I enjoyed 2 weeks in Chiang Mai, Thailand during Songkran New Year celebration. The absolute joy throughout the city would brighten the crankiest of souls. During those 2 weeks we ate a lot, so I am breaking my recommendations down into separate posts. Starting here, with my Top 5 Vegan Restaurants, in Chiang Mai.
Top 5 Vegan Restaurants Chiang Mai
1. May Kaidee
29 4 Chang Moi Kao Rd, Tambon Si Phum, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50300, Thailand
The first time I visited Chiang Mai 4 years ago, I did a cooking class at May Kaidee’s. I was excited to come back, try the restaurant food, and see if things had changed. So excited we ate here 3 times. No regrets, not even sorry that I had the Pad Thai twice. I have the recipe, I have made it myself many, many times over the last 4 years, but I wanted to see if they made it better than I do. Of course, they do! This plate of noodles is exceptional! It comes with peanut sauce drizzled on top, a wedge of lime, chilli, and sugar. The noodles are sticky and sweet with the sour tamarind coming through. One of my favourites and I’ve eaten a lot of Pad Thai in my time.
Along with Pad Thai, we opted for How Mokk because it was a new dish for us. It’s a red coconut curry served in steamed cabbage leaves. Delicious though a little too much cabbage for our/my liking.
We also had the Khao Han Sarai (rice sushi rolls). These guys are filling, I was being greedy ordering 3 mains for 2 people. It’s brown rice in these which is softer and wetter than sushi rice. In with the rice is tofu, some veg, and cashew nuts. Soy sauce and the above-mentioned peanut sauce come on the side for dipping.
Visit #2
On our next visit, we went for 3 different items. Khao Soy (Khao Soi) is one of my boyfriend’s favourite Thai dishes so that had to be tried here. It’s a rich and creamy coconut curry with rice noodles both in the curry soup and crispy on top. The vegan version omits fish sauce and meat and uses rice noodles rather than egg noodles.
We couldn’t visit Chiang Mai without ordering a Laab (laap/larb), an Isaan salad. It’s the national dish of Laos and traditionally a meat salad, but here in May Kaidee’s it’s vegan with mushrooms and tofu. We’ve ordered this dish throughout Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia and have never gotten 2 the same. It can be raw or cooked, with sticky rice or none, sour with lime juice or spiced with cumin, cloves, and cinnamon. My favourites have had lots of lime juice, fresh herbs like mint, and ground toasted rice.
For dessert, the Mango Sticky Rice is a must have. They dyed the rice blue with butterfly pea tea and shaped it like a heart with the halves of mango arranged as wings. Too cute.
2. Mr Green
189, 3 Moon Muang Rd Lane 7, Tambon Si Phum, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
Arriving in Chiang Mai starving, that distinct smell of spices through hot summer day sewer made me hangry in the way only possible in Thailand. Mr Green, a vegan café sits on a corner inside the old town, the smell of curry spices heating wafted out as I passed. After having a few days of Western-owned bar food (we had fussy eaters visiting us), I was dying to get my teeth back into Thai food. Mr Green was very welcome. Good tunes were playing, so good in fact that we Shazamed a bunch of them.
I found the whole menu reasonably priced at 80-120 bhat, it consisted of mainly Thai dishes bar a burrito. Unsurprisingly, I went for the Pad Thai. The serving size was generous with chunks of tofu, bean sprouts and green beans. It was that perfect Thai sweet/sour heaven.
Our second main was the Stir-fried Yellow Curry with red rice. It had lots of veg, mangetout, baby corn, broccoli, and cubes of crispy tofu. The red rice had a lovely nutty bite to it and made a nice change from all the white rice we had been eating. I’m an Irish stereotype, I’ve always known I could eat spuds every day, but after being in Asia for a year, I now know I could eat rice every day.
Did we have dessert? Yes, yes, we did. The Chocolate brownie was singing to me from the counter. It was moist with a chewy crust, warm and moreish. Nutty chocolate flavour like a well-known chocolate spread.
3. Vegan Heaven
44, 6 Loi Kroh Rd, Tambon Chang Khlan, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand
Vegan Heaven is another place I visited 4 years ago. At the time I was in an on-again/off-again relationship with vegetarianism and on the plane home from Thailand, I decided to go vegan. Vegan Heaven had a lot to do with that decision. The food blew me away. It was so full of flavour and texture and opened my eyes to what vegan food could be. It had to be included in my Top 5 Vegan Restaurants in Chiang Mai.
