Bagel with a Shmear - Not Here

On our last full day in Chiang Mai we decided to visit the Tom 'n' Tom Coffee Shop across the street from the Maya Shopping center for a cup of coffee and a toasted bagel.

We have witnessed a wide range of coffee preparations in our travels here. At one coffee shop near Wat Chedi Luang the coffee could be described as "formidable." That is to say, extremely strong.

Some expats rave at the coffee shops and wonderful coffee served.  We have no doubt anything you can say about coffee here is Chiang Mai would be accurate, depending on where you are.

Today was not as much a desire for a cup of coffee as seeking an experience at local coffee shop that's a Starbucks knockoff.  Yes, there are a number of Starbucks coffee shops in town.

Tom 'n' Tom has a very western feel as you enter, starting with the music. Coffee, tea, cappuccinos, lattes and other drinks are displayed on overhead signage.  Each drink can be ordered as a Tall, Grande or Venti. Sound familiar?

We plunged. One tall coffee and a tall coffee latte with two toasted bagels and butter, which cost 30 baht extra.

Jay has a simple test to determine the overall quality of an establishment's cuisine quality. For Italian restaurants it's the calamari; in Thai restaurants it's the pad thai.  For a coffee shop, its the toasted bagel.

In five minutes we had our order. The coffee was exactly as expected, but the very lightly toasted bagels, almost the size of dinner plates, turned out to be flat, round loaves of bread with a hole cut in the middle. Just goes to show that the US is the best place in the world to get a REAL bagel and a schmear.