our full Chiang Mai bars guide, and our full Chiang Mai hotels guide. For wider Thailand context, PRU in Phuket, AKKEE in Pak Kret, and Samrub Samrub Thai in Bangkok give a useful sense of where Northern Thai and regional Thai cooking sits within the country's broader dining picture.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Meena | ฿฿ | — |
| Busarin Cuisine | ฿฿ | — |
| Chai | ฿฿ | — |
| Dan Chicken Rice (San Sai) | ฿ | — |
| Ekachan | ฿฿ | — |
| Khao Soi Mae Manee | — |
Comparing your options in Chiang Mai for this tier.
Meena does not operate a formal tasting menu format — it is a home-style Thai and Northern Thai kitchen where dishes are ordered and shared. The five-coloured rice with selections like pork ribs in longan curry is the draw here. At ฿฿ pricing with two consecutive Bib Gourmand years behind it, the value proposition is strong without any tasting menu premium attached.
The open-air sala setting at Lhong Him Kaw is better suited to groups than a tight urban dining room would be, but you should check the venue's official channels to confirm capacity and booking arrangements for larger parties. The shared-plate format of home-style Thai food makes it a practical group format regardless of table size.
Yes, straightforwardly. At ฿฿ pricing, Meena sits at an accessible price point for what Michelin's Bib Gourmand specifically recognises: good food at a good price. The travel requirement — you need a car or rideshare from central Chiang Mai — is the main cost to factor in, not the bill itself.
There is no bar seating documented for Meena. The venue is an open-air countryside sala, and the experience is oriented around table dining in a relaxed, greenery-surrounded setting rather than a bar or counter format.
It works well for a low-key celebration rather than a formal one. The countryside setting, unhurried pace, and two consecutive Bib Gourmand years give it enough credibility to feel considered, but the rustic open-air format means it suits a relaxed, meaningful dinner more than a high-ceremony milestone. For a formal occasion with service theatre, you would want somewhere in the city centre instead.
For Northern Thai home cooking at a similar price, Aunt Aoy Kitchen and Busarin Cuisine are the comparisons worth making. If you want Michelin-recognised value without the drive out to San Khlang, Khao Soi Mae Manee is a city-centre option. Meena's specific draw — the five-coloured rice, the Lhong Him Kaw creative compound setting — does not have a direct city-centre equivalent.
Get a rideshare or arrange your own transport — Meena is in San Khlang, Amphoe San Kamphaeng, outside central Chiang Mai, and is not walkable from the old city or Nimman area. Go at lunch if you can: the open-air setting reads best in daylight. The five-coloured rice is the signature order, and the pork ribs with longan curry is the dish most cited in its Bib Gourmand recognition.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
