Where To Eat In Phayao Town
Because it is such a small and relatively unknown town to Westerners, we turned up in Phayao unsure of what was going to be available in terms of restaurants, cafes, hotels etc. Were we going to easily find places to eat in Phayao? Or were we about to experience another Nan scenario where nothing was open and we found ourselves stuck for places to eat?!
Was Phayao going to provide us with an enjoyable few days filled with lots of yummy food and coffee or was it going to be Thai street food and instant Nescafe all the way?!
As it turned out, Phayao was packed full with little suprises. We discovered a number of good little cafes, as well as a great lake side restaurant and a Pizza joint with real thin crust wood fired pizzas.
There are also many basic Thai style restaurants and eateries to choose from all over town.
It is safe to say, finding somewhere to eat in Phayao is not a hard task, the problem comes deciding where and what type of food you want for your dinner!
Here is a little round up of some of the cafes and restaurants we visited on our trip through Phayao:
Cupcake Café
First up, almost as soon as we arrived we stumbled on this little garden café.
A few minutes walk from our accommodation, Cupcake Café is where we had our first meal after arriving in Phayao. Attracted by the garden setting and cute colorful murals adorning the outside walls, not to mention the words ‘Cupcake Café’ we were sold as soon as we saw it.
Garden setting in Cupcake Cafe
The lunch menu consisted of the usual Thai dishes, Pork and basil and various fried rices as well as some western dishes like French fries and chicken nuggets. The specialty and what jumped out at Jmayel as soon as he saw it was the Japanese Bento plate. A Japanese style curry with rice, kimchee and soup.
The interior of the café housed a cake fridge, which we each indulged in a slice after our long road trip from Nan (although none of us chose a cupcake!)
Cupcake Café is a relaxing place to sit with a coffee and some of the tables have views out across the road to the lake.
Cupcake Café opens at 10am.
White Café
White Café was our savior when we woke up on our first morning in Phayao, it was the only café to be open that was serving food around breakfast time.
We occupied the table at the front of the shop and made our order of cappuccinos and club sandwiches, planning our day ahead as we waited for food to be served.
The White Café is unique in that the innocent café front turns into a full bar come 6pm and doesn’t close until midnight, offering up alcoholic drinks and music once the skies begin to darken.
It is located at the other end of town from the main streets around the lake near to the park/workout area.
The food menu is limited however and catered mainly for the sweet tooth, with honey toast and chocolate lava cake being the main menu items, club sandwich and French fries were also on offer. There is a good drinks menu though and The White Café is worth visiting when in Phayao.
Brick Oven Pizza
We found Brick Oven Pizza after a trip advisor search for a nice dinner restaurant in Phayao. It is also right next to White Cafe 😉
We were all in the mood for some Western food, after having Thai for lunch and so pizza appealed to us all.
We found ourselves eagerly walking towards Brick Oven around 7pm, our stomachs grumbling with the anticipation of a filling Italian style pizza.
On arrival we were the only customers, filling just one lonely table in the large restaurant and it stayed that way for the entire night. We put it down to it being low season, as the menu and food were all in this restaurants favor.
There were bruschetta’s and garlic breads, a good assortment of pastas and sauces as well as what we had come here for, the Italian pizzas. Jmayel and I went for the specialty oil pizza, in which it is made without the tomato sauce base under the toppings. Instead a garlic infused oil is poured onto the dough before cooking. It made for a crispy base and it was delicious.
Brick oven pizza is the place to go to in Phayao when a Western food craving hits you and a Pad Thai or chicken and basil leaves just won’t cut it.
We all enjoyed our dinner here, even if we were the only customers, it just meant our pizzas were made with extra care right?!
Agaligo Café
Agaligo café was just a few steps from our hotel room,again this café was a late starter and it didn’t open until 11am. Leaving us in wait for a cappuccino.
The quirky exterior of the café with a grass covered wall, complete with bicycle and red English phone box mirrored the cutsey interior filled with stuffed bears and kitsch décor.
Sitting down inside with a hot beverage felt like visiting my grandparent’s house, white doilies and old fashioned telephones decorated the glass tables and it had a somewhat homely conservatory feel to it.
Our visit in the afternoon during a heavy rain storm saw us occupying the cafes seats with a large crowd of school children all in uniform and ordering cakes and honey toast, giggling and taking phone selfies with the many teddy bears around the shop.
If you happen to be passing and want to spend some time in the company of a giant soft bear, this is the place for you.
The drinks menu on the wall behind the counter has all you could ask for in the way of coffee, both iced and hot, smoothies and frappes. Though don’t go here if you are after a proper meal, as only dessert style items adorn the menu.
So Good Bar and Restaurant
On our last night in Phayao we sought out So Good Bar and Restaurant, located a little further down the lake road from where we were staying, it would be recommended to have your own transport to get there, unless of course you were staying out of the lakeside area of town, and found yourself on the same road as So Good.
So Good Bar and Restaurant is right on the water’s edge which means a great view of Phayao Lake whilst eating dinner. Getting a table outside guarantees a good view, weather permitting though!
When we ate here, the restaurant was very busy already by 7pm, there is a bar area outside where a band were setting up their acoustics for the nights performance.
So Good Bar and Restaurant had a varied and large menu of both Thai and Western dishes.
It certainly lives up to its name and we would definitely eat here again when we next find ourselves in Phayao.
Good Thai Food at So Good
Eating in Phayao summary:
Overall the only downside we found to eating in Phayao was at breakfast time. None of the cafés opened until around 09:00 – 10:30am, at least. So if like us, you have been up since 7am for a jog along the water, you won’t be able to eat until much later. Other than that we found Phayao to be well stocked with both Thai and Western restaurants and lots of good cafes.
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