Thai culinary culture is unique and vibrant and is one of the most sophisticated, elaborated cuisines on the international stage. It is often considered as one of the world's favorite and mostly accepted cuisine classes, yet there are so much to explore in the land of Siamese full of traditional heritage and cultural diversity. With hundreds of years of culinary culture fusion from its neighbor countries and global influences, Thailand has established one of the most sparkling food dynamics that attracts hundreds of millions of visitors and dedicated foodies from around the world.
Chiang Mai has been telling its unique histories and showcasing its cultural heritages to the world, and it has its own food identity that humbly represents the Northern Thailand. It draws from the endless mountain ranges, cool highland climates, as well as important influences from its neighbors including Burma, Laos and China. From temples to food preparation to its lovely people, Chiang Mai is showing us the evolution and essence of its Lanna heritage as well as northern tribal spirits. Here are my top recommendations for all you foodies out there planning your next visit in Chiang Mai!
1. Thai Rotisserie Tender Spicy Chicken @ SP Chicken
(Michelin Plates Awarded)
Whichever city you go, I promise that there is always a finger-licking good chicken restaurant, one way or another, each city has something proud to offer to visitors. In Chiang Mai, the crown of the rotisserie tender, juicy and spicy chicken probably has to go to the Michelin Plate awarded, long-queued SP Chicken. As you wander into the shack, the unique charcoal rotisserie griller will be greeting you at the door and with small birds go round and round, crispy skin oil dripping down, and charcoal cracking flamed up, all melodies and sensations are calling hungry visitors to hop on a culinary journey.
As the restaurant specializes in Issan-style grilled gai yang which is what they are most known for, they also offer a whole spectrum of Issan cuisines for you to explore. Despite of smaller size of birds, they are packed with dynamic flavors, and after dipping into that spicy and sour secret sauce, that little bird will blew your mind. You will have a prefect excuse to have the whole little bird just for yourself.
There are two kinds of dipping sauces to complement your glistening bird, one of them is sweet tomato ketchup sauce, and the other is the secret sauce made in-house with a perfect combination of chili flakes, fish sauce, lime juices and green onions. The meal also comes with a bowl of sticky rice. I also strongly recommend the spicy papaya salad (som tam boo) and the Singha Thai beer to go along with your first epic rotisserie meal in Chiang Mai. If you love it, just shout "Aroy" to the owner, it means delicious in Thai!
2. Khao Soi Noodle Soup (Bowl #1) @ Kao Soy Nimman
(Michelin Plates Awarded)
Khao Soi, the unique Northern Thai and Laotian curry noodle soup, is the iconic signature of Chiang Mai and the Northern Thailand, and your culinary journey shall not complete without having a bowl of piping hot, coconut creamy, and slightly spicy yellow curry-based Khao Soi noodles soup. It will satisfy your deep craving for Thai curry dishes while being delightfully out of the ordinary.
What makes this bowl of noodles shine is its savory curry broth which is made with a blend of yellow and red curry spices, creamy coconut milk, chicken broth, soy sauce, and sugar, with fresh herbs and ingredients slowly simmer to develop such complex flavor. Chicken drumsticks and thighs are typically slow cooked in the broth and served as part of the meal, and you can have multiple options of toppings, usually sliced pork, seafood, crispy fried egg noodles, and freshly diced cilantro scattered atop. This is a hearty, comfort meal will make you fall in love with the city instantly.
What's even more excited than an "Aroy" bowl of Khao Soi is a bowl of curry noodles that was highly applauded by the Michelin guide for some of the best street foods in Asia, and there are few Michelin Plates awarded Khao Soi shops in Chiang Mai. One of my favorite is Khao Soy Nimman, which specializes in different variations of Khao Soi.
This simple shop in the city center is easily accessible to get to and gets crowded very often during lunch, sometimes the queue might be so long that you may have to reschedule your visit. Each dish that you ordered will be prepared with an equal care, and by looking through the big window into the kitchen, you will be able to observe how your Khao Soi being prepared, which is all part of the fun adventure. For your meal, you should also get a plate of satay chicken complemented with peanut sauce and pickled veggies.
3. Traditional Thai Feast @ Lemongrass Thai Cuisine
There is no better place to have a decent traditional Thai feast than visiting the renowned Lemongrass Thai Cuisine, situates right in the middle of several night markets and bazaars, just east outskirt of the Chiang Mai Old City. The restaurant welcomes and host hundreds of thousands of visitor every year to serve them authentic Thai gastronomic experiences and you can observe long queues on a daily basis regardless of lunch or dinner.
