Words by For years, the standard advice for eating well in Thailand was to start in Bangkok and treat everywhere else as a side trip. Michelin’s new Thailand guide makes that harder to say.
The 2027 MICHELIN Guide Thailand, unveiled at a ceremony in Bangkok on Nov. 10, gave Chiang Mai its first-ever star and Phuket its first two-star restaurant. It’s the guide’s 10th edition in the country, and it lands in the year Michelin is marking 100 years since it introduced the star in 1926, according to Michelin’s announcement.
The selection is the biggest yet: 507 restaurants, including 53 with stars. There are 2 three-star restaurants, 10 with two stars, 41 with one star, 151 Bib Gourmand picks for good value, and 303 more on the recommended list.
The north gets its star
The Chiang Mai honor went to Belén by Paulo Airaudo, which moved up from the recommended list to one star. Inspectors pointed to the way it uses local ingredients with sharp European technique, and singled out a goat’s cheese flan with seasonal fruit.
Airaudo, an Argentine-born chef with restaurants in several countries, had a good night overall. His Sartoria by Paulo Airaudo in Bangkok, a modern Tuscan place built around fresh pasta, also picked up a star.
Chiang Mai has had a serious food culture for a long time, from khao soi shops to night markets to farm-driven tasting menus, so the star is overdue more than it is surprising. What it changes is the travel math. A destination with a starred restaurant gets put on a different kind of itinerary.
Phuket moves up
The bigger regional story may be Phuket. PRU, the modern Thai restaurant known for its farm-grown produce and fermentation, became the first restaurant on the island, and the first anywhere outside greater Bangkok, to earn two stars. Its signature dish pairs durian with caviar and sea grapes.
Phuket also added two new one-star restaurants: Jaras, which runs a seasonal tasting menu with a zero-waste approach, and Omemo, a newcomer cooking contemporary Swiss food, with rösti, house-made sausages and fondue-inspired dishes. Swiss Alpine cooking on a tropical island is not something anyone would have predicted for this list a decade ago.
Two of the five special awards also went to Phuket. Natdanai Kitkorsup of lob-baan, a Bib Gourmand restaurant, won the Young Chef Award for cooking rooted in Phuket’s native ingredients, and Chanyawi Mukmaneerattanapon of hom won the Service Award.
Bangkok still leads
The capital didn’t sit this one out. Blue by Alain Ducasse and Mia were both promoted to two stars. New one-star names include Liana, The China House by Chef Fei, Duet by David Toutain, the modern Korean restaurant I-SANG, and THARN, a tasting menu that moves through Thai cooking from Sukhothai to Rattanakosin.
The most interesting of them might be MACHRI, whose chef works from a royal Thai menu inspired by King Rama V’s 1897 European food diary. Inspectors highlighted mackerel with roasted chili paste and sticky rice, and a pigeon red curry.
The Opening of the Year award went to Kongwuth Chaiwongkachon of Taang, a Chiang Rai native whose Bangkok counter, open since June, traces the old caravan trade routes of northern Thailand and its neighbors. So even Bangkok’s buzziest new room is looking north.
Arnaud Dunand-Sauthier of Maison Dunand received the Mentor Chef Award, and Charles Elie-Rodenstein of Cannubi by Umberto Bombana was named sommelier of the year.
Planning a trip around it
If you’re heading to Thailand this winter, the practical takeaway is that a food trip no longer has to be all Bangkok. A few nights in Chiang Mai can now include a starred dinner alongside the street food, and Phuket has become a destination in its own right for people who care more about the tasting menu than the beach club.
Book early. Michelin recognition tends to fill small dining rooms quickly, especially in December and January, when the weather in the north is cool and dry and the high season is in full swing. The full selection is on the MICHELIN Guide website.
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