10 Best Restaurants in Chiang Rai and The Golden Triangle, Northern Thailand

The name of this attractive open-sided restaurant signifies the strongly perfumed frangipani trees that frame its riverside setting. The gargantuan menu embraces Chinese, Thai, and Japanese cuisine, but the specialty is northern Thai food, including fresh fish from the Kok and Mae Kong rivers.

Loved for its breezy atmosphere and mouthwatering steaks, this brick-style eatery offers Italian, Mexican, and Thai dishes with a tasty selection of wines and signature cocktails. Come after 8 pm, when the house band takes to the stage, and take the garden seating.

Most of the modest price of your meal at this quirkily named restaurant, one of 16 in Thailand, goes toward the country's leading nongovernmental organization that specializes in HIV/AIDS education. The food is Thai, geared somewhat to Western tastes. The eccentric interiors are a brilliant pastiche of brickwork, art deco, and edgy decor that includes megaphones, corded telephones, movie projectors, and a chandelier that could pass for deer antlers.

Classically trained baker Nattamon Holmberg puts an emphasis on slow and sustainable food at this cozy café on the Kok River that serves a mix of Western favorites, like avocado toast, along with Thai food. The prices are a little higher than other restaurants in Chiang Rai, but the quality of its locally sourced ingredients more than makes up for it.

Although it's located right down the street from a major attraction (Thawan Duchanee's Black House), this family-run business keeps its prices low and its traditional dishes noticeably fresh and delicious. Much of what they make is straight off the Give Green Farm, and operates as a master class in sustainable comfort food.

This laid-back pizza spot where the tables are laid with checkered tablecloths is a welcome break from all the fancy resort dining options in the Ban Sop Ruak area. The crispy thin-crust pies are topped with traditional and Thai ingredients, ranging from pepperoni and Parma ham to tom yum–tinged seafood and northern-style sausage.

A garden panorama of ceramic dolls and other tiny figurines greets you at this enchanting restaurant, where the tables are distributed among the shrubs and ornamental trees. The locals love the place for its excellent lineup of northern Thai specialties and Chinese-influenced dishes.

Well-known for its views of the Mekong River and Laos beyond, this old family-run restaurant has a relaxed atmosphere and quality Thai food. You can sit on the teak terrace and fuel up with Thai staples like stir-fried chicken rice with cashew nuts, or order a more adventurous dish like fried frog seasoned with garlic and pepper.

The Anantara resort's main breakfast buffet room turns into a reputable Thai restaurant during the lunch and dinner hour, offering northern specialties like khao soi, gaeng ho (dry curry pork with glass noodles and vegetables), and a duo of dips made with minced pork and green chilies.

Chinese and northern Thai dishes dominate the extensive menu at this traditional timber-built restaurant in a lovely garden. They're known for khantoke dinners (northern Thai set meals, served on a tray) and their delicious khao soi noodles. A Thai traditional ensemble plays nightly.