Chiang Mai is one of my favourite places in the world. It is a fairly small town with a world of variety when it comes to food. No matter where you are from or what it is that you are craving, you can usually find it with a bit of research and a lot of trial and error! Over the last 2 years we have spent a total of 4 months in Chiang Mai and this is our list of the top 10 places to eat, drink or satisfy a craving - in no particular order...
Like That Steak - 69/1 Ratchapakinai Road, Chiang Mai
From Thae Pae Gate, walk in to the city until you get to Wawee Coffee. Turn left on Ratchapakinai Road and follow it down until you get to Diva Guest House (on the left). Like That Steak is across the road, next door to Micky's Restaurant.
We discovered this place through a friend of a friend, and when we first visited it was just a guy with a grill and a couple of tables set up in a residential driveway. Today, it is still a grill in a driveway, but the tables have table cloths and there is a sign out front! Without a doubt these are the BEST chicken steaks in Chiang Mai and they are cooked in front of you. What people don't realise when they first come to Thailand is that there is no correlation between price and quality, if you pay 1000 baht for a meal it won't necessarily be any better than a meal for 100 baht. With a basic steak menu of chicken, beef, pork and fish, a steak with 2 sides here will cost you anything from 67-127 baht and will satisfy the best of carnivorous cravings.
Miguels Cafe - 106/1 Chaiyaphum Road, Chiang Mai
From Thae Pae Gate, walk north on the outside of the moat. You will pass a bridge across the moat into the city and a durian stand that stinks to high heaven! Miguels is on the main road.
The beauty of Thai business law is that there is a treaty with the USA allowing Americans to operate a business in Thailand without any Thai ownership, and Mexican food is something that Americans can do really, really well! Operating as a cafe, 7 days a week, Miguels offers a range of Mexican food and some kick-ass Margaritas to boot. The burritos in this place are to die for and the breakfast burritos will cure even the worst of hangovers. This is one place in Chiang Mai that you will eat where the beef actually tastes like beef and the paraphernalia on the walls will keep you entertained throughout your entire meal. Usually packed with westerners, the wait staff are attentive and you will usually spot the owner at a table by himself indulging in a drink or two. If you are drinking Margaritas, the pitchers are the best value but a meal here with drinks will usually set you back about 300 baht per person.
Food Stalls near Chiang Mai University - Suthep Road, Chiang Mai
From Huay Kaew Road, turn left onto Nimmanhaemin Road and walk down. You will pass all of the shops and boutiques and keep walking after that. At the second main intersection with traffic lights turn right - this is Suthep Road. Walk towards the mountains and you will come to a main road (Canal Road), once you cross this the food stalls will start to appear on the right hand side of the road.
If you are perusing the Nimmanhaemin Road area on the north-west side of Chiang Mai, you will find yourself surrounded by boutique stores, expensive restaurants and hipster Thai kids. Although this is an experience in itself, this is the development of a new culture in Chiang Mai, an expensive culture! Only 10 minutes walk from this fashionable hub is a street that is jam-packed with food stalls offering a wide variety of local Thai dishes. As in all university districts, the prices are low and there is plenty of variety. Expect to pay 25baht for a noodle soup and don't expect any western cutlery... You will be eating with chopsticks around here. The sight of a farang (westerner) around here is rare, as is the English language but ordering your food becomes an adventure within itself, usually dealt with in good nature with some giggling from the vendor at your attempts to speak in their native language.
Pacamara Coffee - 80/5 Ratchadamnoen Road, Chiang Mai
From
Thae Pae Gate walk into the city on Ratchadamnoen Road. You will pass
Wawee Coffee on your left - keep going (not worth stopping). Pacamara
Coffee Shop is on the right hand side of the road almost opposite the
Chiang Mai Insect Museum - it is a small coffee shop, set back from the
street so make sure you don't miss it! If you get to the big white hotel
(Villa Duang Champa) you have gone too far - it is just next door.
Of all the coffee places I have tried in Chiang Mai, this is the ONLY ONE that can make a barista quality latte. If you are looking for American-style coffee then you can go anywhere else, but if it is a cafe style latte or cappuccino you are after then this is the place! Operating mainly as an espresso bar, Pacamara Coffee is also a boutique coffee roaster in Chiang Mai - so they know their coffee. You can also buy fresh roasted coffee beans from the shop and pre-ground plunger style coffee as well. Although they have a few bakery items on offer, the coffee is the reason that you come here. A latte will set you back about 75baht, but it is worth every penny!
Kebabs @ the Sunday Walking Street - Corner of Ratchadamnoen & Ratchapakinai Roads, Chiang Mai
From Thae Pae Gate, follow Ratchadamnoen Road into the city. Just before Wawee Coffee - on the corner of Ratchapakinai Road - there is a temple which is open to the public. Head to the back corner and the kebab stand will usually be the one with the largest line of people.
The Sunday Walking Street is a weekly event in Chiang Mai, a market that closes off one of the main streets in the city from Thae Pae Gate to Wat Phra Singh temple from 4pm-midnight. Many of the temples on the street open their grounds to vendors on this day and it is in one of these temples that you will find the best kebabs. The vendor stand is run by an Indian man and his wife and usually has a long line of people waiting. Try to get in early because every week he sells out of Samosas and they are heavenly - well worth an early dinner. The kebabs are around 50baht each and are so tasty you will want every day to be Sunday! The market itself is full of local wares and is a great place to practice your bargaining skills, enjoy a foot massage and grab a souvenir or two.
