Khao Soi appears as a signature dish in 2 Thailand cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Khao Soi · Bangkok
Khao soi is northern Thailand's curry-noodle bowl: silky coconut-and-yellow-curry broth ladled over egg noodles, topped with crispy fried noodles, pickled mustard greens, shallots and lime.
Khao soi came to Thailand via Yunnanese-Muslim traders along the Burmese border in the 19th century, taking its modern form in 1930s Chiang Mai with the addition of coconut milk. Bangkok adopted khao soi in the 1980s through northern-Thai migration and the Lanna-restaurant boom of the 1990s. Now Krua Aroy Aroy in Silom serves the Bib Gourmand canonical Bangkok version, with chicken or beef in a coconut-yellow-curry broth and a heap of crispy fried noodles on top.
Where to eat in Bangkok:
- Krua Aroy Aroy
- Supanniga Eating Room Tha Tien
Khao soi · Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai's defining bowl: soft egg noodles and chicken or beef in a coconut curry broth, crowned with crisp fried noodles, lime, shallot and pickled greens.
Khao soi came to northern Thailand with 19th-century Yunnanese-Muslim (Haw) caravan traders, who settled around Chiang Mai's Ban Haw mosque near Warorot Market. Their original version was a clearer, halal beef broth closer to Burmese and Yunnanese noodle soups. Over time the Thai north sweetened and enriched it with coconut milk and red curry paste, added the signature tangle of deep-fried crisp noodles on top, and paired it with pickled mustard greens, shallots and lime. Today it is the single dish most identified with Chiang Mai, sold everywhere from garage counters to Michelin Bib Gourmand shops.
Where to eat in Chiang Mai:
- Khao Soi Khun Yai
- Khao Soi Lamduan Fa Ham
- Khao Soi Lung Prakit Kad Kom
- Khao Soi Mae Sai