Laos Notes

[mary shaposhnik]

Notes from Laos last month (February 2007). The culinary highlight was perhaps the least exotic: the enormous pleasure of a simple dipping sauce with sticky rice. Time and again, when I sought out other dishes that were famous or noteworthy, I was content, but not delighted. But several times, and most notably in two of the remotest settings of my trip, I was completely bowled over by just sticky rice and a fish-sauced based jaew (sauce), occasionally, as in Bolikhamsay province, accompanied by awesome bits of pork sliced off of a big slab. It truly was a splendid example of jaews serving their purpose of making you fill up just on sticky rice.

Otherwise, this was not as fabulous a food trip overall as some other visits to SE Asia. Maybe that's because I spent more time in rural areas, which pretty much means foe; or that I know the food better and expect more now; or that I have romanticized my first meals there 9 years ago. Or maybe I wasn't focused, lucky or skilled. Anyway, I certainly had good food, but the proportion of misses to hits felt higher than, say, a trip in Nan and Loei in Thailand two years earlier. Details for those heading that way:

Luang Prabang:

The Malee restaurant we've praised here exists in name, but is no more. Or it's like the child you knew who is now the unrecognizably trendy teenager. It moved to a much spiffier wooden place a few doors up the street towards Wat Manoron from Phou Vao. Their focus is DIY bbq, all the rage these days, with a small menu of not terribly exciting other things. The grills are very nicely done for what they are - the meat had no flavor at all, but it came with very abundant, fresh vegetables and spices to make the soup. We also got a fried watercress salad (yum pak boong kob), one of the most awesome food moments of the trip. It needed much more heat given its sweetness, but even still, it was just drenched with lemongrass, the strong flavor of the greens, and fried goodness.

For Mekong riverside meals, one was a hit, one was a miss. The restaurant that I think is part of the Viradesa GH -- picked at random because we were there and needed to eat - turned out to be one of our best laap- papaya salad - sticky rice meals of the trip. View Khem Khong, which gets great reviews, was one of the most wretched meals - inexplicable ketchup coated noodles -- and an okay, but not really interesting, mok gai (chicken steamed in banana leaves).

Lao food is served in upscale surroundings at Tamnak Lao and 3 Nagas, both on the tourist strip. Neither thrilled me very much. At Tamnak Lao, ao larm was overwhelmed by dill, not at all balanced by other herbs or ingredients. I liked the kai pen but my partner thought it was too greasy (it was, but I thought in a good way), but it always works well with jaew bong (what doesn't?). Whatever else we had was unremarkable, although there was a very nicely caramelized banana upside down cake for dessert.

3 Nagas is more upscale, with prices to match. I admire their excellent menu of Lao food, and appreciate that they are giving a lot of customers an education about local cuisine, including a huge tasting menu for about $19 (like, I said, high prices!). My quick lunch was okay, but not exciting. Avoid the stuffed bamboo or stuffed lemongrass - greasy, overstuffed renditions. The sai oua was not too flavorful, and married very well with the very good jaew bong. The pork and banana bud salad was fine but the banana buds got completely lost. Maybe others will fare better; do go peruse the meu.

The Apsara, where we stayed (gorgeous place), did sai oua equally as well as a watercress/blue cheese salad, but for the most part, I think of it as western food with occasional Lao-inflections. The chicken with greens follows the ao larm concept, and works fairly nicely, but could be a bit boring. The braised pork belly with star anise (our room was over the kitchen and I could smell the star anise broth cooking all day...mmm), a signature dish, is a very good cut of pork belly, extremely rich and overly sweet. Good wines, great bar, but be very clear with the bartenders about your cocktail terms - the chic surroundings may seem like anywhere in the world, but you are still in Laos.

The tourist saturation of the peninsula, even off the farang drag, meant it felt easier to find bad, expensive western coffee and breakfast than to find good, cheap Lao coffee and breakfast. Even only a few blocks south near Wat Manorom, it was easy to walk out and get a glass of insanely sweet and excellent Lao coffee and noodles in the morning. On the peninsula, I had to scrounge around, with little luck. However, morning coconut custards - what are they called? those little khanoms made in a specially shaped tin, shaped into 2" small saucer shapes? - were everywhere, and were completely addictive. Coffee in the western places was pricy and bad. In particular, Scandinavian Bakery - sort of an institution back in the day - had terrible coffee. Avoid.

