So far, even as a budget traveller who eats in most often to save money, I have felt comfortable dining out more than a few times. In general, I have found the food here to be more expensive than in Vietnam. But I have searched for budget friendly places and managed to find some. Here are the best & worst Thai foods I have tried in Chiang Mai. All prices are in Thai baht and CAD.
Coffee & Tea
I arrived searching for places in the Old City, to sit and enjoy a mid-morning cup of coffee just like I had become accustomed to in Vietnam. I couldn’t find anything similar. Everything is geared for tourists with prices that reflected that. I did enjoy a good matcha latte at Bloomin’ Moon (55 bt or $2.10), and a terrible americano at Nes Café (50 bt or $1.90).
Eventually I found real Thai coffee & tea. Inside the Old City is a stand called Miracle Coffee where I enjoyed a beautiful ‘Blue Mountain’ coffee (25 bt or $0.95 cents).
Walking further afield, into China town in fact, I was able to find a coffee stand on the top floor of Warorot Market. Here at Goteim, I had authentic Thai coffee & tea, thick, flavourful and with a dollop of condensed milk at the bottom of the glass. Paired with a slice of pandan custard toast, and I was in heaven!
Brekkie
While not Thai food, hands down the most expensive meal I had was the ‘Honey Bacon Sous Vide Eggs Benedict Waffle’ at Me & Bacon. At 260 bt or $10 and 70 bt or $2.65 for the coffee, this one rose to the occasion. Beautiful soft gooey eggs with sweet chewy thick bacon, paired with crispy waffle? Oh my.
The vibe is cool. Loved everything about this place and ate here on a recommendation from a fellow IG travel friend @leon.gregori213 He and his beautiful partner Jenn, have travel blogs worth the visit for sure.
Fish
I did. I tried a piece of fish. Usually, I stay away from fish cause it’s a bit risky for me. I’m not keen if it tastes fishy but I was seeing these big fried fishies everywhere and thought what the heck?
Super hungry, I stopped into this local place in old town, on my walk-about-towns. Zero English was spoken, so I pointed to the fish that was on the front table, then hand mimed a plate of rice. It was terrible. 😣😥 Just ick. Cost 50bt or $1.90
Pad Thai
The only Thai food I regularly have in Canada is Pad Thai. I love it, well the Canadian version anyways. Those soft and sweet rice noodles with chicken and peanuts, oh man, I could eat that every day. 😁 When I passed a place in Old Town and saw pad Thai on the menu, I was sold.
And guess what??? It tasted EXACTLY like it does back home. 😂🤣 It was uncanny and would have been perfect if it had had the peanuts on top. Cost 50 bt or $1.90
Basil Chicken & Rice
A traditional Thai dish, usually eaten for breakfast. I had to try this and did so three times. Once was at a restaurant called Mae Pa Sri in Old Town, and it was pretty good, I must say. Cost 60 bt or $2.25
The other two times were from a street cart vendor close to my home. These were delicious, spicy and I devoured them. After the first meal, my tummy was unsettled and evacuation occurred about 8 hours later, but the second one went down just fine. Cost 30 bt or $1.15.
Khao Soi Chicken
Another local dish in Chiang Mai is Khao Soi. It’s a noodle dish with both soft and crispy noodles. Eating at a tourist catering place, but with lots of local people inside, I enjoyed this dish. It was on the spicy side for me, definitely. The noodles were quite thick and tough. The chicken was a complete leg. Cost 70 bt or $2.65. Would I get it again? Prolly not, too spicy.
Ramen
My first-time trying ramen EVER!! I was in a mall, yes, I know, 😶 but I needed a break after the immigration office ordeal. I ordered the special at Oishi Ramen, which included a big bowl of noodles, gyoza and sweet iced tea.
It was so good! The noodles were thicker than I had expected, but the broth was lovely. The gyoza were the usual but that iced green tea? Killer! Loved it soo much. Cost 129 bt or $4.85 for the meal.
Well, that is the restaurant food I had, well all that I can remember at this point. I did eat a lot of snack type foods and street foods, mostly from markets that I can write about in another post. So far, the food here in Thailand has been pretty great. I have had some misses at the markets, but all in all, I would say, we are on the positive side of trying new foods and liking them. 😁
