A super dinner with the Hulk

EKAPOP CHANGKAEW and his business partner opened a restaurant called Figure & Ground in Chiang Rai last month and immediately realised they’d probably need some sort of superpowers to lure customers down the tiny, inconspicuous soi.

So they got them – in the form of Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, Superman and Batman. With all due apologies to Marvel and DC Comics for distracting these heroes from their appointed duties, it’s been an incredible success. 

Less than a month after it opened, the cafe is immensely popular, and not just among kids or fans of the comics and the fantasy films they’ve spawned. 

The place has that trendy “industrial” look – the flooring wood, the walls rough brick and the cement bare (though polished). Thanks to the super-denizens, though, it feels more like a toy museum.

It’s a “museum cafe,” Ekapop corrects us. He should know – he studied advertising at Chulalongkorn University (though he’s a Chiang Rai native) and now has his own ad agency, Brand Young, in the same compound.

“The location had nothing beautiful to draw people in, so the cafe needed something else as a selling point to make it stand out. Luckily my partner’s brother has been collecting this stuff since he was a teenager – all sorts of toys from around the world. The figurines you see here are only 10 per cent of his collection! We plan to change the display every four months.”

One shelf is jam-packed with Iron Man figurines, but he’s life-size in one corner, fighting off devils that are threatening to swallow the planet. The Hulk is showing off his superhuman strength next to the bar. Doraemon and some other Japanese tourists visiting the far North – One Piece, the Masked Riders and Astro Boy – are loitering about. 

Darth Varder seems to prefer a low profile on his high shelf, but the Doraemon gang and the loveable Sulley and his wisecracking sidekick Mike Wazowski from the “Monsters Inc” films happily pose for photos.

Do Ekapop and his partner really need all these guys acting as customer-magnets when their restaurant has the intriguing name Figure & Ground?

“The name is actually from the psychological principle of perception through vision known as ‘Figure-Ground’, in which there’s a tendency to see parts of a visual field as solid, well-defined objects standing out against a less distinct background,” he explains. 

“It means our place can be a small toy museum or an eatery or both – depending on your perception. The term ‘figure’ can also easily refer to toy figurines, while ‘ground’ might suggest coffee grounds.”

So, yes, the place probably does indeed need the superheroes.

Of course it doesn’t hurt that there’s also free wifi and an utterly relaxing ambience. By day it’s full of young people, by night a new party scene. Friday and Saturday nights have a “Weekend Bar” with wine and live jazz. 

The menu is finger food and aptly named fusion dishes, like the Super Hero (Bt225), an appetiser of fried chicken and chips, Superman Wings (Bt160), Iron Man potato wedges (Bt75) and Scarlett (Bt155), a salad with smoked ham and a spicy dressing. 

I found the most flavourful starter to be the Vegetable Salad with Pumpkin Dressing (Bt95). It has slices of pumpkin that are sweet, moist and fluffy, while the dense pumpkin dressing is slightly tangy.

“We offer si ngle-dish items that are easy to eat,” says Ekapop. “For rice dishes I use Japanese rice grown here in Chiang Rai. The vegetables come from local hydroponics farms. And I have several friends who love making salad dressings and sweet treats, so they supply us with tempting home-cooking.”

So does his mum. From her own recipes she makes Northern-style Gaeng Hung Lay (Bt150, pork chunks stewed with curry paste and served with steamed rice and a sunny-side up egg) and Chicken Massaman Curry (Bt150, also with rice and an egg).

The Braised Pork with Rice and Salad (Bt179) is also a delight. The cubes of pork are braised for eight hours and served topped with gravy alongside rice, a fried egg, French fries and a mixed salad. 

Meat-lovers will enjoy the Pork Steak with French Fries and Vegetable Salad (Bt159), Beefsteak with Garlic Bread and French Fries (Bt229) and Ham Steak with Applesauce (Bt179).

Finish off your meal with something from the extensive range of sweets – maybe a Banana Fritter with Maple Syrup and Vanilla Ice Cream (Bt125) or a Crepe Cake (Bt85). And don’t forget to raise a toast to the heroes all around you with O-liang Tea Granita (Bt79), which is black coffee with milk.

 

 

 

GO FIGURE

>>Figure & Ground is on Soi Wat Mai Na Khai 3 in Rop Wiang, Muang district, Chiang Rai. 

>>It’s open daily except Monday from 10 to 8 (until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays).

>>Call (052) 023 595 or visit the “Figure&Ground” page on Facebook.