Best breakfast was khao soi at Talaat Phousi, the main market. This is not the Chiang Mai dish, although they overlap. It was noodle soup with moderate spice, a thin orange-ish broth, and a mix of shredded meat and spices thrown on top. It was very, very good. There are plenty of other stalls in that back part of the market, and I highly recommend foraging there, although it can be hot and there are a lot of flies. In the produce section, there was plenty of fresh produce and little bags of condiments, most typically jaew bong but also tamarind and eggplant sauces, if you looked.

The night market in the alley behind the Ancient Luang Prabang hotel is probably one of the few in SE Asia where I've heard a tourist loudly yelling in English to a vendor that they want their "order" after they've found a seat, and after they've eaten their appetizer and THEN they want the vendor to bring their order over to them... ah, the new Luang Prabang. I didn't luck out with anything special here. The grilled foods were being re-heated, so lost a lot of succulence. Found one curious dish - a bright spring green, smoothly pureed and slippery, like okra or mouloukhiya, but with virtually no taste.

I'll have to do a separate write up about the meal at Tamarind, since it was a chowhound's delight.

Khammouane:

Thakhek: not a great food scene, from what I briefly could tell. We ate at the busiest riverside place, and they took me at my word when I said I could eat spicy -- the papaya salad was blistering hot and fishy - well done, but crazily hot, which was sort of more fun psychologically than physically. The rest of the food on offer was mostly ultra-grilled black meats, fish and duck, which ranged from okay to a little gross.

Gnommorat: This was so weird. This is where they are building part of the huge Nam Theun dam, so this out of the way place is now a giant work camp, with two copycat nice restaurants (all new, wood walkways, tons of tables). I wouldn't have picked it, but Lao companions wanted to. It was so bizarre to see English menus wiith "steaks" and pan-Asian dishes, yet they had no sticky rice... or laap... or even foe... or Vietnamese food, if that's what they were aiming for. The basic stirfries - pak boong, chicken and ginger, cabbage - were nicely done, but the whole scene is just too weird.

Sala Hinboun: if you're visiting KongLo cave, this is the only actual restaurant for now (mad development here, it will change). The food is very fresh and while it is competently prepared, it is deeply modified for western tastes, so do NOT get your hopes up. "Chicken with spicy sauce" just means chicken with excellent basil but very few chilies. The haw mok was quite nice too, good lemongrass, but not as complex as I'd hoped. This is probably a better place to indulge any western cravings you may have, though unfortunately I did not have any at the time, or stick to very simple things.

Xieng Khouang:

In Phonsavan, we had my birthday feast at our hotel, the Maly. It's not aiming to be traditionally Lao, but has a very extensive fusion menu and uses very fresh ingredients ("nouvelle Lao," the owner called it). The "duck stew" (must order in the morning) was braised duck in a sweet sticky sauce. The sauce was mild, but the duck was probably the best duck I ever had--perfectly braised-- and the sauce worked beautifully with accompanying steamed cabbage. Spicy veggie curry was also very good. Extraordinary service at this place - lighting the little candles made out of old cluster bombs, pouring wine for my birthday, getting a cake from the market with my name and lurid blue icing flowers. The cake was wretched, but who cares?

They also impressed me with simple fried rice the night we arrived really late, filthy, cold and hungry. Maybe it was just the cold and hunger, because I've never thought this way about fried rice, and rarely order it, but it was really great. It made me think that somebody in the kitchen actually cares about the food. I don't think the Maly folks think we tourists want to eat local food, but I bet they could be convinced. I think the owner's wife would also arrange a cooking lesson, if you are staying long enough and she has time.

Must to avoid: Phonekeo, on the main strip. I went because my book said it had a huge range of local food, but that's completely wrong - it is just ordinary food horribly prepared. The laap was like Asian Hamburger Helper, completely swimming in grease. There is just no way laap should end up in this situation.

