Eating is a big part of traveling. And when you are a first time traveler to a developing country, it could be hard to find a place that you can trust. As new longterm travelers ourselves, we want to make sure we find eateries that are both delicious and safe. To do so, we turned to the internet and ate at some of the more popular restaurants suggested by other travelers. These are a few of the places we found:
- Pork leg from the Cowboy lady in Chiang Mai, Khao Kha Moo Chang Phuaek:
I was so excited to try out this dish when I got to Chiang Mai. I have heard so much about it and to be honest, stewed pork leg is one of my favorites. I got the stewed pork leg with rice and a side of intestines. The dishes were definitely delicious, even though I think that you could get just as good quality pork leg stew from other restaurants I’ve tried. But because of all the hype I had to try it out and was not disappointed. You also can not beat the price because the whole meal for both of us was under 2 USD.
Where is it: Located on the North side of the old city next to Chang Phuak Gate. 
2. Mr.Kai restaurant:
I found Mr.Kai online and wanted to try it out because it was close to our hotel. The restaurant was clean and very welcoming. We ordered a drunken noodle dish, pad thai,yum woon sen (a vermicelli Thai salad with shrimp), and a dragon fruit smoothie. The price was reasonable and the quality of food was great. I would definitely recommend it.
Where is it:
Ratchamankha Rd (Across from the Anodard Hotel) Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
3. Lert – Ros:
When we were in Chiang Mai, I found many restaurants served grilled salt-crusted fish and wanted to try it. Lert – Ros name came up so we traveled there just to try it out. The restaurant seemed clean and had a few fish grilling in the front when we arrived. The price was reasonable for how full we got. I could have definitely tried this dish without having to travel to this specific location, but I just wanted to try it out for myself.
Where is it: Rachadamnoen Rd Soi 1, Amphoe Mueang Chiang Mai, Chang Wat Chiang Mai 50100
We have tried so many other restaurants that either didn’t have an English name for me to look up or they were a street vendor that I didn’t know the location so I will just have to attach a few pictures under here. Hopefully someone can let me know if they know where these places are.
4. A restaurant that serves herbal chicken: Located on the corner of the Arak Road and Bumrung Buri Road
We saw this restaurant on our walk and the restaurant was very busy so we went a try it out. The dish they serve there was a typed of herbal chicken stew. It was served with noodle or rice. The chicken was so tender and melted in your mouth delicious. The price was definitely reasonable and the restaurant was clean. I would definitely recommend it.
5. A restaurant that serves seafood noodles: Located on Arak Road next to the Herbal chicken restaurant.
We went to this place because we always walk past it on our walk and it smelled so good. It was a fun experience because in order to get food, you have to fill in a sheet of paper that customized your order and it was all in Thai. We struggled for a while trying to google it, but it obviously didn’t work for us. So we had to find a worker there that could help us. Thankfully we found a waiter that was more than happy to help us.
The restaurant was clean and the food was very good. This is definitely a restaurant I would come back if I have a chance.
Happy Travels!
