38 Best Restaurants in Laos

The family that runs this cute little café prepares various breakfasts and gourmet sandwiches with fresh local ingredients. 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 Lao degustation 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 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, 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.

With Parisian-style street-facing seating perfect for people-watching, Tangor flips the expectations with a menu full of Western twists on pan-Asian favorites. Enjoy exclusive dishes like black charcoal dumplings, Japanese-style salmon topped with flakes of Mekong riverweed, and ceviche that might be the best in this hemisphere.

Next to the stairs of Wat Chom Kao Manilat, this no-frills bamboo-and-thatch restaurant is a good choice for French and Lao food that's cooked with market-fresh ingredients. The hammocks and beautiful views over the Mekong help stretch meals into lazy spells—a perfect pastime in this sleepy town.