Muang Kham: little restaurant at the main crossroads, across from the bus station and Kaysone statue, behind a fruit stand, has really tasty stew pots, if you don't mind risking food that has been sitting out (a far bigger health hazard than raw veggies). We had an excellent bamboo shoot soup/curry - really strong tasting, enough heat to stand up to the fermentation. Also a great pak som, a green, and a richly tasty, though not spicy, pork belly stew.

Home cooking:

In Khammouane, crashed one night in a village below the Nakai plateau. Our lovely host was a good cook - dinner and breakfast were chicken soup, and I have no idea how it cooked so quickly. He'd put the water on the coals to boil, and then killed the chicken, skinned it, and I assume cut it up but I didn't look/see, went and cut some herbs from his garden pots, and in a few minutes, we had an excellently flavored, delicately gingered chicken broth. It was served with sticky rice, of course; a fantastic jaew that had sprightly fresh green herbs in it; and most intriguingly, a cold dish of some bitter crunchy root that looked like bamboo, but tasted completely different - quite bitter, but still succulent. He said it was from the woods, and that they eat it a lot, but I didn't remember the name.

Another night in Luang Prabang, I cooked ao larm and a few other dishes at the Vanvisa GH. Mrs. Vandara, who runs the place, is known as a foodie. She wasn't around, so I cooked with her niece. I wouldn't say it was a cooking "class," but more just hanging out in the kitchen, slowing things down with my bad Lao kitchen skills (insanely dull knives and no cutting board--just slicing in your hand), communicating as best we could (she thought I spoke more Lao than the, like, 20 words I know). The ao larm used some interesting techniques, and TONS of greens and herbs I catalogued, but don't know how to translate. I am not sure how to replicate this without them, since they offered a huge amount of vegetal fullness and bitterness. To round out the meal, we made gaeng om, which seemed like a Thai tom jeud--a clear soup with pork and lots of greens and bit of celery; and eggs stirfried with moo som, or sour pork. This is like naem--raw pork mixed with its own skin for crunch and garlic and salt, and wrapped in a banana leaf to ferment for 2 days. It is not a taste I like - in the same way I don't like corned beef or pastrami - but stirfried with tons and tons of caramelized shallots, whole garlic cloves (about 10 of them), chilies and eggs, it was a perfect salty complement. All told, a really fun evening.

[rworange]

What a great report. Thanks so much. Looking forward to your report on Tamarind.

[erica]

I will step in here and give a big thumbs up to Tamarind in Luang Prabang. This place is run by a Lao/Australian couple and offered,by far, the best meal I had in 6 days in LP. They are open only for lunch (as of 1/08) except for Friday nights when they take advance bookings for a communal Lao "feast." A minimum of two people can book ahead for dinner on other nights, but since I was alone..that was out.

The lunch menu is not too large. I ordered lemongrass stuffed with herb-spiked minced chicken. I don't know enough about Lao food to be too specific but suffice to say that the flavors just sung. The large lemongrass "bulbs" were beautifully charred and the flavors were sparkling and intense. Together with a fresh lime juice, this was, again, the best meal I had in 6 days in LP.

They sell a few Lao food products and from the menu text it is clear that these people have an appreciation for the food and flavors of Laos that goes beyond what I found in other restaurants in the city.

They also offer cooking classes, I believe.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Thank you!!

Laos is one (if not the most) of my favorite of food countries. My work there spread out over a decade or more was mostly in remote rice growing areas. I appreciate your appreciation of khao niayo (sticky rice). I too can happily eat sticky rice and a bit of sauce. But didn't you usually have it with laap? Laap (for those that don't know) is always served with raw long green beans and with fresh leafy greens. The best part of remote rural laap is that it is (or can be) served with different leaves from farm and forest. I tried to find out what they were. Some were tender new leaves from unidentified trees; others included new leaves (small, pale colored, tender) from coffee and mango trees! And never an oily or greasy laap to be had.

People would also occasionally slaughter a cow or pig: then the fun would start, because people have ways to use every single bit--really good.

Unfortunately, on my last trip to Laos late last year, the opening up to tourists and the huge influx of investment and building everywhere was somewhat disturbing, bit mind-boggling. I still found the types of foods I enjoy--in markets, on un-touristed streets, and the like. But still...