Here you will find a variety of Thai dishes that will stimulate your palates and visual sensation, from aromatic grilled squids, to a dedicatedly prepared pad Thai stir fried noodles, you will find anything that satisfy your craving and preferences. My top recommendation is their signature Lime Steamed Fish which is bathed in the lime juice, chili peppers, topped with handful of freshly chopped herbs and nappa cabbages. You can also order one of its iconic Massaman yellow curry which stewed with chicken or beef, creamy coconut milk and large chunks of potatoes and Thai spices, topped with freshly chopped garlic and cilantros.
To go along with your lavish Thai feast, you can also order a whole, freshly cracked coconut with refresh coconut water served cold with crushed ice or you can ask for a bottle of Chiang Mai's own brewery pride, the Chang Beer. Lemongrass is the restaurant that I always go back whenever I stay in town, and it's a perfect place for you and your travelling companion to get a first-hand culinary experience that your palates will remember forever.
4. Khao Soi Noodle Soup (Bowl #2) @ Khao Soi Maesai
(Michelin Plates Awarded)
If you are up for some unique culinary journeys in town, I recommend to test out multiple Khao Soi shops, and believe or not, there are a dozen of them were so good and awarded Michelin Plates and rated for their excellence of cooking and services. Aside from the Kao Soy Nimman aforementioned, just several blocks away, you can find another of my personal favorite Khao Soi specialty restaurant, Khao Soi Maesai, one of the best in Chiang Mai and also awarded by the Michelin Guide with the Michelin Plate.
You can order signature Curry Khao Soy with Chicken which comes with a gigantic drumstick, topped with freshly chopped cilantro and fried egg noodles scattered atop. Other topping options are also available including beef, pork, seafood and assorted meat ball. Along with your meal, you can order a glass of Thai black tea with crushed ice to cool off your heat and the spiciness from the bowl of Khao Soi.
5. Thai-Chinese Dim Sum Feast at Jok Sompet
There are many affordable gourmet options in Chiang Mai offering cheap prices and quality Thai and fusion cuisines, but Jok Sompet really stands out atop all its restaurant peers in terms of the quality of the food and visitor popularity. Amongst local residents in Chiang Mai, Jok Sompet is the probably one of the most renowned breakfast shop in Chiang Mai with long queues every morning serving most Thai customers for Thai-Chinese dim sum and congee breakfast.
Just outside of Chiang Mai's north Old City wall, right across the street and few blocks away from the famous Wat Lok Moli Temple, you will find this laid-back breakfast house serving some of the best congee and dim sums in town. You can find all sorts of steamed dim sum in bite-size from Shu Mai to Ha Gao with various protein selections to complement your bowl of rice porridge soup, the most popular dish on the menu amongst non-Asian diners. For an avid foodie, you can also order roasted chicken legs and fish steaks in gravy with veggies on rice if you are up for a quick lunch here. Keep in mind that you might not find a table if you show up before 9 AM as most likely the place will be packed with Thai customers getting their energy charged here to kick off their day.
6. Charcoal Grilled Fish @ Lert Ros - Best "Pla Pao" in Town
If you did some research for your upcoming vacation in Chiang Mai, you will be fully aware that its geographical nature being the largest city in Northern highland amidst the winding Thanon Thong Chai Mountain Range, right at the foothill of Thailand's highest peak, Doi Inthanon. It even came surprisingly to me that one of the city's signature cuisines is actually grilled fishes covered in heavy salts over skins roasted atop of flaming charcoals. This simple dish seems simple, yet packed full of natural spice flavors and the grilled umami from these fishes, along with the mouthwatering spicy and sour dipping sauces, the dish will make your day so much fulfilled.
One of the best places in town for grilled fishes, known locally as "Pla Pao", has to be the famous Lert Ros, where you can get a whole selection of northern and tribal Thai dishes in addition to their most popular Pla Pao. You can smell the fish-grilling aroma from blocks of streets away, you can also order freshly prepared spicy papaya salad, curry dishes, stuffed rice cake wrapped in banana leaves grilled on top of charcoals. This is the place where you can find yourself immersing in the deep Thai culinary culture full of the comfort foods.
7. Khao Soi Noodle Soup (Bowl #3) & Traditional Northern Thai Cuisine @ Huen Phen Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is an ancient city that has been embracing strong cultural diversity and culinary fusion for the past hundreds of years, and you will find all types of Thai food genres in town. One of the best places to learn about Issan-Lanna style cuisine, the essence of Northern Thai Lanna Kingdom's food culture, is a cozy restaurant, Huen Phen, situates right in the center of Chiang Mai, just few blocks away from the majestic Wat Chedi Luang.
