Thailand is worth the trip for the food alone. From tom kha / red curry noodle soup to stir-fried vegetables with rice, here are the dishes to seek out across Thailand.
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This rich coconut-based curry soup is layered with tender meat, a soft-boiled egg and aromatic herbs. The balance of creamy, spicy and tangy flavors is the hallmark of Thai cooking.
Tom kha gai — 'boiled galangal chicken' — is the milder, coconut-rich cousin of tom yum, soothing where tom yum is fiery. Thai curries take their color from their paste, pounded fresh in a stone mortar, a technique still central to home cooking.
Pad kra pao — minced pork stir-fried with holy basil, chili and garlic over rice and usually crowned with a crispy fried egg — is Thailand's go-to comfort plate. Fast, fiery and savory.
Pad kra pao is arguably Thailand's most-ordered everyday dish: minced meat stir-fried hard and fast with holy basil, chili and garlic, served over rice with a crispy fried egg. Holy basil (kra pao) is peppery and clove-like — quite distinct from the sweet Thai basil used in curries.
A creamy bowl of tom yum goong crowned with a whole river prawn, fragrant with lemongrass, chili and herbs. This hot-and-sour soup is one of Thailand's most iconic dishes.
Tom yum is the hot-and-sour soul of Thai cooking, balancing the four pillars — spicy, sour, salty, sweet — in a single bowl. Both the clear version (nam sai) and the creamy nam khon, enriched with evaporated milk, have devoted followings.
A bowl of khao soi, a golden coconut-curry noodle soup topped with crispy fried noodles and served with pickled greens. It is the signature dish of Chiang Mai and northern Thailand.
A specialty of Chiang Mai, khao soi layers soft egg noodles in coconut curry beneath a tangle of crisp fried noodles, with pickled mustard greens, shallots and lime to cut the richness. It's a delicious legacy of the Yunnanese-Muslim trade routes that shaped Lanna cuisine.
A plate of stir-fried bitter melon and greens with pork, served alongside steamed rice. The simple, savory dish is everyday Thai home-style cooking.
The stir-fry is the backbone of everyday Thai eating — pad pak boong, morning glory flash-fried with garlic and oyster sauce, is a classic. Wok hei, the smoky char thrown off by a screaming-hot wok, is what separates a great Thai stir-fry from a forgettable one.
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