Thailand is well known – with very good reason, we’d say – for its outstanding cuisine. From unbelievable street food to fine dining, and from uniquely-Thai dishes to global foods, you really can not go wrong with any choice of food during a visit.
Side note – we’ve had the best Mexican food (outside of the US) on our trip so far while in Thailand, and we’ve tried it in every country we’ve visited:
But that’s not what this post is about. Today, we want to highlight an amazing dish found only in the northern provinces of Thailand: Khao Soi.
Khao Soi is a soup-like dish containing boiled and crispy deep-fried egg noodles, mustard greens, shallots, lime, and chilies in a coconut-milk based curry sauce. The most common version in Northern Thailand is “Kai” which means chicken, and comes with a bone-on chicken drumstick thats been slow-cooked in the sauce. You’ll also typically receive a small side-plate with more pickled vegetables to add as you see fit (we usually dump the whole plate in).
This dish is not nearly as well-known as other Thai favorites such as Pad Thai, and you won’t usually find it at Thai restaurants throughout the world. Indeed, it is even hard to find outside of Thailand’s northern provinces!
Khao Soi with some additional Northern Thai dishes.
This is a shame, as it’s one of the most delicious dishes we’ve encountered in our travels. After a first try, we ordered it at every restaurant possible during our time in the north. We’ll definitely be learning to cook it – or at least a version as close as we can make – once our trip is over.
Cannot recommend Khao Soi enough if you ever (a) make a visit to northern Thailand yourself, or (b) see it on a Thai restaurant’s menu. You will not regret it!