As you enter the doorway, you’ll smell the aromatic spices and observe buffet lines serving some of the best curries in town. This is also the place where I encountered the third bowl of my favorite Khao Soi Noodle Soup, which the curry flavor was so rich that we had to ask for a second order on top of other delicious Issan dishes we ordered. I also recommend to try its signature Tam Kanun, which a northern Thai dish made of young jackfruit stewed in curry and was served with chilies and onions, an very special oily, glistening local dish that you must try when you visit. Another one you should order is the Gaeng Ho, which is a stir fry dish with a mixture of veggies and mung bean vermicelli noodles in red curry paste and chili sauces. If you have a group of family or friend companions like I had, you can also try the mixed meat platter, especially the Sai Oua Sausages which are studded with kaffir lime and lemongrass leaves fully packed with dynamic flavours and chili refreshness.
You must also order the signature Lanna cuisine, Larb Khua Moo, which is a pork-based dish that serves an important crown status in Lanna culinary world. You will find the dish full of dry spiced porky chucks and minced pork with creamy curry paste, served over freshly chopped minty herbs and a unique blend of cumin and cinnamon atop with crispy fried shallots and kaffir lime leaves. You probably had tasted nothing like this before, and you might just find your favorite Thai dish of life here.
8. Tropical Fruit Smoothies Stalls & Fresh Mango Sweet Treats Overload Everywhere in Town
You just can't have a complete street food tour in Southeast Asia without experiencing their tropical fruits. Here in Chiang Mai, you can find all sorts of unique fruits at a vert affordable prices all over the city. You can easily locate fruit stalls every few meters serving customers some of the best quality fruits that most of us have never heard before. Here you can find freshly ripped mangoes, bananas, and pineapples, but hey, if you can find some of these in your own hometown, you might as well go for something much more exotic and unique. I recommend to grab a large glass of dragon fruit smoothie with crushed ice, nothing beats a devil-looking pink refreshness that will make a perfect Instagrammable shot.
You can also find many stalls in night markets serving the signature dessert of the nation - Mango and Sticky Rice - globally renowned Thai sweet dish that draws you back to the night markets to ask for more every day during your stay.
If you want to venture out your journey a bit further, assume you are okay with the foul-smells, you know what's coming next - the King of Fruits (debatable, haha) - Durian, which is a creamy, sweet exotic treasure produced in Thailand divided its contenders in two groups, you either will hate it or love it! Here is a good news for ya! If you go to the Dairy Queen in the MAYA Shopping Center, you can get a delicious Durian Flavored Blizzard Ice Cream, you might not like Durian, but it's the ice cream treats yo! Nobody hates ice cream :)
9. You Just Can't Miss These Night Market Street Foods!
If you are on a mission to conquer Chiang Mai's night markets and to try everything that they have to offer during your brief stay in town, well, it's nearly impossible! If you visited one of my separate blog post on Chiang Mai's attractions in the travel section, you will know there are a dozen of night markets in town with thousands of stalls operated each on a daily basis in addition to its iconic Sunday Walking Night Markets, the largest kind in Chiang Mai draws tens of millions of visitors each year to have their once-of-a-lifetime street food experiences.
There are just way too much food overloaded, and it had to take me days exploring just the tip of the iceberg and hours to collect these photo shots of vendors and freshly prepared food. You will find everything here in these night markets and bazaars, from handcrafted sculptures, traditional Thai clothing and souvenirs, to dried agricultural and spice products that can help you replicate Thai dishes at home, you can get all shopping done at one-go.
There are so much more to offer on these streets, from Pad Thai vendors, handcrafted Sushi stalls, barbeque smokehouses, to banana leaf wrapped omelette, grilled seafood and fresh fruit smoothies carts, you can find anything that satisfy your palate whatever your craving is. If you have enough courage, you should try to notorious deep fried insects, an ultimate level of bizarre culinary challenge that each foodie should aim for in Southeast Asia. You can easily spend hours every night exploring the town and these food stalls to maximize your culinary adventures.
10. Best Cozy Shack for Coffee Break and Sweets: Ristr8to Lab Specialty Coffee + Mont Nomsod Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is a unique city positioned itself on a global stage, attracting millions of travelers to visit and hundreds of global expats to settle in town every year. All these have enabled a deep, rich, and saturated coffee culture in Chiang Mai, not only with dozens of world class coffee shops been established in town, but also introduced new agricultural opportunities for local businesses for the past few decades.
You can’t wander pass a block in the Nimmanhaemin Road area, a hip neighborhood packed with both Thai and expat residents, without bumping into a coffee establishment. One of my best go-to coffee shops in Chiang Mai is Ristr8to Lab, a specialty coffee house that stands out for award-winning owner and barista, and delicious, signature hot and cold coffee. This coffee shop has fused its love, attention, artistic talent and care into these blends, and has its own coffee lab for developing new blends and products. I recommend to get a glass of Satan Latte, one of their most popular drinks, to easily spend an afternoon chilling, reading and watching people come and go. You do need to expect some heavy traffics and queues at the door throughout the day, but hey, everybody needs a nice cup of coffee in their life.
