15 Best Restaurants in Beyond the Old City, Chiang Mai

The cuisine is eclectic Thai, with ingredients sourced from Ginger's own farm on the outskirts of Chiang Mai, at this vibrant Thai bistro decorated with vintage furniture, large patterned cushions, and hanging plants. Nothing is too-too spicy, and everything, including rich curries, refreshing salads, and vegetable-packed summer rolls, is served in pretty ceramic bowls and plates.

This simple, open-sided restaurant just outside the city walls has been preparing such traditional northern dishes as frogs' legs fried with ginger for more than 30 years. Try the tabong (boiled bamboo shoots fried in batter) and sai ua (pork sausage with herbs). There is take-out service, too.

If you find yourself craving Western fast food, skip the global franchises and make a beeline for this restaurant, which grew out of a popular food truck. Run by two young Thai siblings and open from 11 am until 10 pm or when sold out, Beast's burgers are made with premium-quality ingredients and are perfectly cooked. The veggie patty is great, too. Choose from onion rings or fries for the perfect accompaniment.

This French restaurant, located in Chiang Mai's perfectly safe "red-light district," is consistently full of locals and foreigners enjoying excellent coq au vin and creamy pâtés. It's run with Gallic flair by Franco-Japanese chef Marco, and has doubled in size with the acquisition of neighboring premises, but still has a tiny, stylishly intimate, street terrace.

The focus at this stylish modern restaurant in an old ice factory is the wood-fired oven in the open kitchen, visible throughout the dining room. The menu tours the globe, with popular dishes including the fire-grilled pork jowl with spicy pineapple glaze and arguably the most authentic tacos in town.

Tucked away in a corner of a former businessman's mansion, this small, open-sided restaurant specializes in inexpensive curry dishes from India, Burma, and Thailand, with some Japanese-inspired dishes as well. Daily specials, accompanied by two varieties of rice or a selection of Indian breads like pillowy naan, are written on a blackboard. The tiny terrace overlooks the grounds of the mansion, whose present owners run the restaurant.

On a backstreet in an increasingly cool local neighborhood dotted with cafés and small eateries, this restaurant in a traditional teak house serves authentic Lanna cuisine. Try the nam prik ong (tomato, minced-pork dip) served with crispy vegetables, the larb moo (a rich minced-pork salad), or the locally revered gaeng hang lay (pork belly curry). Don't be surprised if you find yourself returning for another meal. Most patrons do. Before you leave, check out the framed wall photos of the owner-chef's appearance on Iron Chef Thailand.

Born from Chef Yaowadee's desire to keep artisanal fisherman in business down south, this casual eatery features Thai comfort food with an emphasis on the freshest catch of the day—something not that common in this landlocked region. The menu features stir-fried squid, crab ceviche, and an impressive array of fish dishes, including charcoal-grilled trevally, mackerel curry, and brown-sugar-cured sardine jerky, all accompanied by local organic rice and stir-fried vegetables.

The menu at this tranquil teahouse is fairly short, with a selection of curries, salads, sandwiches, satay, and desserts, but the cool interior of this exquisitely restored century-old Chinese merchant's house is a wonderful respite from the bustle of the city. It doubles as a showroom of fine celadon pottery and has an adjoining courtyard with a shop selling Lanna fabric and the pottery used in the restaurant. There are indigo dyeing, textile weaving, and ceramic painting workshops available here, too.

This handsome Lanna-style restaurant complex is next to Chiang Mai's historic Iron Bridge, and the spacious outside terrace has lovely views of the bridge and the Ping River. The chefs prepare the full range of authentic, if pricey, Thai dishes, along with a couple of continental options, including a cheeseburger.

Although the restaurant is fairly family-friendly, with a lawn on which kids can run around, there's not much on the menu for picky eaters.

The ever-popular Riverside has an informal waterfront location and a modern and elegant dining room across the road. The boisterous atmosphere of the riverside venue is replaced at the latter by a more sophisticated dining experience, although there's nightly live music here, too. A candlelight dinner in the romantic central courtyard on a warm evening is especially recommended.

Chiang Mai's farm-to-table pioneer Chef Radee Timsuren realized her dream of opening a restaurant right on the family farm, just about a 15-minute drive outside Chiang Mai. The casual daytime menu features impeccably made sandwiches, pizzas, and an array of colorful salads, while at night the options veer toward fine dining, with an impressive selection of imported wine and craft beer. The artisan breads and pastries are all made in-house.

At rough-hewn wooden tables surrounded by hill tribe textiles, hungry lunch-goers at this casual spot dig into heaping plates of colorful, vegetable-filled pan-Thai fare. The fruit shakes, especially mango and watermelon, are a cooling balm after a morning of sightseeing.

Follow your nose to the street-side barbecue at this cool and casual Lanna restaurant that's popular with young Thais, who love the great, affordable food and the beer-garden atmosphere. Start with the northern Thai hors d'oeuvre platter that includes fermented pork sausages, pork crackling, spicy relishes, and raw vegetables. Also delicious is the ant-egg and glass-noodle soup. Get here on time—the kitchen closes sharply at 9 pm.