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www.travelweekly-asia.com | 13 I don't usually write food blogs but this restaurant is rather special because it has an interesting story. It's called Louis Leeman Seafood and no, it's not owned by someone named that. It's named in honour of the owner's father whose Thai name is Chan Uekrongtham. I know, from Chan to Louis, but the family story goes that because he was a big importer of fruits and dealt with mainly Western customers, he gave himself that name to make it easy for his clients Secondly, it's started by one of his sons, Chingchai, who is SIMPLY DELICIOUS, A THAI NAMED LOUIS AND AN ORANG UTAN NAMED CHARLIE with salted egg yolk or curry powder. His mother, who is an excellent cook herself, serves as the "honorary advisor" – let's just say she has extremely high standards and her advice is taken very seriously by her son. The dishes I had were all tasty. The fried spinach with garlic had a subtle mix of Thai and Cantonese flavours. You couldn't get more Thai than the fried rice with seafood. The fish maw soup is deliciously Teochew. And the crab with salted egg yolk is the right blend of crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. DESTINATION: THAILAND Asian Oasis has stopped offering elephant tours after reports surfaced about elephants near its Lisu Lodge in Chiang Mai being overworked and ill-treated. Said Chananya Phataraprasit, executive director and owner of Asian Oasis, in her blog, "We question the morality of exploiting humble creatures like this in order to please unsuspecting tourists, and provide an income for their owners. "We are grateful for the overwhelming positive support we have received from tour operators and tourists. It is true that our action alone will not stop the exploitation, but we hope it will spark a new way of thinking." It certainly has sparked new ideas at the company known for creating unique, authentic experiences with its products such as the Mekhala, Suwan Macha and Lanjia Lodge. It has added a tea plantation experience at the Araksa Tea Plantation in Chiang Mai, located near Lisu Lodge. One of the oldest tea plantations in Thailand, the land here is ideal for tea planting because of the air, its high elevation, the soil and water quality. Assam tea plants have been grown here for at least 40 years. The plantation, which was TIME FOR TEA IN CHIANG MAI neglected for the last 15 years, was recently taken over by a new owner who has committed to cultivating and producing organic tea. The new tea plantation tour helps guests understand cultural preservation, sustainable agriculture and healthy living, including a hands-on tea growing experience. A tea specialist explains the different methods of tea growing process from the beginning. Guests will learn how to choose and pluck tea leaves. This also includes a demonstration of a traditional tea roasting process, practised by tea farmers throughout Asia in ancient time. It involves roasting freshly plucked tea leaves in a hot iron wok, and hand kneading them to remove excess water. They are then roasted again in the hot wok. This process is repeated until the tea leaves are dry and reach the perfect roasting level. As the farmer kneads and roasts the leaves, he will discard low quality leaves and stems, leaving only the best quality tea leaves. Roasted Green Tea has about 60% less caffeine than regular green tea. It is ideal for hot and cold drinks. Guests can then sample the hand-roasted green tea in the tea house. renowned in Thailand for his knowledge of marine life and speaks at events about how to build aquariums. He has the best collection of aquariums and corals in his house apparently. Chingchai started the restaurant because like his father, he loves food and in particular seafood, and his idea is to bring in rare seafood from around the world to his tables. So his restaurant has tanks full of Russian king crabs, giant crabs from Kenya, and lobsters from Kenya and Tanzania. In the nine months since he's opened, his restaurant located on the edge of Bangkok's Chinatown has gained a reputation for serving rare seafood dishes. I asked him the irony of serving seafood when he loves marine life and he says, "I don't serve anything endangered." His menu is a mix of Teochew, Cantonese and Thai dishes and dim sum is served alongside crabs fried Beyond the décor, I liked the playfulness of the décor. The feature wall has a stuffed penguin resting against a glass mural with corals. On the seats are big, black stuffed orang utans. They are meant to keep you company while you are waiting, Thai girls apparently love these stuffed toys and if you like it, Chingchai will give it to you as a souvenir. I love food but I particularly love food that comes with a story and has characters like Chingchai and Charlie, the name I have given to the giant orang utan I took home from Louis Leeman Seafood. I don't serve anything endangered. Yeoh Siew Hoon and Chingchai. By Yeoh Siew Hoon