🔄 Last checked 2 Jul 2026 · details and hours can change — check the venue before you go
If there's one restaurant that captures the full experience of Chiang Mai — the flavors, the music, and the riverside atmosphere all at once — it's Huan Soontaree. The restaurant was founded by Soontaree Wechanont, a legendary Kham Mueang (Northern Thai dialect) folk singer of Lanna, a voice Northern Thais have listened to for decades, and the touch you won't find anywhere else is that Mae Soontaree herself still gets up to sing at her own restaurant regularly. Picture sitting down to eat gaeng hangle by the Ping River while live Kham Mueang music drifts over from the stage inside — that's the experience that makes Huan Soontaree more than just a restaurant, more like Chiang Mai's own cultural living room. The building itself is a large Lanna-style wooden house on Pa Tan Road, decorated throughout with Northern-style tung flags and lanterns, looking straight out over the Ping River flowing past. The MICHELIN Guide recognized this too, awarding it a Bib Gourmand continuously through to the 2026 edition, for food that's genuinely good at a price that's easy to afford.
The food here is real Northern Thai food the way locals actually eat it. The dish to start with is ordeup mueang, a shared Lanna appetizer platter with sai ua (Northern herb sausage), crispy pork rinds, nam prik num, and nam prik ong, served with fresh vegetables and sticky rice — perfect for sharing across the table while you wait for the music to start. Another standout dish is deboned catfish, prepared so easy to eat you won't have to worry about a single bone, and gaeng hangle, a Burmese-Lanna-style pork belly curry slow-simmered with spices, rich with the fragrance of ginger and pickled garlic, eaten with hot sticky rice — genuine Northern Thai comfort food. Prices run only around 250-500 THB per person, which counts as a great deal for a meal that comes with a live concert thrown in for one night in Chiang Mai.
One thing worth knowing if you're heading to Chiang Mai is that the Pa Tan area sits north of the city center along the Ping River, a zone where locals genuinely go for riverside dinners — not a tourist strip like Nimman or Tha Phae Gate. The atmosphere is unfiltered, authentic Chiang Mai, with live Kham Mueang folk music every night, and Friday-Saturday evenings get especially packed. One more thing worth being upfront about: on June 4, 2025, Lanna Cummins, Mae Soontaree's daughter, announced the land and business were for sale for 55 million baht, though the good news is the restaurant is still operating as usual while it waits for a buyer. So if you want to experience the legendary wooden house on the Ping River with Mae Soontaree's music in its original form, now is the time to go.
Huan Soontaree
Huan Soontaree sits on the Ping River on Pa Tan Road, a short way north of Chiang Mai city — about a ten-minute drive or ride from the Old City. The restaurant opens evenings only, daily from around 16:30-23:30 (closes 23:00 on Sundays), with easy-on-the-wallet prices of around 250-500 THB per person, and casual dress is fine. It's a large restaurant with seating for several hundred, so you can just walk in — but if you want a table by the river during high season or on weekends, it's best to call ahead at 083-860-8196.
The best time to go is early evening, to grab a riverside table before the live Kham Mueang folk music starts, which plays every night — Friday and Saturday nights get especially packed, so booking ahead is worth it. The dishes to order are ordeup mueang, deboned catfish, and gaeng hangle. One important thing to know: the restaurant has been listed for sale since June 2025, and while it's still operating normally for now, check the restaurant's Facebook page (facebook.com/huansoontaree) before every visit.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| MICHELIN award 2026 | 🍽️ Bib Gourmand |
| Province | Chiang Mai |
| Cuisine | Northern Thai / Lanna |
| Approx. price | ~250-500 THB/person |
| Booking | No online booking — call 083-860-8196 |
| Hours | Open evenings daily ~16:30-23:30 (closes 23:00 Sundays) |
| Landmark / getting there | On the Ping River, Pa Tan Rd. (north of Chiang Mai city) |
| Area | Pa Tan / Ping riverside |
Tips before you go
Call 083-860-8196 — it's a large restaurant seating several hundred, but a riverside table during high season/weekends is worth booking ahead for. Live Kham Mueang folk music plays every night, and it gets packed on Friday-Saturday evenings — and since the business is listed for sale, check the Facebook page before you go.
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