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Amazing Sandwich
Three doors north of the Thai Airways International office, this small air-con place specialises in fresh baguettes with your choice of a dozen fillings, as well as lasagne, vegetable pie and quiche. Also has free internet service.
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Antique House
Set in a two-storey teak house filled with interesting antiques, the food here is beautifully presented and predominately northern Thai. There is also a garden seating area. There is no smoking allowed in the house.
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Anusan Night Market
In Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, this buzzing food market is best known for its seafood, and its lively atmosphere. Stalls surround a large cluster of tables where each 'restaurant' has a section allocated with their own waiters - head to the parts that look most crowded. Most have English menus.
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Arabia
This small restaurant does north Indian-Pakistani-Arab-style cuisine very well, perhaps better than any of the others in terms of the freshness of the flavours. Don't let the fact that it's often empty throw you off the trail; it has a steady and discerning, if small, clientele.
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Aroon (Rai) Restaurant
Look for Chiang Mai specialities such as kaeng hang-leh, kaeng awm and kaeng khae . The latter two dishes are more like stews than curries, and rely on local roots and herbs for their distinctive, bitter-hot flavours. The spacious open-air dining area upstairs is favoured by night-time clientele, and in hot weather it's cooler than downstairs.
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Art Café
Facing Pratu Tha Phae, this popular place has a huge menu including Thai, Italian, Mexican and American food. It is particularly good for breakfasts, and there are lots of vegetarian options. This is a non-smoking restaurant.
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AUM Vegetarian Food
AUM at first appears to be a second-hand book shop. Go inside though and the all-veggie menu features a varied list of traditional Thai and Chinese dishes prepared without meat or eggs. There is an upstairs eating area with cushions on the floor and low tables.
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Bake & Bite
Bake & Bite prepare delicious European- and American-style pastries, pies and sandwiches on your choice of bread. They also offer more vegetarian options than most for breakfast, and have good chocolate cake. There's another branch at 183/8-9 Th Chang Klan.
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Bierstube
This cosy place, decorated with black-and-white photos of Thailand, has wooden benches and a bar. It's popular with German expatriates and visitors, and the menu is mainly German/European with some Thai.
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Black Canyon Coffee
This contemporary styled place is great for people watching, especially on Sunday's, when the Walking Street is on. Delicious ice coffee and teas, plus the usual Thai and Western food suspects are on offer here.
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Cafe de Nimman
Located at the front of the 'Room - boutique mall' (an open-air walkway with a row of shops and bars). Sit in the pleasant outside seating area or the small air-con section and choose from a large menu of Thai rice dishes, spicy salads and curries.
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Café Souvannaphoum
This new, Swiss-Thai run, hip looking café and wine bar stands out in this budget backpacker area. Real coffee, good breakfast, sandwiches and salads are served in a chic décor of rattan-and-cream easy chairs. Wine is a big focus of this place, with regular wine-tastings. Expect a bigger menu by the time this guide is published.
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Central Airport Plaza
The food centre at Central Airport Plaza has vendors selling Thai and Chinese dishes at reasonable prices.
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Chez John
Chez John prepares moderately priced French cuisine and has a large selection of wines.
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Chiangmai Saloon
Ignore the ersatz Wild West décor, and head straight for the huge steaks and Tex-Mex.
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Chinatown
Chiang Mai's small Chinatown is located on Th Ratchawong, north of Th Chang Moi. Here you'll find a whole string of inexpensive Chinese rice and noodle shops, most of them offering variations on Tae Jiu (Chao Zhou) and Yunnanese cooking. Recommended is Aomngurn, next to the New Mitrapap Hotel. This funky looking place with blackboard signs outside serves fantastic grilled chicken and various Chinese/Thai dishes. There are English menus.
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Da Stefano
An intimate, well-decorated, air-con place, Da Stefano focuses on fresh Italian cuisine, with one of the better wine lists in town.
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Dai-Kichi
This new, highly recommended place on the main road offers reasonably priced sushi and sashimi, plus a variety of nine-dish set menus.
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Dalaabaa Bar and Restaurant
This trendy eatery, with subdued lighting washing over orange and red silks, brings a Bangkok-style sophistication to Chiang Mai dining with a clever Thai fusion menu.
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Galare Food Centre
There's a big indoor/outdoor cluster of permanent vendors at Galare Food Centre, opposite the main Chiangmai Night Bazaar building. Free Thai classical dancing is featured nightly.
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Gallery
This elegant eatery, in a converted 100-year-old teak Chinese shophouse that's half gallery/shop, half restaurant, has a colonial feel. The quality of the food and service goes up and down, but the setting remains the primary attraction.
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Giorgio Italian Restaurant
Chiang Mai's most ambitious, and some say best, Italian eatery features a full range of pasta, some of it homemade. The salads are particularly good, while the décor is classy and retro.
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Good View
Good View offers open-air areas in a contemporary setting. The huge menu covers everything Thai, and there's a Japanese sushi stand at the back. There's also live music.
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Herb Garden
This small and friendly place, run by a Thai-English couple, is one of those rare places where the Western food and Thai food is equally good. Thai dishes like néua deh dio (beef salad with sesame seeds and basil) are delicious. For something very English, choose the bangers and mash (with proper pork sausages) and the treacle tart. Breakfast is good here too.
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Heuan Phen
Highly regarded for its northern Thai food, the house specialities include khâo sawy (egg noodles in a curried broth), lâap khûa (northern-style minced-meat salad), náam phrík nùm (a chilli dip made with roasted peppers) and kaeng hang-leh (very rich Burmese-style pork curry). Daytime meals are served in a large dining room out the front, while evening meals are served in an atmospheric antique-decorated house at the back.






