One of the most reliably mouth-watering eating choices you can make when in Chiang Mai is to follow your nose to the source of the delicious grilled chicken scent that's heavy in the air near 'SP Chicken'.

Not quite street food, this chicken joint is housed in a sort of shed. When we arrived at 3.30pm the other afternoon, everything was comfortingly the same as on previous visits. There's a rough concrete floor, scores of tables, and all the emphasis is on the food. Out the front, the chickens are being tended to like sunbathing royalty; basted and turned and primped and preened by the staff.

The accompanying som-tam (spicy green papaya salad) is very yummy from a farang point of view as the heat is toned down for non-Thais to a level that's pretty hot but not searingly painful ...

Northern-style sticky rice and the smoky, roughly cleavered chicken morsels complete the picture.

I'm guessing that the family that runs this place is doing something right, as the eatery apparently hasn't changed hands for 25 years and sells 100+ chickens every day.