8 dishes Chiang Rai locals really eat
From the noodle bowls every local knows, to the hill food and the coffee and tea grown in Chiang Rai's own plantations.
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The northern dish everyone knows — boiled egg noodles in a rich coconut-curry broth built from a curry paste pounded fresh with dried chilli, ginger, turmeric and Burmese-style spices. It's usually chicken or beef khao soi, with a tangle of crispy fried noodles on top so you get soft and crunch in one mouthful, served with pickled mustard greens, shallots and lime to squeeze over and cut the richness. Many Chiang Rai khao soi places are old shops in town that locals have eaten at for decades, open only morning to early afternoon. It's not too spicy — anyone wary of heat can simply add the chilli and pickles to taste.
Khao soi's partner, and a dish Chiang Rai does especially well thanks to the Tai Yai (Shan) thread from across the Myanmar border. It's a clear broth with no coconut milk, simmered from minced pork, pork ribs, cubes of pork blood, small tomatoes and dried red kapok flowers that give it a distinctive fragrance. The balance is gently sour and mellow with a little heat, eaten over rice vermicelli (kanom jeen nam ngiao) or wheat noodles, topped with bean sprouts, pickled greens and crispy pork rind. Chiang Rai has several famous nam ngiao spots in the markets and in town — some hold a Michelin Bib Gourmand — and it's the dish that captures this border town best.
One of the most fragrant sausages in the north — minced pork mixed with curry paste and herbs (lemongrass, finely sliced kaffir lime leaf, chilli, turmeric, garlic and shallots), then packed into a sausage casing, coiled and grilled low and slow until the skin chars and the herb oils run all the way through. Sliced into rounds, it's eaten with hot sticky rice for both the herb fragrance and the juicy meat. The heat is fragrant rather than fierce. It's a much-loved snack and a popular souvenir found all over town — at fresh markets, gift shops and roadside grills. Some sell it by weight to take away, others grill it fresh to eat hot on the spot.
This pair of dips is the heart of the northern spread. Nam phrik num is young green chillies roasted with garlic and shallots until soft and smoky, then pounded smooth — fragrant and spicy with the taste of the flame, but not searing. Nam phrik ong is a minced-pork dip cooked down with tomatoes and curry paste, gently sweet-sour-savoury and a pretty orange-red — mild enough for kids. Both are eaten with crispy pork (khaep mu), blanched vegetables, raw veg and sticky rice. Nam phrik num is also a famous take-home souvenir, bagged up with crispy pork. Order both to share in one meal and you have the most complete northern spread.
A curry of Burmese heritage that has become thoroughly northern — pork belly and ribs braised with hang lay curry powder, ginger, pickled garlic, tamarind and sugar until you get a thick, sweet-sour-savoury sauce and meltingly tender meat with just the right amount of fat. It has no coconut milk; the richness comes from the pork itself. It isn't spicy, which makes it a good pick for anyone who doesn't eat chilli. Northerners cook it for merit-making and feasts, and it goes equally well with sticky or steamed rice. You'll find it at northern restaurants across town, and it's one of the centrepieces of a khantoke. The longer it's simmered the better, and many places cook it overnight so the flavour soaks right in.
Northern larb is clearly different from the Isaan version — no lime juice and no toasted rice, but a deep flavour from "phrik larb", a toasted dry-spice blend pounded from dozens of dried spices (makhwaen, long pepper, cinnamon, coriander seed, cumin) toasted until fragrant and ground to a powder. It's tossed with minced pork or beef and blanched offal, scattered with sawtooth coriander, scallion and mint, and eaten with raw vegetables and sticky rice. The taste is complex, fragrant and slightly bitter. There's a raw version and a cooked one (larb khua, stir-fried through) — anyone who'd rather not eat it raw should order it cooked. It's the dish that tells you whether a northern kitchen's spice blend is truly fragrant.
The thread that makes Chiang Rai unlike anywhere else — up on Doi Mae Salong (Santikhiri), a village settled by the descendants of Chinese Nationalist (KMT) soldiers from Yunnan, you can eat genuine Yunnanese-Chinese food. The signature is Yunnanese braised pork leg, simmered with Chinese spices until it falls apart and turns springy, eaten with mantou (plain steamed buns) — soft, fluffy and faintly sweet — that you tear and dip into the braising liquid instead of using rice. There are also hand-pulled Yunnan noodles, herbal stewed chicken and stir-fried mountain greens. Many places sit on the slopes near the Mae Salong market, with tea-plantation views. You'll need a car or a tour to get up here — the road is steep and winding — but you'll eat a spread that's hard to find anywhere else in Thailand.
Chiang Rai is serious coffee and tea country — round off a meal, or break up the day, with something grown in the hills around the city. Doi Chang and Doi Tung arabica have travelled far beyond Thailand; the beans are grown at altitude on hill-tribe farms, and the cup is smooth with a fruity aroma. There are roasters in town and plenty of cafes with plantation views to linger over a brew. Mae Salong oolong is a quality tea grown from cultivars the Yunnanese-Chinese community brought with them — best sipped hot up on the hill in the cool air. The Choui Fong tea plantation near the city is a popular photo and tea-buying stop too. Chiang Rai coffee and tea make a good souvenir — good quality at a fair price.