Northern Thai Cuisine

Thai cuisine masterfully blends elements of several Southeast Asian traditions, placing emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components.  Known for being superbly spicy, Thai food also strikes an irresistible balance between three or four fundamental taste sensations in every dish: sour, sweet, salty, and sometimes bitter.  Although it’s popularly considered a single cuisine, Thai food is better described as four regional cuisines that correspond to the four main regions of the country: Northern, Northeastern, Central, and Southern. 

If you’re making a trip to northern Thailand, you have to try out some of its famously delicious and authentic street food.  Many visitors say to forget even trying to eat at touristy restaurants, and we’ve found this to be sound advice.  Most Thai restaurants are geared for tourists and serve overpriced dishes that are often pale copies of the real Thai recipes.  So, we suggest sticking to the street, where the atmosphere is unparalleled, and the food is outstanding.  There is one basic rule when it comes to picking the right food stall – go where the Thais go; you never want to pick a deserted place. 

So what should you eat?  Well, there’s plenty of variety for the hungry visitor, as street carts usually specialize in one or two dishes, and carts are usually clumped together, providing excellent selection.  Kwai Teaw, a noodle soup with chicken, pork, duck, or seafood is the standard and these stalls can be found anywhere, any time.  Barbeque (a staple of Issan, north-eastern region of Thailand) has become some of the most tasty and popular street food.  The juicy chicken and pork sizzles away over charcoal fires, and the tasty barbeque is usually eaten with delectable kaao nieow (sticky rice). 

You also can’t miss having some Som Tam, an irresistible spicy shredded papaya salad that’s sure to be a favorite.  If you’re looking for a noodle dish, Pad Thai (noodles fried with tofu, eggs, peanuts, onions and dried shrimps) and Kao Soi (yellow noodles with curry sauce and chicken) are both excellent choices.  A nice sweet Tom Ka soup is the perfect balance between sweet, savory and spicy – it’s made with coconut milk and shrimp, chicken, or seafood; it just has the perfect amount of spice. 

Most Thais have a sweet tooth, and so there are always desserts and other treats around.  One of the most popular and delicious is Roti, a Thai take on a classic Muslim dish.  Thai Roti is very thin and comes with egg, banana, sugar, condensed milk and chocolate for a perfect after noodle snack. Other Thai desserts are made from pounded coconut or rice, and are often flavored with fruit. The quintessential Chiang Mai dessert is sticky rice with mango and condensed milk, which also makes for a satisfying breakfast.

Now that you know what to order, discover the best restaurants in Chiang Rai.