The Best Noodles in Northern Thailand - Pork Rib Tom Yam in Nan
Noodles, we love ‘em. Pretty much whatever form they take, from rounded bun rice noodles to flat yellow egg noodles, they can be used in a million different delicious ways. During our adventures we have eaten hundreds of bowls of different noodles: noodle soups, noodle salads, fried noodles, cold noodles you name it and we have (probably) tried it. So when we say a bowl of noodles is one of the best we have ever tried, it is high praise.
Let us tell you about the special pork rib noodles of Nan, Northern Thailand.
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Nan is a small city, capital of the Nan province, in the north of Thailand. A four and a half hour drive from the city of Chiang Mai, Nan is a quiet place littered with beautiful temples and a famous weekend market. What it also holds is one of the most delicious noodle dishes we have ever tried.
Crazy Noodle is a small restaurant, sitting on the corner of a street filled with garages and scooter dealers. From the outside it doesn’t look any different from any of a hundred other noodle shops in Thailand. Tables are crowded with the traditional Thai cruet of vinegars, chilli and sugar.
Nothing marks this noodle shop out as any different from your standard tom yam joint. We have had many great bowls of tom yam noodles from near identical shops.
The menu too is restrained, giving no hint at the treasures it holds. Five entries and a drink is all the menu promises.
The only thing even slightly out of the ordinary for a tom yam noodle shop is the “Signature” bowl on the menu. This special bowl costs 70 baht, comparatively pricey for a bowl of tom yam. This, however, was the bowl we had come for!
Crazy Noodle, if you travel in the SE Asian food circles (translation, spend too long on YouTube and food blogs) is famous for a specific thing: a signature bowl of tom yam soup crowned with a dinosauric set of pork ribs. The soup is legendary and the ribs even more so.
We visited on a Wednesday lunchtime in the rainy season. It was not busy, in fact it was just us and one table of ladies in office wear. We passed their chattering group and were hit by a waft of delicious smelling soup. They each had a near empty bowl of the signature tom yam. The ladies were at the end of their meal and their bowls now looked like they had looted a natural history exhibit, with large bones, picked clean lying everywhere.
We took our seat and ordered two bowls of the signature tom yam with pork ribs. What came out was the best smelling and looking bowl of noodles we have had the luck of consuming in a while! Piled high with large pork ribs and spine, spring onions and crushed peanuts, the bowls looked amazing. A sheen of deep red chilli oil glistened on the surface and a rich aroma or pork, citrus and peanut enveloped everything.
Have you ever seen a better looking bowl of tom yam noodles?
We have never unwrapped chopsticks with such speed. It was like an anime, the chopsticks went from plastic clad to poised for action without any in-between stage being visible to the naked eye.
The pork was not tender, tender doesn’t come close to how meltingly soft the pork was. A light nudge from our chopsticks and it slid off of the bones. It was like pulled pork only they was no pulling, it was...gently tapped pork? We don’t know, it was ridiculous. The pork was sublime; rich, meaty and almost roasted in flavour, despite definitely being slow braised. The meat had leached its rich juices into the soup and visa-versa, the gentle sharpness of tom yam cut each bite, lightening the fatty pork and making it seem like we could eat an unlimited amount of the delicious meat.
There was so much meat on the ribs!
All it took was a little push and the pork just slid off!
The soup was hands down one of the best examples of tom yam we have ever had. We have had some utterly incredible bowls in Dusit, Phrae and other places in Thailand, Crazy Noodle easily joins this upper echelon of deliciousness. The perfect balance of sweet, salt and sharp, the rich soup marries everything in the bowl in beautiful polygamic harmony. Studded with slowly softening pork scratchings and laced with spring onions and chilli, the bowl is different from bite to bite. The fragrance of peanuts permeating each spoonful. Their nuttiness both complementing the rich meat and punctuating the sharp, lime citrus notes. The firm yet yielding yellow noodles bridge everything together, carrying the soup and clinging to the sticky juicy pieces of meat.
The Tom Yam master at work!
Taken as a whole it was a spectacular tom yam. Every ingredient complimented each other. As the bowl dwindled we changed it up with squeezes of lime or spoons of the smokey roasted chilli powder. As the last sips of soup were slurped, we both were regretting eating so fast. We wanted a bottomless bowl. We would put this soup on cornflakes if we could, it is just so addictively good. Luckily for us we had another couple of days exploring Nan so this wouldn’t have to be our only fix of these beautiful Crazy Noodles!
We picked these bowls clean, there was barely a chilli flake left when we had finished!
Thailand is so lucky it is hard to eat badly. Provided you walk out of the tourist bars and Western only restaurants you have to try really hard to get a bad meal. We have been spoiled in our visits to this wonderful country and have had too many good bowls of noodles to count. But this bowl, this perfect symphony of porky flavour, this bowl we will remember.
Where is Crazy Noodle / Where is Nan?
If any of the above has whetted your appetite you can find Crazy Noodle here. Nan has plenty of great food other than Crazy Noodle, we enjoyed eating at night maket (here) every night of our stay. The town of Nan is really lovely, laid back and full of stunning temples. It is worth it for more than just a noodle based pilgrimage.
Accommodation in Nan
There are plenty of places to stay in Nan. We had a great budget stay at the Nan Lanna Hotel. The Nan Lanna had a huge double room with a good hot shower and (crucially) good air conditioning. For those looking for a little more luxury check out the top hotels here.
If possible try and time your visit to coincide with the weekend market, as it is meant to be quite something!
How to get to Nan
Nan is easily accessible from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai or Bangkok. We moved from Chiang Mai, to the gorgeous town of Phrae and then down to Nan and we can highly recommend this route. There are lots of bus companies that stop at Nan and even a small airport with multiple daily flights to Bangkok.
Easy bus links to Nan City
We hope you have enjoyed this and it hasn’t made you too hungry. Thailand is a beautiful, delicious country that always rewards those willing to go a little further for food. Don’t be afraid, follow your nose and treat your tastebuds!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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