The menu here is mid-priced with a mix of Western and Thai food. We went for Thai options Khao Soi and Pad-see-ew. The Khao Soi was huge! A massive bowl of creamy coconut soup with a mountain of crispy rice noodles on top. It’s just as well it was huge because the Pad-see-ew was small enough. Pad-see-ew translates as “fried with soy sauce”. The soy sauce sticks to the noodles and has a charred flavour when fried. I’m not a massive fan of charred food, but Vegan Heaven hit my balance, the char was there, but not overpowering. Normally there is beef in this dish, but the vegan version has tofu. It was super tasty and had cauliflower, greens, and carrots bulking out the flat rice noodles and tofu. My boyfriend and I tend to share our food, so we were both satisfied after the meal.
The juices are good here too, I had the carrot, orange, and apple aka the Prevent Alzheimer’s. If you don’t like carrots, you’ll have to ask for them to be left out of 90% of the juices, they like carrots here.
4. Vegan Meals
27 Rachadamnoen Rd Soi 1, Tambon Si Phum, เมือง Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
While the name states the obvious it doesn’t do well for Googling. It could be Techie in me, but I don’t like it. The name is my only complaint, everything else about Vegan Meals was a pleasure.
It’s a busy spot, the seats all filled while we were there, and Grab drivers were coming and going. It took a while to be served, but there’s a relaxing atmosphere so it’s not an issue. Customers are mainly Western here as is the menu. We came for smoothies and vegan bowls to help with Songkran fun recovery. We ordered a Peanut Butter and Vanilla smoothie and a pint of thick creamy goodness came out. I bailed on the healthier option and went for a Chickpea Pesto Tempeh Quesadilla. I’d never had chickpea tempeh before, but I’d recommend it. It has a milder flavour than soy tempeh but still has the same texture. I’ll try to make it and do a post if I don’t mess up.
My quesadilla was appetizing, the vegan pesto was nutty, garlicky and delicious. I would have liked a bigger serving though that maybe me being greedy, to be honest.
5. Rad Rabbit
27, 2 Moon Muang Rd Soi 9, Tambon Si Phum, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
I’ve another Western-style restaurant on the list, which is not my norm, but Rad Rabbit was unreal and had to be on my Top 5 Vegan Restaurants Chiang Mai. I stuffed myself with pizza and rolled back to my accommodation like a happy gluttonous pig. Everything here is vegan, EVERYTHING. Man, I’m so sick of seeing the vegan pizza option on a menu with no cheese, give a girl her cheese. I got it in Rad Rabbit. Swees Plant-based Cheese which uses organic locally sourced ingredients. Cashew cheese to be exact on the Farm Villa Pizza.
The base was pesto, topped with cashew cheese, mushroom, onion, and tomato. I added chilli oil and oregano as I always do to a pizza. This was the first great pizza I had in a year and I was beyond happy! My boyfriend had the chicken burger – great burger, succulent breaded seitan in a bun with salad and chips. The chips were a little dry and needed vinegar though. (You can argue with me in the comments, chips need vinegar).
The restaurant offers the likes of pizza, burgers, wings, sandwiches/wraps, and pasta. A big crowd arrived at the same time as us and the server was kind enough to ask if we wanted to order first. This gives Rad Rabbit an extra point in my book. The menu was designed for sharing and between the 2 of us we added cauli wings which were probably unnecessary but they were demolished. They were sticky with sweet BBQ sauce dripped over the crispy wing. They would have been enough as a main, but I was needing a feed.
Bonus Addition to Top 5 Vegan Restaurants Chiang Mai
Rad Rabbit has a “Pay it Forward” initiative which invites customers to make donations to help them feed those in need. I love to support businesses that are actively trying to make a difference not solely focused on profit. That’s why I’d like to also mention ASA Vegan Kitchen. I only had a quick snack in here to tie me over until dinner. The intention was to go back and try more of the menu, but it never happened. The Café was founded by 2 friends with backgrounds in non-profit work. They employ Shan Women expelled from Myanmar. They serve an all-vegan menu and host craft workshops and yoga classes.
I ate the Pea Flower Chickpea Tofu, again my first time having this. It’s a traditional Shan dish. The texture was firm though slightly rubbery, but I liked it. Comes with a peanut, sugar, and soy dipping sauce. Would recommend trying it and supporting the café.
Chiang Mai is an incredible city, I loved my visits so much and am I sure I will be back again. The wealth of vegan food on offer really makes it a vegan’s dream destination.
Do you agree with my Top 5 Vegan Restaurants in Chiang Mai? Anywhere I missed? Let me know in the comments.
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