Chiang Mai is no longer the quaint, picturesque, town of a bygone era so often depicted in documentaries and postcards. The temples are more numerous than any other place in the kingdom and are a draw to some of the 2 million Thai visitors and 2 million international tourists that visit the city every year for the numerous activities. Development in the area has mushroomed and remote villages are now easily accessed and considered part of the growing city.

This is all, of course, great news for food addicts. New restaurants are opening practically each, and every day. Not only are there more choices for dining in more locations in and around the city, but competition is forcing restaurants to increase their quality which will assure their success while visitors also are creating a demand for global cuisines to be added to the array of casual northern Thai eateries. Upscale restaurants now are appearing on scene as 4-star and 5-star hotels are often the first to offer such quality while bringing with them world-class chefs with the best quality imported ingredients and superb service.

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai has been expanding at a fast pace for the last few years and it appears the city is turning into the hub of the north for IT, medical, handicraft, spa and more. This makes the place attractive for investors from Bangkok as well as foreigners to do business.

Coffee shops can now be found all over Chiang Mai, offering reasonable lunch and snack dishes. Most guesthouses and hotels serve western breakfasts along with Thai fruit. There are now hundreds of restaurants in the city with cuisines from a few dozen countries that shows the diversity that is reflected in the restaurants opening in the last few years. Locals used to prefer simple dining options, with emphasis on quality food rather than setting or service. They’re now demanding higher standards of their restaurants with larger variety.

Wine arrived in Chiang Mai as many 5 star restaurants began to open, mostly at hotels and resorts, along with some boutique hotels. As the millennium arrived, diners could finally enjoy an exquisite dining experience with all the frills of a 5-star restaurant with a fine range of quality imported wines.

Thai curries are well known and are green (gaeng pet kiau), red (gaeng pet deng) or mussaman which is a Malay curry. The hot spicy soup is Tom Yam and comes with either prawns or chicken. Don't miss steaming pla jian (whole fish poached in ginger, onions and soy sauce), or mild kai phat met ma muang (chicken fried with vegetables and cashew nuts), or the Thai lunch favorite, somtam - a spicy papaya salad. Northern favorites include sai ua (spicy sausage), khao soy (a blend of Indian-style curry broth and crisp Chinese noodles), Kaeng hang lea (pork curry casserole with ginger and peanuts) and kaeng yuak (banana palm curry).

Rice comes either as steamed (kau sooay), fried (kau pad), or the northern-style of sticky rice (kao neow). Thai salads are usually spicy and referred to as Yam. There is normally a full range of noodle dishes, including noodle soup (kuai tiow nam), dry noodles (kuai tiow haeng) and crispy noodles (mi krop).

Chiang Mai was once part of the Lanna kingdom, which in its heyday, between the 13th and 16th centuries, encompassed all of Northern Thailand and parts of present day Laos and Burma. Lanna (the name meaning "one million rice fields") cuisine differs from that of modern Thai, with it's sticky rice and pork sausages, remains distinct from Southern Thai cooking. The Chiang Mai staple, khao soy, is testament to the Lanna's hybrid origins.