One of the most popular ways to end the day in Isan is over a bubbling pot of jaew hon (or jim jum), spicy Thai hot pot. The typical Isan style features a broth flavored with chiles and lemongrass, but the version served at this town an hour south of Udon Thani boasts a surprisingly robust broth that’s salty, spicy, and just a bit bitter. The beef combo featuring various cuts is most popular, but many permutations are available, as well as a vast selection of mieng: various types of protein rolled into bite-sized pieces with greens, toppings, and sauces.

This restaurant in Udon Thani’s neighboring town serves a set menu of blanched pork intestines sprinkled with deep-fried garlic, fried fermented pork ribs, stir-fried sticky rice with fermented pork, and of course larb moo. Unlike the pork larb found in Bangkok and abroad, the taste is understated, only slightly tart, with just a tickle of spice, a flavor profile that is truly Udon Thani. Diners without the stomach space or time to invest in the set menu can order a la carte.

Upon walking into the faux-rustic interior of this restaurant, the phrase “Asian Applebee’s” might come to mind. But the flavorful slice of Udon Thani belies the Disneyland decor. The usual larb, tum, and thom saap (spicy soups) are all here, but best of all are the dishes that focus on Udon Thani: a chile-packed dip of local magorg (tart water olive) surrounded by fresh vegetables and local dried fish; one som tum garlanded with tiny river shrimp and another featuring fresh kanom jeen sot (fermented rice noodles); and a mieng (cup) of heart cockles stuffed into leafy greens with rice noodles and sauces.

Now that Jay Gai is a Michelin Guide-listed restaurant, Udon-ites like to gossip that the som tum is too salty or that maestro Jay Gai, for whom the restaurant is named, can hardly ever be found manning the mortar and pestle anymore. But that doesn’t stop them from thronging this 50-year-old street food standby for its superior salads, kor moo yang (grilled pork collar), and salt-encrusted tilapia, a fish introduced to Thailand in the mid-1900s. While the tum pa (“jungle” som tum of fermented rice noodles, green papaya, snails, and bamboo shoots) is popular, try the tum Lao, seasoned with a house-made pla rah (fish sauce).

Khao Piak Sen has a couple of branches specializing in its eponymous Vietnamese Laotian rice noodle soup, which is reminiscent of Japanese udon, but the most famous (and most popular) location is the original shophouse-turned-restaurant. You’ll find every possible iteration of khao piek. The standard version is a deeply comforting jumble of starchy noodles topped with Vietnamese-style steamed pork and deep-fried shallots, but for something a bit more fun, try the khao piak sen gang, made with glass noodles topped with steamed pork, deep-fried garlic, and a generous cube of duck blood. Don’t miss the Vietnamese coffee, served with the requisite condensed milk.

Like a hard-partying local, this market area can be sluggish at lunchtime, but it truly comes alive at night. At the intersection of Thongyai and Prajak Silapakorn Roads, a section of the market specializes in mieng pla pow: salt-encrusted tilapia grilled over charcoal and served with a selection of toppings, sauces, and rice noodles. The salt makes it easy to peel back the skin, revealing juicy white flesh that can be rolled up in the leafy green of your choice, then adorned with a sweet tamarind or tart-spicy chile lime sauce along with toppings like roasted peanuts and sliced lemongrass. It’s perfect with a cold mug of beer. While you can’t go wrong with any of the stalls, the most popular is Jay Nok, furthest to the left as you enter.

Udon Thani’s most famous restaurant has become a must-visit destination for Thai food lovers, drawn by chef Weerawat “Num” Triyasenawat’s deft championing of homegrown ingredients and traditional dishes. Standard northeastern dishes appear on the tasting menu, but they’re never straightforward; the som tum, for instance, emerges as a platter of salad variations from around the region, while another course, called Let’s Sacrifice for Good, is inspired by a village ritual in which a cow is slaughtered and made into a variety of dishes for townsfolk. Diners who just want a quicker (or cheaper) meal are welcome as well. The restaurant’s a la carte menu includes the chef’s childhood favorite, kai pullo (eggs braised in Chinese five-spice soup).

This humble shophouse specializing in all things duck is a must-stop for Isan food lovers in Udon Thani. The menu is extensive, written out painstakingly by hand, but the eponymous dish is the most popular: The duck meat salad is served in a standard style or finished with a splash of duck blood. It’s accompanied by deep-fried makrut lime leaves, roasted peanuts, sliced lemongrass, and raw garlic cloves. Mix the ingredients into the larb and dig in quickly — after 10 minutes, the flavor of iron in the blood becomes too pronounced. Also check out the deep-fried duck intestines, which are surprisingly moreish.

All across Thailand, there are decades-old local institutions like this one that have been churning out reliable local favorites for generations. Krua Khun Nid is Udon Thani’s version, lauded for its larb and nam tok (spicy meat salads), as well as more niche items like ant egg soup. The 40-year-old, family-owned spot offers a nice, air-conditioned dining room and a big menu, making it the type of place that manages to please Isan gourmands — their elderly relatives, their young children, and everyone else.

This cafe is actually a sprawling garden with an airy, stylish dining room sitting in the middle. Garden produce adorns every dish on the menu, from the fermented pork (naem) fried rice topped with wonderfully peppery purple daisy to the Ispahan tart (inspired by pastry chef Pierre Hermé’s macaron flavor) that combines lychee, raspberry, and rose. Although the menu is fairly extensive, the most popular items are the sweets and coffee, which you can find on just about every table.

A question plagues Northeastern Thailand: Where do you find the best grilled chicken in the country? Adherents fall into various camps. There are supporters of the wiry yet flavorful free-range chicken of Khao Suan Kwang, a district between Udon Thani and Khon Kaen, and those who proclaim the well-sauced chicken of Wichienburi, an area close to the Cambodian border. Then there’s Nong Song Hong, between Udon Thani and Nong Khai, where proponents claim the chicken to be juicier and fattier than rivals. Each restaurant on the main street is considered equally delicious, but some are more equal than others; head to Mae Nong, the biggest proprietor, which boasts an air-conditioned dining room, ideal for avoiding the smoke from the grill.

One of Isan’s great culinary experiences can be found on the banks of the Mekong River, where bold gourmands can pluck great seafood straight from the water. If you prefer someone else do the plucking, head north to the hamlet of Nong Khai, where a collection of ramshackle open-air huts serve food while somehow finding purchase on the riverside soil. The biggest operation— a string of wooden huts (and one abandoned boat) — is this popular night spot, which includes live music on weekends. Chefs turn pla nam Kong (silver-skinned river fish) into larb, steam it with herbs in a banana leaf, or add it to spicy lemongrass soup. The restaurant also serves an Isan rite of passage: goong then (dancing shrimp), live baby shrimp mixed with spicy dressing.

Locals swear by this Nong Khai-based chain specializing in Vietnamese-style dishes, which are legacies of a thriving community that settled in Isan in the 19th century to escape French colonization. The eponymous dish, nam nueng, features pork meatballs grilled on a skewer and served with rice noodles, greens, and herbs, ideally enclosed in a tidy little rice wrapper and dipped in tamarind sauce studded with peanuts and chiles. The original location is the most popular, on the Mekong riverside next to Nong Khai’s Tha Sadet market, where you should go for a post-lunch ramble among the produce from Thailand and Laos.