Midrange
Oasis
Is a very specialized and delicious vegetarian restaurant. behind the new main stage at the 'night bazaar' you'll notice a high building situated behind the small cafes which still belong to the market. it's at the corner of a street which leads to the fruit market. a 'must' for vegetarians. open until 20.00.
The North
Is a restaurant in the north hotel which specializes in home made northern style food. here you can find northern thai sausage, kaeng hunglay northern pork curry and a variety of northern style dishes made by the mother of the owner. their family recipes will give you a real taste of northern cuisine. the north hotel is situated next to oasis, just in the middle of a small street between the night bazaar and fruit and flower market.
There is lots of good food to be found in Chiang Rai, but most tourists seem to end up eating at the Night Bazaar. There are two separate places to eat here: "Centrepoint", run by a single restaurant with a Western-Thai menu and comparatively high prices dishes 100-200 THB, and then the "actual" night bazaar food court dishes 30-100 THB. Both have free music and dance performances almost nightly. The one run by the Night Market Restaurant has comfortable wooden furniture while the food court uses rather ugly yellow metal tables and chairs. While there are over 50 food stalls to choose from, the fare on offer is mostly quite touristy, with food toned down for the farang palate. About half the stalls seem to be devoted to selling deep-fried stuff fritters, French fries, tempura, etc to accompany beer. There are also a few non-Thai stalls, offering Italian, Indian, German etc, plus the obligatory insect stall for creepy-crawly cravings.
Nakhon Pathom
à¸à¸à¸£à¸à¸à¸¡, th phahonyothin, near th banphaprakan intersection. the famous khao moo deng rice with red sauteed pork, or as shown on the menu: 'rice with bbq pork', 30 thb tastes best at this big chinese restaurant. no english sign, but looks for the red sign board with large yellow font thai letters. it's opposite the lebanese shop. big cold coffee machines attract the locals to having lunch there.
khao sawy
Po Sai, Thanon Jet Yot 1023/2 opposite Wangcome Hotel. Famous for its khao sawy Burmese style chicken curry with noodles, 25 baht and other northern dishes like special Northern Thai sausage 25 baht and nam phrik num dip made of aubergine and peppers. No English sign or menu, but some English spoken. Open early but closes by 18:00.
C&C Cabbages and Condoms
à¸à¸µ à¹à¸à¸à¸à¹ à¸à¸µ, 620/25 thanalai rd. hilltribe museum, tel: 0 5371 9167, (http://www.pda.or.th/rest...). classy if somewhat toned-down thai food in chic settings, with condoms cropping up in all sorts of unexpected places. profits go to support family planning and sex education in thailand.