Tag: congee

Khao Tom Yong is a traditional congee diner in Chiang Mai. The restaurant, as its name suggests, serves plain congee and has a large menu with side dishes. Khao tom means plain congee in Thai, while jok indicates a congee dish coming with additional ingredients. Incidentally, it is located just across the street from a famous jok diner that I reviewed.

The visit

The best thing of this restaurant in my opinion is the large selection of side dishes. By the way, since they come in small portions, they are ideal for solo diners as well.

The porridge, as expected for khao tom, was more like a rice soup. The grains were not melted and the soup was more watery. I do not think it was great as the porridge I had across the street, but it was a different thing.

I had their gourd filled with pork that came in a broth and was particularly good.

My first side dish was chicken with basil leaves and chili. The herbs and the chili had a great flavor.

Their crispy pork belly was quite good.

The only dish that disappointed was their sausage that was quite bland (but went with a tasty dipping sauce).

The check

I spent 285 THB for all (around 9 USD). It was a big banquet for one person! I think this is a great place not for the khao tom, but rather to sample different local dishes.

Where in Chiang Mai:
257/5 Suthep Road, Mueang Chiang Mai.

Jok Si Phing is a traditional diner in Chiang Mai specializing in congee. Congee (rice porridge) is a popular breakfast dish in Thailand. (Jok, from Cantonese, is one of the ways to call congee in Thai.)

The visit

The diner faces a busy road.

Inside on the wall there are many pictures with famous customers that stopped by.

Cutlery is kept in closed boxes. Similarly to noodle places, chopsticks are provided instead of forks; a nod to the Chinese origin of these dishes.

A number of condiments are available.

And now let’s get to the congee. There were a number of variants available on the menu (luckily they had a one-pager English menu). I settled for pork and mushrooms. I am not a fan of congee. But this was good. The rice was super creamy and all the ingredients were palatable. Other options included fish and preserved egg.

An interesting ingredient that added a dimension to its texture were some thin white filaments that I later discovered to be deep fried vermicelli.

I also tried their crispy pork belly with rice. To my disappointment it came with an oily sauce. But the pork belly was reasonably good. A soup and thick soy sauce were also included.

The check

The congee cost me 40 THB and the crispy pork belly and rice 50 THB. That’s 2.75 USD.

The congee they serve is indeed remarkable and deserve a stop if porridge is your thing.

Where in Chiang Mai:
99/25 Suthep Road, Mueang Chiang Mai.