Maw Phin

To our surprise a Thai restaurant recently opened up just a little bit north of Spokane.  Located on Hwy 2 in Mead, the parking lot was loaded with the cars of customers trying the new cuisine.  If you are familiar with the area, you know that the building it it is in has been the home of several other businesses in the past.  Things have changed.  Enter through the door and you'll notice it's something completely different than anything else in Mead.  The delicious aromas and simple but elegant decor warmly welcome you into the Maw Phin dining experience.

The address is 14891 N. Newport Highway, and it is right across the street from two other well known and liked local eating spots, a Subway sandwich shop and the Cinola Restaurant and Lounge.  Maw Phin, offering a little something different in their Thai dishes, like Pad Thai and Mussaman Curry, certainly stands as a nice addition to the mix of restaurants in the Mead area.  Thai food lovers traveling north and south on Hwy 2 or who live on the north side of town will find all their favorite food dishes in this quaint restaurant, we did.  And you do not have to simply eat -in, you can drive thru and pick up your orders to take home too.  They are open from 11:AM to 8 PM.  Customers can get dinner or lunch!



















Our dinner began with the Spring Rolls....

 and Thai Tea.

This was followed by Tom Kha Gai, a delicious coconut milk and chicken soup.... (flavored with exotic things like galanga, and lemongrass.)

We ordered another dish we like too, called Druken Noodles.  We ordered this one a bit on the spicy side.... not too much.  (Yum!)  The flavors were wonderful.  They can make most of the dishes as mild or spicy as you enjoy.

We passed on the dessert tonight though I must say that the black rice with coconut ice cream sounded really good to me.  This is definitely something you will want to try at a Thia restaurant sometime if you have  never had before.

In the traditional Thai style we were offered a lovely little sweet treat upon our departure- a delicious buttercream mint, which topped off the meal very nicely.

Asia

I have to admit, I saw a commercial on TV for this place and thought it would be a great spot to try.  It wasn't a fancy commercial or anything like that, it just caught my attention because we had not been here before.  I had never even heard of it.  Off we went.

It was kinda funny trying to find this place.  Google told us it was somewhere other than where it was and we drove around looking for addresses on building... and in typical Spokane fashion it was to no avail.  However, a quick call to the restaurant helped us find it on the other side of the street, around the backside of the Albertson's store.

Over the phone the place sounded really busy, and when we got there, it was but we did get a table.  As a bit of fringe benefit, and to our surprise there was even live music!

It's a cute little spot and the musical entertainment was great fun to listen to.  Mark Lee played guitar and ukulele.  They have live music every Saturday night and on some special occasions too.

We enjoyed a lot of our favorite Asian dishes here.  We tried the Tempura Vegetables and Vietnamese Spring Rolls.  We really liked the tempura, but then tempura is always amazing to me.  there is just something about it that I love. Mostly, I think it is guess what vegetable it is beneath the batter and being surprised at how delicious it all is.

We enjoyed some Thai Tea....

For dinner, we shared an order of their Spicy Beef Noodle Soup called, Bun Bo Hue.  The Thai basil, bean sprouts and Jalapenos were a wonderful addition.

Our other dish was the Spicy Curry Lemongrass Chicken.  It was served with salad and rice.  It was colorful and delicious.

I had to laugh at the cheap-o fast-food-restaurant-like napkins.  These came complete with fast food-restaurant-like napkin dispensers on the tables, but I loved it.  I don't know about you but I like having napkins readily available without having too ask the waitress for them.  It was different, but definitely handy.

















Above:  Mark Lee, (One Match Left) with his guitar and ukulele playing some original music and well known cover songs, particularly Beatles songs, was our entertainment.

Hear a little of what he played here,

You can also listen to his songs on his website.

Morning Sun Bakery

Need a little sunshine?

The Morning Sun, located at 5602 N. Wall St. is a pleasant spot for sure.  I just love this little north side neighborhood it is in, mainly because I think it rather "Rockwell" that the neighborhood itself is like a miniature city with little businesses in it.  On Wall St. one can find many nice little shops.

Street view from the window...

I have seen or visited personally, a couple of restaurants, including pizza, a book store, hair and nail salons, a pet parlor, an optical care shop, a Scottish Highland dance studio, chiropractor offices and most certainly, coffee stops. and that is just south of Francis Avenue!


I like a good latte and pastry once in a while, or a place to meet up with friends... and on my long list of great places to go... this is definitively one!  It's warm and roomy inside, homey even.  I like that.

The people who work here are welcoming and friendly, the music is pleasant, and the signs make me laugh!

The coffee is made to order and the pastries... which along with the coffee might be your reason for coming here... are divine! There are some neat creations!

They are pretty big too, like this cookie, but big is always great and fun to share between friends!