Seafood & grill in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is an inland city several hundred kilometres from any coast, which makes this the category that most needs explaining. Nothing here is landing at a local dock. What you are choosing between is three different supply stories, and they produce three different meals.

Air-freighted marine seafood — the hotel dining rooms and the upscale grills run this way, and it works: overnight logistics from the Gulf and the Andaman are reliable enough that a good kitchen here serves fish in decent condition. It is also where the money goes, which is why this category skews expensive relative to the rest of the site.

River and farmed freshwater is the older tradition and the one worth seeking out. Pla nin (tilapia) and pla duk (catfish) grilled whole in a salt crust over charcoal, split and eaten with a lime-chilli-garlic dip, is a Northern dish rather than a compromise. Giant river prawns are the local luxury.

The grill itself is the third thread — Thai barbecue, Isaan-style grilled meats, and the riverside format where the setting is doing as much work as the kitchen. It is the smallest category on this site, and the entries in it are unusually spread across price bands, so read each card rather than the category.

How to use this list

Ask whether the fish is freshwater. It is not a downgrade — a whole grilled tilapia is one of the best things you can eat in this city, and it costs a fraction of the flown-in alternative.

Riverside is a format, not a rating. Several entries here are chosen by visitors for the Ping river setting. The view is real; check the cooking separately.

This is the shortest list on the site. With this few entries the ordering carries less information than usual — read all of them.