We took a Grab car (Southeast Asia version of Uber or Lyft) to the northern suburbs of Chiang Mai to visit a recommended restaurant called Chez Khao Soi. The lovely restaurant owner Samalaa does it all…prepares the food, waits on tables, washes the dishes, and shops for ingredients!
This was our first experience trying this special soup. Khao Soi is a Burmese-influenced dish served widely in northern Thailand and Laos. It’s made with egg noodles, coconut milk, curry soup base, and ours topped with a chicken leg. In preparation for our lunch, she brought out the condiments. Left to right–very spicy chili paste, pickled cabbage, red onion and lime. The dish below holds crispy fried noodles. These are all optional.
The kind owner took our photo right before we ate our lunch.
We loved this tasty dish and appreciate the hospitality of chef Samalaa.
We learned that her several small dogs were there to protect us from……..snakes! Yikes! The location on the bank of the Ping River makes it vulnerable to unwelcome pesky visitors. Happily, we didn’t see any.
While in the neighborhood, we visited the Monfai Cultural Center. It’s a “living museum” of reclaimed homes representing 5 regions of Thailand with textile and lifestyle displays. It’s in a very tranquil setting.
We love the idea of floating flowers in vessels of water. We see this everywhere.
We’re happy here and have added two more days to our Chiang Mai itinerary!