Khao soi is Chiang Mai's signature dish, beloved by locals, emulated by restaurants abroad and sought out by celebrity chefs. But where did it come from? What's actually in it? More importantly, where do you get the good stuff? Don't worry, we're here to help.

Chiang Mai's khao soi (variously spelled khao soy and kao soi) is a bowl of egg noodles and a chicken leg covered in a soupy mild coconut curry, topped with crispy noodles, lime, shallots and pickled cabbage to your taste. It's as awesome as it sounds. There are regional varieties if outside of Chiang Mai - the name actually means something like "trimmed rice," which refers to the flat rice noodles of the Lao version. They also don't add coconut milk and the broth is clear. Further north in Shan State the khao soi is closer to Chiang Mai's, but they'll often add blood-jelly to it.

Ultimately though, all khao soi comes from the Burmese ohn no khauk swe, which even made it west into India during WWII. So really, khao soi isn't Chiang Mai food at all - real Northern Thai food is a lot of thin, spicy soups with no coconut, strong herbs and the occasional ant egg or deep fried frog (you can read more about real Northern Thai food in our Regional Thai Cuisine article). But it's still iconic and it's still delicious.

Chiang Mai has a million restaurants and of course khao soi is everywhere. Naturally, the best are no-frills family kitchens.

• Lampang Lert Rot - Not only does Lert Rot do some of the most loaded, delicious khao soi in Chiang Mai, it's walkable from Thapae gate making it accessible to backpackers, families, the package tourist set and anyone else traveling through. They serve other things, but you're doing yourself a disservice to miss the khao soi.
• Kanom Jiin Lom Gao - Extremely popular with CMU students. Their specialty is kanom jiin, rice noodles with gravy, but their khao soi is great too.
• Khao Soi Samoerjai - Samoerjai's khao soi isn't quite as good as Lert Rot, but it's still awesome and they have a huge array of other dishes to go with it. The pork satay and chilli dips (nam prik, น้ำพริก) are solid choices.

By the way - if you're not in Chiang Mai and need a recipe for khao soi, take heed: most recipes on the internet in English are really bad. No, khao soi is not made with red curry paste. If you want to  find the real deal, you'll have to venture into the Thai internet - try running this recipe through Google translate, and then you can watch this video of a Thai chef.