Laos Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Laos - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Laos - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
Canadians run this inexpensive self-service restaurant, where the in-house bakery turns out delicious pastries, bagels, sandwiches, and salads. The homemade soups are excellent, as are the breakfast burritos and wraps, and there are all the typical coffee and espresso drinks. A second Joma branch is available on Sisavangvong Road about halfway down the peninsula.
A TREE Alliance training restaurant for marginalized youths, Khaiphaen's menu might include anything from tofu with Khaiphaen crispy river weed and green mango dip to fusion Lao staples such as grilled buffalo steak with pickled daikon. The food is great and you'll also be helping young Lao people build their hospitality skills.
An incredibly scenic branch of a Vientiane restaurant mainstay, Khop Chai Deu offers Lao, Thai, and Western food options served on the pool deck of Inthira Vang Vieng hotel. Try the duck laab, a zesty minced duck salad tossed with herbs. The staff are quite well-trained and the bartender keeps the champagne chilled as you watch the sun dip down behind the jagged landscape.
A popular downtown restaurant and bar in a French colonial building, this is an excellent stop for happy-hour cocktails or dinner. For a tasty introduction to traditional Lao cuisine, try the Discovery Lao, a set menu including larb (a semi-spicy salad of ground meat), a zesty sour fish soup, khao niaw (Lao sticky rice), and a glass of lao-lao (rice whisky).
The Lao food at this restaurant inside a fading mansion is among Vientiane's best. Favorites include mok pa fork (steamed fish wrapped in banana leaves and cooked with eggs, onions, and coconut milk), and gaeng panaeng (a thick red curry with chicken, pork, or beef). Servings are small, so most people order several entrées à la carte or set menus featuring seven to nine dishes, plus dessert and coffee.
This beautifully situated resort restaurant right on the river serves an impressive mix of Thai, Lao, French, and Western dishes. The penang curry is aromatic and full of flavor, as is the spaghetti pad kee mao (drunken noodles, with basil and chili sauce).
This restaurant near the market serves the best authentic Chinese food in Phongsaly, though ordering is a bit unusual as there is no menu and the owner speaks no English nor Lao, so she invites you into the kitchen, opens the refrigerators, and you simply point to what vegetables and meats you want. The rest is up to her culinary magic.
Sidewalk seating and the retractable brown-striped awning contribute to the atmosphere of a traditional French café at this café on the northern end of town. Freshly made quiche, baguettes, and grandes tartines (large slices of homemade bread with various toppings) are menu highlights for lunch and dinner.
The sixth-floor restaurant at the Pakse Hotel not only has the best view in town, but it also has some of the best food. Start with a sunset cocktail on the rooftop terrace, then move on to a romantic candlelight dinner under the stars. There is a choice of French food and pizzas, but it's the Lao food here that really stands out.
This bistro occupies a 1930s historical building in the corner of Talat Yen Square and has a wide menu of Western-inspired comfort foods, including salads, pasta, rice dishes, and coffees. The good milkshakes, selection of beer, good coffee, and strong Wi-Fi make it popular with travelers.
Local families mix with tourists under the night-market sky to eat grilled meats and fish served alongside papaya salad, noodle dishes, and other local specialties. For about 40,000 kip you can score an entire chicken, dip it in hot sauce along with a handful of sticky rice, and accompany it with a cold beer.
With a central location and the most enticing atmosphere of several outdoor-seating restaurants in its part of town, the bakery is an ideal stop for people-watching and a cool drink or coffee and pastries. You can also sample some of the nearly two dozen Laotian dishes, such as jo mart len pak lae kout noi (steamed fresh vegetables with a spicy grilled-tomato sauce) served here, or satisfy a craving for Western food with a hamburger, a pizza, some pasta, or even a steak.
Here's a double surprise: some of the best food in Laos can be found in remote Phonsavan, and it's Indian to boot. Hole-in-the-wall Nisha, presided over by its amiable owners from Tamil Nadu, serves fantastic Indian cuisine, including delicious chicken tikka or tandoori. The owners' family operates branches in Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng.
The family that runs this cute little café prepares various breakfasts and gourmet sandwiches that include imported feta, Camembert, or goat cheese melted onto fresh baguettes. They also whip up just about any tropical fruit smoothie you can imagine. The colorful spot, which also sells local handicrafts, is a good place to watch the world go by and meet other travelers.
Vang Vieng's haute cuisine restaurant offers an eclectic choice of Lao, traditional Asian, and French dishes—the Laotian sampling menu is the top draw. The indoor and outdoor dining areas command majestic views of the river and towering limestone cliffs. In addition to lunch and dinner, there's also a good buffet breakfast.
This humble restaurant under a tent awning overlooking the Nam Khan River doesn't really churn out fusion food so much as superb Lao and Western dishes without overlapping influences. Chef Dith also makes frozen margaritas and mojitos that rival any in town, as well as iced tea with rosella, the restaurant's namesake and an edible species of the hibiscus plant.
This rickety restaurant on wooden planks just above the Mekong may not look like much, but its cooks consistently deliver tasty and authentic Lao food. The setting is intimate and romantic, though the place can get busy with tour groups staying at the family's decent guesthouse.
Despite its humble appearance, this small thatched-roof eatery serves the best food in Oudomxay, and is itself a reason to slip into this otherwise colorless town. The owner, Mrs. Souphailin, specializes in northern Lao cuisine. It's well worth the effort to come in early and preorder any of the first 15 dishes on the menu, all authentic local specialties that require several hours of prep time.
A nondescript eatery tucked behind the Lao National Culture Hall, Taj Mahal serves Indian food at ridiculously cheap prices. Excellent tandoori naan bread, a good selection of dal and meat and fish curries, and other northern Indian favorites are among the many menu choices.
The set menu is the way to sample a wide cross-selection of Lao dishes at this noted restaurant, cooking school, and (just for good measure) book exchange. Alternatively, you can order à la carte from a lengthy menu that includes kaipan, a crispy dried Mekong River plant covered with sesame seeds (it's the local equivalent of chips and salsa), and a local favorite, orlam, an eggplant "casserole" that can be compared to an exotic gaeng kiew waan (Thai green curry). Lao and Western options are available for breakfast.
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