Thailand

• Northern Thailand

  Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai

  EatKhao soi

• Phuket Province

• Andaman Coast

  Krabi, Phi Phi

  EatGaeng tai pla

• Gulf Islands

  Samui, Phangan, Tao

• Pai & Mae Hong Son

• Sukhothai & Ayutthaya

  Historic

• Isaan

  Northeast

  EatSom tamLarb

• Eastern Seaboard

  Pattaya, Koh Chang

• Kanchanaburi & Western Thailand

Cities

• BangkokBKK · DMK
• Ayutthaya
• Chiang RaiCEI
• Hua Hin
• Ko Lanta
• Ko SamuiUSM
• KrabiKBV
• Mueang Nonthaburi
• PaiPYY
• PhuketHKT
• Samut Prakan
• SukhothaiTHS

A cuisine with two royal parents — the Bangkok court's refinement and the street's speed — and several immigrant ones: the wok and the noodle came with the Chinese, the chilli with the Portuguese in the 1500s, and the curry-paste logic looks toward India while tasting like nowhere else.

• Pad thai ผัดไทย

  Specialty of Bangkok

  Rice noodles flash-fried with egg, tofu, dried shrimp and tamarind sauce, finished with peanuts, bean sprouts and a lime wedge — assembled to order in under two minutes by someone who has made it longer than you have been alive.

  National DishVegan OptionPeanut · Fish · Crustacean
  

• Som tam ส้มตำ

  Specialty of Isaan

  Green papaya shredded and bruised in a clay mortar with chilli, lime, fish sauce, dried shrimp and — in the Isaan original — pla ra, fermented fish that arrives like a fact. Sour, hot, loud, addictive.

  Vegan OptionFish · Crustacean · Peanut
  

• Khao soi ข้าวซอย

  Specialty of Northern Thailand

  Egg noodles twice — boiled in a coconut curry broth, then a crown of the same noodles fried crisp — with chicken, pickled mustard greens, shallot and lime alongside. Chiang Mai's bowl of self-esteem.

  Veg AvailableGluten · Egg · Coconut
  

• Tom yum goong ต้มยำกุ้ง

  Specialty of Bangkok

  Prawns in a broth built on lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaf, chilli, lime and fish sauce — clear (nam sai) or blushed with chilli paste and a little evaporated milk (nam khon). Hot, sour, and completely awake.

  Crustacean · Fish · Dairy
  

• Massaman curry แกงมัสมั่น

  Specialty of Ayutthaya

  A slow, mild, deep curry of beef, potato, onion and peanuts in coconut milk, with dry spices — cardamom, cinnamon, cumin — that most Thai curries refuse. Sweet, tamarind-sour, and unmistakably from somewhere else, long ago.

  Peanut · Coconut · Fish
  

• Gaeng tai pla แกงไตปลา

  Specialty of the Andaman Coast

  The far south's ferocious curry: fermented fish innards dissolved into a dark, thick, coconut-free gravy with bamboo shoots, eggplant and fish, at a chilli level the rest of Thailand describes with respect. Eaten with rice and raw vegetables as a survival strategy.

  Fish
  

• Boat noodles ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือ

  Specialty of Ayutthaya, Bangkok

  Small, intense bowls of rice noodles in a dark pork or beef broth seasoned with spices, herbs and — traditionally — a ladle of blood that gives it body and its colour. Served tiny on purpose; the stack of empty bowls is the scoreboard.

  Pork · Beef · Soy
  

• Larb ลาบ

  Specialty of Isaan

  Minced pork, chicken or duck tossed warm with lime, fish sauce, chilli flakes, herbs and khao khua — raw sticky rice toasted and pounded to a nutty grit that is the dish's signature crunch. Eaten with sticky rice and vegetables from a shared basket.

  Vegan OptionFish · Pork
  

• Khao man gai ข้าวมันไก่

  Specialty of Bangkok

  Poached chicken over rice cooked in the poaching fat, with a soybean-ginger-chilli sauce, cucumber, and the broth on the side. Thailand's edition of the Hainanese chicken that colonised Southeast Asia one migration at a time.

  Soy · Gluten · Fish
  

• Mango sticky rice ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง

  Eaten all over Thailand

  Warm sticky rice soaked in salted coconut cream beside slices of ripe nam dok mai mango, with a final pour of cream and a scatter of crisp mung beans. Sweet, salty, and strictly seasonal at its best.

  VeganCoconut
  

• Cha yen ชาเย็น

  Drunk all over Thailand

  Strong black tea brewed orange with spices, poured over ice with condensed and evaporated milk into a layered, sweet, faintly vanilla drink that answers a climate. Sold in a bag with a straw as often as a cup.

  Vegan OptionDairy
  

• Kanom krok ขนมครก

  Eaten all over Thailand

  Small half-domes of rice-flour and coconut batter cooked in a dimpled iron pan — crisp shell, molten salted-coconut middle — capped with scallion or corn and eaten off a stick of banana leaf, too hot, in the street.

  Vegan OptionCoconut · Egg
  

Before You Order

• Fish sauce is the salt and kapi — fermented shrimp paste — is inside nearly every curry paste, so 'vegetarian' curries and stir-fries usually are not.
• Peanuts are ground over noodles, into massaman and satay sauce, and onto som tam — structural, frequent, rarely announced.
• Coconut milk is the body of central and southern curries and most sweets; the north and Isaan largely cook without it, which is the allergy-traveller's regional map.
• Dried shrimp is the invisible crustacean: in som tam, pad thai, fried rice and chilli pastes, at quantities nobody counts as seafood.
• Rice noodles keep most of the cuisine gluten-free; the wheat is in ba mee egg noodles and the soy sauce that came with the same Chinese kitchens.

• Apr

  Songkran

  Apr 13–15 · Chiang Mai Gather

  New year as a nationwide water fight. The polite version: scented water over your elders' hands. The street version: a super-soaker arms race in 40-degree heat.

  
• Sep

  Phuket Vegetarian Festival

  Sep–Oct (9 days) · Phuket Eat

  Nine days of strict vegetarian street food — and, less for the squeamish, devotees in trance piercing their cheeks. Eat first, watch later.

• Nov

  Monkey Buffet Festival

  last Sun of Nov · Lopburi Eat

  Lopburi lays four tonnes of fruit and sticky rice before its macaques, who trash the place. The town considers this good business.

• Nov

  Yi Peng & Loy Krathong

  Nov · lunar · Chiang Mai Gather

  Chiang Mai exhales ten thousand lanterns while the rivers carry little boats of regret downstream. Book a bed months out, then forget the camera exists.

  

• BKKSuvarnabhumi AirportBangkok147 Nonstop Destinations · 58 Countries
• HKTPhuket International AirportPhuket100 Nonstop Destinations · 38 Countries
• DMKDon Mueang International AirportBangkok96 Nonstop Destinations · 21 Countries
• CNXChiang Mai International AirportChiang Mai28 Nonstop Destinations · 11 Countries