Lived central and NE Thailand and spent a fair bit of time south and I'm always amazed at the lack of khao Soi available outside of Chiang Mai. You can walk down a street pretty much anywhere and grab noodles which are no different than the noodles in the next stall. Amazes me that the dish is so overlooked outside of CM. The best restaurant where I live (busiest) is a boat noodle restaurant. Set lek costs 10 baht a dish I eat 6 dishes love it. They only serve one dish. Amazed no one is doing something similar throughout thailand and if you can really cook great khao soi then you know it is not so easy for others to copy. 

Im lucky. my wife makes excellent khao soi. But, not as good as her Mum's.

2 minutes ago, nikmar said:

Im lucky. my wife makes excellent khao soi. But, not as good as her Mum's.

Very lucky man. We made some before was pretty good but nothing beats an experienced khao soi artist. Funnily enough the best khao soi I ever had was from a CM lady who had a restaurant in koh lanta she was married to a californian thai guy. 

Khao Soi outside Chiang Mai and the north is as unusual as Gaeng Matsaman within the same area. By no means unavailable - but not so easy to find.

Same with Khao man gai. Appears simple. But when done correctly, it's addictive. 

I like how their is a delay on the spiciness of a good KS.  It kind of creeps up on you, and you get a little forehead sweat.  Paid 25 last week by CMU!.it was excellent.  Good that they can take advantage of the unusually low chicken prices.

15 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

I like how their is a delay on the spiciness of a good KS.  It kind of creeps up on you, and you get a little forehead sweat.  Paid 25 last week by CMU!.it was excellent.  Good that they can take advantage of the unusually low chicken prices.

I pay 250 baht a dish in some mall shop in bkk. Convenience and lack of options. I had it in thong lor too price was similar. Don muang serves it in restaurant up escalators directly on the left too. It's ok.

12 minutes ago, Rc2702 said:

I pay 250 baht a dish in some mall shop in bkk. Convenience and lack of options. I had it in thong lor too price was similar. Don muang serves it in restaurant up escalators directly on the left too. It's ok.

the pickled cabbage was worth 25.  I was wondering where my glob of brown chili paste was...until I started eating...I think it was already added.

Used to play the "best khao soi in Thailand" game with an expat friend living in Phrae. 

 

Good fun and many a good khao soi along the way.

2 hours ago, NickJ said:

Same with Khao man gai. Appears simple. But when done correctly, it's addictive. 

 

The Thais of course do it their own way, but they never get the rice right. Chinese way is correct.

 

Wife & I are seasonal festival-food vendors in Canada ,Khao Soi is a main dish we sell and people are CRAZY about it, many tell us they never find this on a menu at Thai-restaurants abroad.

So many restaurants are run by Thais from Bangkok or the central-regions and due to Khao Soi's origin as a 'working-class' fast food is not considered to be palatable enough to share space on a table representing a Royal-Thai version of the cuisine.

 

There was a restaurant in CM called 'Just Khao Soi' ,who did an interesting job of giving the dish 'face' by spotlighting it in a fine-dining environment. As usual,Thai-dishes are open to enormous variation with each vendor/chef promoting their own special recipe. Khao Soi can be very rich with coconut milk or almost none,but the signature flavors swirling around those noodles should always carry a hint of its true origins -India.

 

We also do 'Hung Lai' - a pork curry dish , another signature dish from the North.  

Food with flavor - love it! 

1 hour ago, HaleySabai said:

 

The Thais of course do it their own way, but they never get the rice right. Chinese way is correct.

 

Wife & I are seasonal festival-food vendors in Canada ,Khao Soi is a main dish we sell and people are CRAZY about it, many tell us they never find this on a menu at Thai-restaurants abroad.

So many restaurants are run by Thais from Bangkok or the central-regions and due to Khao Soi's origin as a 'working-class' fast food is not considered to be palatable enough to share space on a table representing a Royal-Thai version of the cuisine.

 

There was a restaurant in CM called 'Just Khao Soi' ,who did an interesting job of giving the dish 'face' by spotlighting it in a fine-dining environment. As usual,Thai-dishes are open to enormous variation with each vendor/chef promoting their own special recipe. Khao Soi can be very rich with coconut milk or almost none,but the signature flavors swirling around those noodles should always carry a hint of its true origins -India.

 

We also do 'Hung Lai' - a pork curry dish , another signature dish from the North.  

Food with flavor - love it! 

Sounds like even more proof in the pudding that these overlooked dishes could be a goldmine.