On my flights back to Colombia from Laos, I started with a big plastic bag of freshly cooked sticky rice + some local sauce (also in thick little plastic bags tied off with rubber bands). Enjoyed every bit of it throughout the long flights.

[foodfirst]

I don't know how to react to this report. I love it for the (as always) incredible attention to detail. At the same time it leaves me a little depressed and wondering if I should go back to Lao or not (it's been 12 years...). But, as usual, this has been great reading. Thanks for posting.

What was your gaeng om in Luang Prabang like? I tasted this for the first time at a morning market in Lampang and was blown away. As for all those greens and herbs you catalogued but can't translate ... any chance of describing them or listing the Lao names? I'm betting many are similar to what you would find in N Thailand. (BTW have you see Alan Davidson's Lao recipe book with the section on herbs and greens? I've found it helpful with N Thai ingredients.)

[mary shaposhnik]

Finally some time to check back in. On the general depressing front, while I, too, was basically disappointed food-wise, I have hope that others could do better. For one thing, on reflection, I realized that my best meals in 1998 were in Vientiane and Luang Prabang, and that elsewhere, it sucked. I skipped Vientiane this trip, and I have a strong hunch that that is the best place to look for good food. It will have the biggest markets, and the biggest restaurant-going Lao population.

Second, I didn't get a handle on the language, and while some of the terms are the same as in Thai, others seemed different. I knew a little more Thai (food terms--which I've now forgotten) when I was in Thailand, and it made it a lot easer. With your language skills, you'll be able to have discussions to get at some good stuff.

Also, foraging wasn't as much a priority on this trip as it was on others, and I was often too busy juggling other things (e.g., trying to find a driver to take me down a road I found only on Google Earth and a Vietnam war map). Some places looked promising: the morning market in Paksan, for instance, where I had an excellent morning soup (no different than the regular kind, but just very fresh and tasty, served by very friendly people), had lots I would have explored, but I had to motor.

So although I'll be totally jealous, I'd say go, and just expect to dig a little harder than before.

As for gaeng om, I have been scratching my head over this one. Is there some defining characteristic of this? That's what she called it, but it didn't seem anything like the bite or two of a "gaeng om" that I had in Pua (same place I tried northern laap), which was very dark and organ-y. What we made in Luang Prabang was basically a clear, clean soup. In a pot of water, we boiled some pork, shallots, chilies, and tons of garlic, and then added some cabbage or greens and chinese celery at the end. No other aromatics or spices that I recall (I may have missed one or two, but those are the basics). I couldn't really communicate enough to figure it out. It was quite good, but in that "plain fresh taste of greens" way. In local places, come to think of it, I had this kind of thing a lot: a clear, thin soup mostly of greens was served alongside any other dish, mostly as a way of eating greens rather than drinking the broth. I DID love that lightly cooked greens showed up so prominently in my meals -- very healthy.

Thanks for the Davidson book lead--I don't have this! It would have helped. I am sure it is quite similar to northern Thai, and especially to the stuff in Nan (which is really not that far away from LP). I wrote down the greens in the ao larm I cooked in Lao, but can't type that here and can't read the handwriting any more. And probably some of them are completely basic, but I am very bad on these kinds of things. But my notes say they included:

-- sakhan, the peppery wood/vine: this stuff was CRAZY. Is it the same name in Thai? I hadn't encountered it before. It was cut up in big lardons in the stew. We sucked on the pieces once it was cooked, and it was very spicy.
-- phak HAHT (that's how it sounded): this was very bitter, and similar tasting to the sakhan. I couldn't figure out what it was.
-- phak tamling: like spinach, but stronger
-- pak i-tou: I think this was holy basil, or at least some kind of basil
-- pak lee: I have no idea what this was, no notes
-- hua si khai: same here, didn't take notes on what this was.

Also used some dill (maybe that's one of the above?). One thing I noticed was that dill did not predominate, as it did (too much so) in the ao larm I had in restaurants.

Any ideas as to what these are would be great!

[erica]

Thank you for posting this great report. I am planning to take my first trip to Laos (only to LP and Vientiane, though) early next year and will look for further posts on the country. I am very excited about food that awaits!

