1/31–Shawarma but not Shawarma

After getting organized, we head out into town checking out our old haunts and looking for new possibilities.  The night market is still the same, except now they leave the tables out over night!  That’s a change.  They used to tear everything down and rebuild each day, but inside Ansuran, all the tables now stay. Smarter!

It’s quiet tonight, because of the Sunday walking street.  We walk through all the restaurants, O’Malley’s is still here (of course), but there are lots of new places surrounding it – a lot of Lebanese and Indian.  Sadly, our favorite Indian place, The Silver Eagle, is gone. We had figured that out since we’d not seen anything about them for quite a while and the last review was really old.  We’re sad, but there are at least 3 other Indian options on the market, so we’ll check them out eventually.

The Bamboo bar is still there – with the same great bartender!  We wave as we go past, heading to The Roadside – which is all fenced up.  Oh no!  We can’t decide if this is a Sunday night thing, or a permanent thing.  We’ll have to come back tomorrow and check out if they are ever open.  That will be a big bummer if they’ve gone too.

We stop at Bamboo on our way back for a beer and wine, and the bartender remembers us and chats for a while.  Just like Sanibel only better – it’s been 2 years! 

Afterward we head back to Sababa for dinner, because we are craving Shawarma (for Ed) and Babaganoush (for me).  Dancing man is still there – but he’s all alone and crazy busy! We are lucky to get a table!  We sit, ask for beers and go through the menu. Hey! No Shawarma.  No Babaganoush.  What gives?

Dancing man finally comes back out apologizing for the wait, 2 people didn’t show up so he’s all alone.  We ask about the Shawarma – he says, yes, he still has it, here – well, the menu says chicken cutlets or something – so whatever.  I ask about Babaganoush and he says no – he can’t stand it – it makes him throw up so he won’t make it.  His partner used to make it – but he says “that other guy is gone” – so – no Babaganoush for me.  Pooh.

I order the Shawarma but not Shawarma and Ed orders the cutlets. They were good before.  As it turns out, we both end up with Shawarma (or not)….

Ok, so it is really only chicken cubes or cutlets that were probably at one time on a skewer.  They are good, but they ain’t Shawarma.  And the cutlets? Who knows. He’s so busy, we aren’t asking, we consider ourselves lucky we have any food at all!  A good meal, but certainly not what we had in mind after 2 years.

Ah well, you just have to adapt to change.  At any rate, it is a lovely night for our first night back in Chiang Mai, sitting outside, watching the traffic flow by, enjoying our chicken whatever it is and getting adjusted to being back in Chiang Mai, at our Twin Peaks home away from home. 

We finish up, grab Dancing man out of the kitchen to pay (poor thing – he’s stressed!), then walk the 3 blocks back, passing what we are now calling “Cane” (dog in Italian) Corner – where every night the dogs comes to sleep.  Too funny…

…back to our little balcony to spend an enjoyable end to our first night in Chiang Mai, sitting and relaxing above the pool.