Chiang Mai Icon · Coconut Curry Noodles

Khao Soi

Photo: Chainwit. / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

The dish's Muslim roots run deep — it was originally halal-only, a legacy of the Chin Haw, Chinese-Muslim caravan traders from Yunnan, which is why chicken and beef, never pork, remain the standard fillings.

Flat egg noodles are dunked in a rich, curry-spiced coconut broth and topped with a tangle of the same noodles deep-fried until crisp, alongside pickled mustard greens, shallots and a wedge of lime. Vendors ladle it fresh from steaming pots set up right on the sidewalk, and diners stir in their own dose of chili paste to taste.

Why it's made this way: The Chin Haw carried it along caravan routes through Myanmar's Shan State, Laos and northern Thailand between the 18th and early 20th centuries, and Chiang Mai adopted it as the city's defining noodle dish.