Pino Latte Resort & Cafe: More Than Just A Café

Gone were the days where café only strive to serve the best coffee and breakfast. Nowadays, with the emergence of social media (especially Instagram), the aesthetic presentation of the food is as important as the taste itself. Camera is the first to eat, and the judge is no longer just the patrons, but millions other followers of them on social media. But one other thing outranks the instagrammability of the food – the instagrammability of the café itself.

Serving delicious food is no longer the only success factor

Serving food and beverage which look and taste good isn’t the only thing that draw in the crowd. We are in the era of the Instagram, where the new priority isn’t just to create food photography, but to make their premises attractive to social media influencers, so they will pose inside or in the front of the cafe, luring in followers hungry for the same perfect photo opportunity...

The premise itself needs to be instagrammable

Pino Latte @ Khao Kho

... and Pino Latte does just that.

Pino Latte – As Café

It's huge like this

As a café, Pino Latte does have a wide selection of drinks, desserts, mains and finger food, with their Pino Latte and egg benedict being the most popular item on their menu. 

Wide selection of drinks

Get your coffee fix here

We are not big fans of egg benedict, so we settled for sandwich and carbonara pasta instead. The price is at the high side here (city standard), perhaps due to its popularity.

Our breakfast for the day

As the place is popular, it can be pretty crowded so do expect some waiting time we waited roughly half an hour which isn’t that bad. The good thing is there are plenty of seats outdoor as the compound is huge. We didn’t have any trouble looking for seat. 

Outing seating is plenty here

If you can’t live without air-con they do have indoor seats, but the best seats in our opinion are outdoor ones, thanks to its fantastic panoramic view of the “Thai Alps” with Wat Phra That Pha Sorn Kaew in the background.

This seat ain't that bad (it has a view too)

But this is the best (everyone takes photo here!)

Pino Latte – As A Viewpoint

View from Pino Latte (that's Wat Phrathat Phasornkaew which we visited next)

They are plenty of outdoor seating where you can feast your eyes with the mountain view, but the best one is none other than the one perched at the cliff, at the left side of the café compound.

You get the view of the mountainous valley

With the temple and the resort's bungalow on the right

Even he who doesn't like to be photographed gladly sit there for a few snap

It'll be way prettier at dawn if you are lucky enough to catch the sea of clouds

You certainly won’t miss this as there is a big Pino Latte sign right in front of it, with wooden high stool and table facing the valley. This is the perfect spot to catch the sea of clouds

The big Pino Latte signage

Even when we didn’t see any sea of clouds at the time of our visit (late morning), the entire place is full of insta-worthy photo spots for feed your social media.

There's a garden in front of the cafe

I can spend the whole morning here

Flowers everywhere

Willingly be my model that day

I was surrounded by flowers

Look at the view

Pino Latte – As A Resort

As the name itself suggest, Pino Latte also has limited accommodation (I counted five during my visit) which requires booking months ahead due to their popularity. The rooms are tastefully refurbished containers with each offering unblocked view. If you are in luck, you can enjoy the view of the sea of clouds in bed without having to travel out of the room.

The five bungalows can be seen from the cafe garden

Cost

Entrance: Free

Food: Pino Latte from 80 Baht (RM 10 / SGD 3.40), breakfast set from 230 Baht (RM 29 / SGD 9.60)

Accommodation: From 6000 baht (RM 760 / SGD 253), but do keep a look of their promotional rates via Agoda and Booking.com

Even the logo at the front entrance is a great photography spot

How To Get There

Pino Latte is located in Khao Kho, a district in Phetchabun Province, about 6-hour drive from Bangkok or 2-hour drive from Phitsanulok. We rented a car from Bangkok and drove to Khao Kho, however you can also take a car charter, a public bus or fly to Phitsanulok and rent a car there.

For more info on how to get to Khao Kho, and what to do there, check out:
>>> 3D2N Khao Kho Road Trip From Bangkok – Tips On How To Get There, Where To Stay and What To Do in Less Than RM850 / SGD285

Khao Kho Wind Farm spotted at the parking in front of the cafe

Once you are in Khao Kho, everywhere is reachable within an hour away. Pino Latte is located just 5-min drive away from Wat Phra That Pha Sorn Kaew, which is only 25-min walking distance away from each other. Pino Latte is also only 15-min drive from The Blue Sky Resort and B.N. Farm respectively. Therefore, I would recommend covering them altogether in the same day. If you are travelling from Phu Thap Boek, you will need to drive one hour to reach here.

Address: Unnamed Rd Tambon Khaem Son Amphoe Khao Kho Chang Wat Phetchabun 67280 Thailand

Café Opening Hours: 7am to 7pm, daily

Best Time To Visit

With such a splendid panoramic view, Pino Latte can be visited anytime of the day during its operating hours. However, since Khao Kho is famous for its sea of clouds, I would definitely recommend heading there in the early morning, when chance of sighting sea of clouds is at its highest. Although the operating hour is from 7am onwards, you can try your luck to come here before dawn for sunrise, since the best view is from its outdoor al fresco seating.

No sea of clouds as we came here at 10am

In fact it was hot and sunny which explains why we get to hog the entire section for photos

No one else is willing to sit there under the sun, but not me

If waking up early isn’t your cup of tea, you can also drop by around sunset time. I bet the view here is going to be pretty magnificent!

Love the view!

Epilogue

Although there are plenty other cafes in the Khao Kho, Pino Latte remains the most popular one. It’s in everyone’s itinerary and they converge here at some point in their trip here. Taking advantage of its strategic location and vantage point, the owner successfully built a premise which caters to all travellers.

Happy face because I took many beautiful photos

Panoramic view? Ticked!

Food? Ticked!

Accommodation? Ticked!

Flower garden? Ticked!

Thanks for reading and stay tune for my next post!