Huen Phen on Ratchamankha Road in the old city is the go-to restaurant for northern Thai food — the kind of cooking you don't find in Bangkok. Lunch is served cafeteria-style in the front room; evenings move to the back, through a warren of rooms filled with antiques, where the menu expands to include more exotic dishes.
The northern specialities are the reason to come: kaeng hang le (Burmese-influenced pork belly curry with pickled ginger), sai ua (northern Thai herbed sausage), nam prik ong (minced pork relish with tomatoes), and larb mueang (a raw herb salad). Prices are very reasonable. The evening atmosphere in the antique-filled rooms is more interesting than most restaurant spaces in the city.