Night + Market chef Kris Yenbamroong didn’t grow up eating the Americanized Thai food his family served at their restaurant Talesai — he ate the real thing in back. When he opened Night + Market in West Hollywood in 2012, he stopped translating. This khao soi, documented in his 2017 cookbook, is the result: full-power Northern Thai coconut curry noodle soup with Burmese black cardamom in the paste and the cracked-coconut-cream technique non-negotiable.
What is khao soi?
Khao soi (ข้าวซอย) is Northern Thailand’s most celebrated dish — a coconut curry noodle soup from Chiang Mai, shaped by Burmese and Chinese Muslim traders who moved through the Lanna Kingdom for centuries. It never became part of central Thai cooking, which is why most Thai restaurants in the US don’t serve it. The dish’s defining feature is the dual noodle technique: some egg noodles go into the broth to turn silky and tender; a handful get deep-fried until shatteringly crispy and perched on top. Both textures simultaneously are the whole point.
At Night + Market Song in Silver Lake, the bowl costs about $18. This recipe serves four for roughly $28 total — about $7 a bowl.
The paste: where this dish lives
The khao soi paste is where Night + Market’s version diverges from shortcuts. Kris uses black cardamom — the large, smoky pod central to Burmese and Chinese cooking — as the flavor that signals real Northern Thai khao soi rather than a generic coconut curry. The paste takes about 10 minutes to blend and keeps in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or frozen for 3 months; if you make a double batch, the second pot of khao soi costs almost nothing.
The cracked coconut cream technique
Open the coconut milk cans without shaking, and spoon off all the thick cream that has risen to the top. Heat this cream alone in the pot for 5–6 minutes until the fat visibly separates — the surface turns oily, the cream sizzles, and the solids start to brown. This cracking step creates a concentrated coconut fat that fries the curry paste instead of just warming it. Recipes that skip this step and add paste to neutral oil are making a different dish.
Protein options
Chicken thighs are the most traditional version — braised directly in the curry broth for 25–30 minutes, they absorb it deeply. Night + Market also serves Khao Soi Neua, a braised hanger steak and tendon version that is arguably their most distinctive take. For hanger steak at home: brown pieces of hanger steak in the cracked coconut cream before adding the paste, then braise 2–2.5 hours at very low heat until pull-tender. The vegetarian version (Khao Soi Jay, which Night + Market serves) uses pan-seared firm tofu or oyster mushrooms, white miso in place of shrimp paste, and soy sauce for fish sauce.
The condiment setup
Khao soi without its accompaniments is like a taco without salsa. Pickled mustard greens cut through the coconut richness. Raw shallot adds sharp bite. Lime brightens everything. Chili oil dials up the heat. Set everything at the center of the table so each diner can adjust their bowl as they eat — this is kap klaem, the Thai term for food designed around the pleasure of eating together.