Noodle Soup Stall @ Thae Pae - Moon Muang Road, Chiang Mai
From Thae Pae gate, walk north on the inside of the moat. Opposite the bridge that crosses the moat is a collection of food stalls on the sidewalk. This place will have tables and chairs on the side of the road and usually has a few Thai people seated.
The Thae Pae area on the Eastern side of Chiang Mai is the largest concentration of guest houses and foreigners in the city. Most of the food here is average and overpriced, but you can still find a gem if you look hard enough. This place charges 30baht for a noodle soup with pork, there is no menu and when you approach the vendor he will say noodle soup to you (not sure if this is all he can say in English). Be it as it may, it is worthwhile going with his choice. Being that this is a more farang concentrated area, you will have the option to eat with cutlery - but really, eating a hot bowl of soup with glass noodles with a fork kind-of takes all the fun out of it anyway! The meal will be served to you with a pitcher of water and 2 glasses. Though it is not bottled water, it is clean and drinkable so don't worry too much about it. Plus if you add enough chilli, you will need that water anyway.
Why Not Italian Restaurant - 14 Nimmanhamein Road, Soi 11, Chiang Mai
From Huay Kaew Road, turn left onto Nimmanhamein Road and follow on the left hand side. Soi 11 is the 4th side street you will cross. Turn left into the Soi and you will see the green Why Not sign on the right hand side.
If you are in South East Asia for a while and you come from a wine-drinking country, no doubt you will miss wine as much as me! Thai wine is expensive, sickly sweet and pretty much all-around horrible to even the worst of wine connoisseurs. So to find a place that serves a nice glass of wine for 90baht was a Godsend. We first walked into this restaurant because of the sign and have been returning to this place ever since. Owned and operated by an Italian man, the food at Why Not is very typical Italian food - which you can find in many places in Chiang Mai, but thee difference is that it is done well here. The pizzas start from 110baht for a 10' margherita and you can add whatever toppings you like. There is a beautiful selection of cheeses and antipasti and even home-made gelato for dessert! This place is a must visit for anyone in Chiang Mai who loves authentic Italian cooking and a good glass of wine. Plus on Friday and Saturday nights there is a wine buffet for 250baht per person from 6:30-8:00pm... All you can drink!
Villa Duang Champa - 82 Ratchadamnoen Road, Chiang Mai
Right next door to Pacamara Coffee - follow directions above...
This is also a hotel, a beautiful, big, white, colonial style building in the centre of Chiang Mai though the complex also has a day spa, yoga studio and in-house restaurant available for anyone to use. The breakfast served at Villa Duang Champa is to-die-for! One of the only places in Chiang Mai that serves real bacon instead of ham with your eggs, the choices are not vast but it is well worth a visit. Breakfast is served in a set including a choice of eggs, bacon, thick toast and coffee and will cost you between 90 and 110baht per person. Being a hotel, breakfast is served 7 days a week from 8am-11am. You will have to get someone's attention when you first arrive (they don't have the most attentive wait staff) and you can do this by walking up to the kitchen entrance at the rear of the dining area. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner though I would not recommend this as a place to eat those meals.
Baan Narumit - Chang Moi Road, Soi 3, Chiang Mai
From Thae Pae Gate, head north on the outside of the moat. You will spot a small burger place called Mike's Burgers on the corner of Chang Moi Road, turn right up Chang Moi Road. Continue walking until you come to Soi 3 on the right hand side and turn right. About halfway down you will see a clump of trees and some Thai flags on the right... This is Baan Narumit
This is the kind of place that you will only discover when walking through the small Soi's of Chiang Mai, but it is quite a find. Serving some superb and authentic Northern Thai food for bargain prices in a beautiful jungle-like setting, the place is completely relaxed and even offers some budget accommodation as well. There is free wifi and it is a really charming little place to waste your day. The pad thai is amazing, as are many of the other dishes on the menu. The owner/wait staff don't speak a great deal of English but they were certainly accommodating to us when we were first learning. This place is the tropical jungle-like setting that you would expect from Chiang Mai but never really get to see. Kanjana Traditional Thai Cuisine - 7/5 Ratchadamnoen Road, Soi 5, Chiang Mai
From The Pae Gate follow Ratchadamnoen Road into the city, you will pass the language school AUA Library on the right hand side and the next Soi on your right is Soi 5. Walk down, past the nice looking hotel and French restaurant until you see the yellow sign for Kanjana.
Kanjana is a home-style little open air restaurant off the main street of Chiang Mai. Away from the tourist eye, this is a place that you would miss unless you were looking for it. The food is traditional northern Thai style with some very accommodating Thai prices. Your selections include an array of stir fries, curries and soups that span the 5 or 6 pages of the menu - it takes a very long time to get bored of the food here! All the food is cooked to order and tastes delicious. Be wary that if you say you want your food to be spicy here, I guarantee that you will be tearing up by the time that you are done! The fruit shakes here are also a great way to cool off after a day of exploring the city. If you are having lunch, you should expect regular hourly visits from young boys on motor bikes promoting the next Muay Thai boxing match in town - but no bother, they just drop the flyers and leave. This place also offers a Thai cooking school to learn the ways of northern Thai cooking.
So there it is, my top 10 places to eat in Chiang Mai. We have frequented these places during our 4 months in Chiang Mai and will continue to do so in the future. Always remember that in Thailand, some of the best food is in a place that you stumble upon so explore, and give the little places a go... It is usually worth it!
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