SP Chicken ★ 4.2
Charcoal gai yang, papaya salad and sticky rice near Wat Phra Singh make SP Chicken one of the Old City's best-value Isan-style lunches under 150 baht.
Try: Grilled chicken and som tam
History
Grilled chicken is shared across northern and northeastern Thailand, carried into Chiang Mai kitchens by Isan cooks and northern grill houses alike. The bird is marinated in garlic, coriander root, white pepper, fish sauce and often a little turmeric, then butterflied and grilled slowly over charcoal so the skin lacquers without burning. It is eaten as part of a wider spread with sticky rice, green papaya salad and a fiery jaew dipping sauce, torn and shared by hand. In Chiang Mai it anchors cheap, smoky lunch counters like SP Chicken near Wat Phra Singh.
Common allergens: Fish
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, butterflied
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 coriander roots
- 1 tbsp white peppercorns
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 tsp turmeric
- Sticky rice and jaew dipping sauce, to serve
Method
- Pound the garlic, coriander root and pepper into a paste.
- Mix with fish sauce, palm sugar and turmeric and rub all over the butterflied chicken.
- Marinate at least 3 hours or overnight in the fridge.
- Grill slowly over medium charcoal, skin side up first, turning often, 30 to 40 minutes until cooked and lacquered.
- Rest, then chop or tear and serve with sticky rice and jaew.
Tip from the editors. Grill low and slow away from direct flame; the sugar in the marinade burns fast over high heat.
Where to eat gai yang
Gai yang in Chiang Mai
Cherng Doi Roast Chicken ★ 4.2
Herb-roasted chicken and northern-Isan grills at student prices off Nimman, where a smoky half-chicken with sticky rice still lands well under 200 baht.
Try: Roast chicken and larb
Aroon Rai ★ 3.9
One of the oldest northern kitchens in the Old City keeps most plates under 100 baht, a no-frills, decades-deep option for hang lay and larb on a budget.
Try: Northern curries and rice
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