Northern Thai Food, the Dishes to Know and Where to Eat Them

Northern Thai food comes from cooler valleys and forested mountains, and it tastes like it. The table is sticky rice rather than jasmine rice, with a bowl or two of nam prik, chili dips, surrounded by raw and boiled vegetables, herbs and pork crackling. Pork is the main meat, often grilled, minced into larb or stuffed into sausage, and the seasoning leans salty, smoky, sour and bitter with fresh herbs rather than sweet.

The north's history is on the plate. Lanna was ruled from Burma for two centuries, and kaeng hang le, the slow pork curry, takes its name and its dried spices from a Burmese dish. Khao soi traveled down with Chin Haw Muslim traders from Yunnan. And the north shares ingredients with Isan, the northeast, so larb and grilled meats turn up in both, though the northern versions are their own.

Khao soi is my favorite northern dish, and the one to eat first. It's soft egg noodles in a curry broth made with coconut milk, thinner than a massaman and closer to a yellow curry, with chicken, beef or pork, and a crown of crispy deep-fried noodles on top. The side plate of pickled mustard greens, sliced shallots, lime and roasted chili in oil is there for you to season it yourself, so taste first, then add a squeeze of lime and as much chili as you like.

The dish came to Chiang Mai with Chin Haw Muslim traders from Yunnan, and it's close to Burma's ohn no khao swè. Khao Soi Islam, in the Muslim quarter near the Night Bazaar, still serves the halal beef version. Further north, in Chiang Rai and Mae Sai, khao soi can mean something else entirely, a noodle soup with minced pork and no coconut.

In Chiang Mai, the reference bowls are Khao Soi Mae Sai in Chang Phueak (Monday to Saturday until 16:00, cash only), Khao Soi Khun Yai inside the north moat (Monday to Saturday, 10:00–14:00), Khao Soi Islam and Lung Prakit in Hai Ya, where reviewers order the large beef. A bowl costs ฿50–80, and about ฿40 at the evening stalls at Chiang Mai Gate. Go before 13:00, because the best shops sell out.

A khantoke is the low, round pedestal tray the Lanna table was served on, with diners sitting on the floor around it, and a khantoke dinner is a set northern meal on those trays with a show of Lanna music and dance. The tradition of hosting them in Chiang Mai goes back to 1906. Today it's a staged evening for visitors rather than a local night out, and the food is a gentle introduction rather than the city's best, but the dancing and the setting make it a good first night.

The two best-known are the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center on Wua Lai Road, a two-hour dinner and show with an outdoor performance afterward, and Khum Khantoke east of the Old City, with its dinner show from 18:30. Both offer floor or table seating and set menus, and booking ahead gets you a seat near the stage.

Chiang Mai's markets are where northern food is bought and eaten every day. Go to Warorot Market by the river in the morning for sai ua, pork crackling, chili pastes and snacks, and to the wet market at Chiang Mai Gate for herbs and curry pastes. In the evening, Chiang Mai Gate turns into a street food lot, and Chang Phueak Gate's night market has the Cowboy Hat Lady's khao kha moo until midnight.

On Sundays, the Sunday Walking Street runs the length of Ratchadamnoen Road in the Old City from 16:00 to 22:30, with food stalls all the way, and Jing Jai's weekend farmers' market is where young Chiang Mai shops on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

A cooking class is the best way to understand northern food, and Chiang Mai has more of them than anywhere else in Thailand. A half- or full-day class costs ฿1,000–1,500, usually starts with a market visit to learn the herbs and pastes, and has you cooking five or six dishes at your own station, often including a curry paste from scratch and khao soi, which become your lunch.

Chiang Rai has its own northern kitchens. Lulum, by the river, cooks proper northern food with the spice left in, Larb Sanam Keela near the provincial stadium is the town's best-known larb shop, Homchan serves northern dishes in a preserved old mansion, and Locus Native Food Lab, outside town, is fine dining rooted in northern tradition. In Chiang Rai and further north toward Mae Sai, ask which khao soi you're getting, because it may be the minced-pork version without coconut.

In Pai, Nong Beer at one end of Walking Street does the northern standards and is nearly always full, and Khao Soi Pai is the town's khao soi institution, open 09:00–20:00.

Northern meals are shared. Order a few dishes for the table, a dip, a larb, a curry, a grilled meat and vegetables, plus a basket of sticky rice each. Pinch off a little rice with your right hand, roll it into a ball and use it to scoop. Khao soi is the exception, a bowl of your own eaten with a spoon and chopsticks.

Northern food can be fiery, especially the chili dips and larb, so ask for mai phet (not spicy) or phet nit noi (a little spicy) if you need to. Larb dib and some sausages are raw, so order larb khua if you'd rather your meat cooked. The cooking is pork-heavy, but vegetarians do well at Chiang Mai's many vegetarian and vegan restaurants, and the cooking classes will happily make you a meat-free khao soi.