Restaurants

Northern-style Thai cooking is influenced by the nearby Burmese, Yunnanese, and Lao cuisines. Many northern Thai dishes are not served with steamed rice, but khao niaow (glutinous or sticky rice), which can be cooked as an accompaniment to a savory dish or used in dessert. Sticky rice is sometimes served simply in a knotted banana leaf or in a small cylindrical basket with a lid. Chiang Mai specialties include sai ua (Chiang Mai sausage), khao sawy (a spicy, yellow, Burmese-style curry with pickles and both fried and boiled noodles), as well as many other slightly sweet meat and fish curries. You may be relieved to know that chili peppers are used less than in other Thai regional cuisines.

The formal northern meal is called khan toke and refers to the (recently invented) practice of sharing a variety of main courses, with guests seated around khan toke (low, lacquered teak tables); eating is done using the hands. Most of the restaurants that serve khan toke combine a dance performance with the meal.

Chiang Mai is also blessed with good street food and markets. Anusarn Market on the corner of Sri Dornchai and Chang Klan roads near the Night Bazaar is a good place for authentic local food. Also try Somphet Market on the northeast corner of the old city; it's a good place to pick up snacks like fried bananas or sticky-rice desserts in the daytime or have a good cheap meal in the evening, at which point the area bustles with locals and young backpackers.

Chiang Mai folks take their khao sawy -- Burmese curry and noodles -- pretty seriously. The best is to be had in Fa Ham, an area about 1km (2/3 mile) north of central Nawarat Bridge on Charoenrat Road along the east bank of the Ping River. A number of open-air places serve the delicacy for just 25B (71¢/35p), along with tasty skewers of chicken and pork satay. Count on this place always being packed, since it's well known to tuk-tuk drivers.

Snacks & Cafes -- Kalare Food & Shopping Center, 89/2 Chang Klan Rd., on the corner of Soi 6, behind the bazaar (tel. 05327-2067; call for hours), is where you'll find a small food court next to the nightly Thai culture show (buy coupons at a booth and then pick what you want from vendors).

Bake and Bite (6/1 Kotchasarn Rd. Soi 1; tel. 05328-5185; Mon-Sat 7am-6pm and Sun 7am-3pm) is on a small side street to the south of Thapae Gate and has tasty baked goods, fine bread, and good coffee.

The Kafe (127-129 Moon Muang Rd.; tel. 05321-2717; call for hours) is just north of Thapae Gate and it's a good traveler's crossroads where you can pick up handy information, have a great meal of Thai or basic Western food, and throw back a few cold ones.

Mike's Original (tel. 086269-9145, mobile; daily 8am-3am) serves hotdogs, burgers, and fries in an open-air 1950s American hotdog stand. Just north of Thapae Road (and the Amora Hotel) on the east edge of the Old City, it's a popular stop for post-drinking eats before the hangover hits.

All along Nimmanheimin Road new, trendy eateries and coffee shops are springing up next to little juice bars and ice-cream parlors; take a stroll and pick your place.