Chiang Mai - Khao Soi Khun Yai

Khao Soi is definitely way up there in the running for our "best dish of the trip", due to the excellent rendition we had at Khao Soi Khun Yai.



A small setup that only operates from mid-morning until early afternoon, Khun Yai makes just a couple of dishes. The main event (for us at least) is their Khao Soi, a deeply flavored and rich curry-like broth with pieces of chicken leg and egg noodles.



Wide egg noodles are served in the broth and a mound of smaller, crispy fried noodles gets mounded on the top providing a really nice texture contrast.



You also get some lime, shallot and pickled veg on the side to add as you please. It is really all about that broth, though. Complex, a bit spicy and immensely satisfying.



The ladies running the place were efficient and friendly. We enjoyed the entirety of the experience so much that we came back again the morning we left Chiang Mai.

This time we also tried the beef version of the Khao Soi:



Still super tasty, but probably not quite as good as the chicken version.

Khao Soi Khun Yai is kind of hidden - tucked away between two wats (Thai Buddhist temples). Going west from the Chiang Mai Old City north gate, it is just past the wat with all of the horses:



If you hit the wat with the big Buddha and dragons, you've gone too far:



Wats are everywhere in Chiang Mai, so it is only natural that they act as a kind of waypoint system.