Indeed, nothing beats a rich, flavor packed blend; what is even better than that, is a special sweet treat in Chiang Mai, the best selling toast covered with a variety of delicious fillings. My go-to toast place is Mont Nomsod Chiang Mai, just few blocks away from Ristr8to Lab, and my favorite combos are the Original Coconut Custard and the Nutella, dripping covered atop of egg toasts, with a glass of piping hot chocolate to complement your treats, nothing can be on par with such indulgence that we all deserve once while during vacations.
11. Fancy Breakfast Club @ Hyde Park Hotel Chiang Mai
If you ever get to spend your family trip somewhere nice in Chiang Mai, they all offer some of the most lavish breakfasts likely at a fraction of cost comparing to your hometown. One of my favorite stays in town was with Hyde Park Hotel, a nice decorated, laid-back hotel just west outside of Chiang Mai's Old City quarter, several blocks away from the city center core.
Normally, I would explore the city for some very affordable and unique local breakfasts in mornings; however, if you book multiple day-trips to Doi Inthanon or to Chiang Rai, you will not have the time luxury to explore the city in these mornings. I was very surprised with the quality and the variety of breakfast selections that Hyde Park Hotel offers. Our breakfasts were nicely presented and prepared with care on two separate occasions, and that espresso shots were just on point that woke us up instantly to kick off our days to continue exploring what Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand have to offer! I recommend to pick a decent hotel for your stay in Chiang Mai, not only you need to recharge nicely for the rest of your trip, but also it can go a long way for your adventures and vacations.
12. Embrace An Ultimate Culinary Experience @ Thai Farm Cooking School Chiang Mai
Here I leave the best to the end! There is no way that you can call for a completed vacation and cultural adventure in Chiang Mai without partaking in a cooking school. What is a better way to absorb different culinary cultures beside tasting these delicious foods is to study and replicate these very same dishes so that you can show off to your family and friends back home and get them to accept and enjoy these amazing recipes as well.
One of my favorite cooking classes that I partook during my years of travelling adventures is probably here in Chiang Mai, with a one-day culinary program called Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School. You can easily book a tour by checking out the website or ask if any agency carries cooking classes with them. If you'd like to learn more about details of this cooking school program, please check my separate blog post about Chiang Mai's attractions in the travel section, you can also access that blog via the link below!
To start off the culinary class, we were given a form to fill right after you booking the course online or at travel agencies and it includes your preferences of proteins, Thai dishes that you would like to learn as well as your date and hotel locations for pick-up. After getting back from the local farm market and organic fruit and spice tasting tour, instructors and assistants will buddy you and your family up for the day. This is a perfect thing to do with your family, friends, and especially kids, to learn about Thai cuisines and their culinary arts. For us, this is the perfect relaxation therapy for vacation. No one can resist an elegant preparation of food!
Please do keep in mind, certain dishes, such as Pad Thai, some stir fries and curry dishes will not be offered on a daily basis, you have to do some research, planning, and prioritization when you fill out that form of preferences. Please also keep in mind that vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes are also available during the booking :)
With a cup of freshly brewed lemongrass tea on hand, here is the menu of our cooking class with Thai Farm Cooking School:
1. Freshly handmade green curry paste 2. Coconut cream stewed with chicken 3. Pad Thai (they presents just like local Thai chefs prepared and served in restaurants) 4. Green curry chicken using the curry paste we just freshly made 5. Stir fried holy basil leaves with chicken 6. Green papaya and mango salad 7. Steamed sticky rice with Padang leaves 8. Sweet coconut milk with banana, a perfect sweet treat to wrap up the feast!
It was so much fun chatting with cohort "classmates" and instructors, building up personal connections, and sharing our unique traveling stories in Chiang Mai! We also had way too much food to the point we had to pack up our leftover Pad Thai and stir fried holy basil with chicken to go for late snack dinner!
Trust me, this is one of the most unique and memorable culinary experiences you can ever ask for, the social interaction and collaboration, absolutely delicious foods and laughers, you can just take them in all day long. This activity will upgrade your cultural learning adventure to a next level that you can treasure for the rest of your life. Oh did I also forget to mention? You all will get a Thai recipe book upon the completion of your cooking class, and you can replicate all these signature dishes wherever you are.
Food, once again connects us all, may you all foodies out there discover your unique Thai culinary adventures in Chiang and across Thailand, to share all of your awesome stories with the world! Until we come to eat again, see you next time Chiang Mai! Khob khun mak ka :)
TipsyMonkey
Chiang Mai, Thailand. 2018
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