[foodfirst]

The gaeng om we encountered in a Lampang market sounds similar to what you had in Pua - and completely diff to what you had in Lao.

As for the veggies /herbs:

'sakhan' sounds like 'jakkan', as it was called in Nan and Chiang Mai. Sort of a soft wood with a peppery bite? Added to curries.

phak HAHT sounds like 'pakkat' in N Thailand - yellow-flowered mustard, something like a very mature (tall/long) choy sum. We had gaeng pakkat and pakkat blanched and served with nam prik.

phak tamling sounds like 'pak damleung', a vining green with maple-shaped leaves, mild and pleasantly 'greeny'. David Thompson mentions it in his book in, I think, the part in the front about N Thai food

pak i-tou - I'm stumped. Doesn't sound like any N Thai names for basil that I've heard. In Nan they call lemon basil 'gumgaw'.

I've heard dill called 'pak chee Lao' (pak chee = coriander and pak chee farang = western parsley sometimes, other times it might also be dill)

[S_K]

Pak-i-tou is lemon basil in Laos...at least that's what it's called in the area that my parents lived in.

[mary shaposhnik]

Hey, thanks! If you don't mind my asking, what area was that? I'm just curious about terminology...

[savan]

"hua si khai" is lemongrass.

"pak lee"?...I think you probably meant to say "pak see", which is Lao dill. In Thailand, Lao dill is known as "pak chee lao". If you haven't noticed, some words with the S sound in Lao is pronounced with a CH sound in Thai.

i.e. "Pak See" (Lao dill) in Lao = "Pak Chee Lao" in Thai.
i.e. "Luk Sin" or " Luk Seen" (meatballs) in Lao = "Luk Chin" in Thai.

[aventinus]

Wow, I can't wait to follow these leads in Luang Prabang. I was very happy with the food during my two days in Vientiane.

Kualao: Once in a lifetime meal. Very exotic. I didn't recognize some vegetables, such as some boiled caper-like buds on stems that the waitstaff called "meket." The menu is full of fascinating stuff I wish I had more time to try (e.g., chili sauce with "water bug flavor"). Beautifully prepared and presented. Ordered "spicy," was spicier then what I get in Chowhound-favorite Thai restaurants in the USA when I order "pet ma"--that is, the food was VERY spicy. One appetizer ("river weed"--superb!), fish larb, a vegetable dish, sticky rice, dessert, and two fruit shakes amounted to $14. The setting was lovely. There were Lao dancers and a three-man band playing Lao traditional music. Absolutely go here.

Khop Chai Deu. Set off many alarm bells. See the menu here. http://www.khopchaideu.com/menu.htm. One of several do-it-all restaurants in Vientiane. They serve Lao, Thai, Western, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, you name it. A trendy bar setting. Extremely popular. Seems like a tourist trap or expat hangout--not the place to order Lao food. I thought about leaving, but ended up ordering the "Lao Discovery set meal." It was great, especially for the price (<$10 with a couple of fruit shakes). Ordered "spicy," was very spicy, but not as spicy as Kualao. Not quite as exotic either, though the food certainly didn't come across as Westernized. Nice place, recommended.

La Terrasse. Started off great. House white wine was a minerally chardonnay, I would guess Chablis, very nice with food. Sliced baguette and salad with fried camembert were excellent. However, the fish in pepper cream sauce was overcooked to the point of ruin. Quel dommage.

Scandinavian Bakery. Comfort food for Westerners. Very popular. Though the pizza wasn't anything to write home about, it was tasty and much appreciated. Cookies were great. Carrot cake was good.

JoMa. Another very popular place, and deservedly. The chocolate croissant was superb. Coffee grown in Laos probably won't challenge the best from Guatemala, Ethiopia, or Sumatra any time soon, but JoMa's coffee was solid--the best I've had in quite a while here in SE Asia. Recommended for a light yummy breakfast.

[aventinus]

Luang Prabang Report
----
Overall very good even without considering the prices, which may be roughly 1/4 to 1/5 of USA prices for the closest equivalent. Outside the 3 Nagas restaurant there is a NY Times article posted. The writer notes, accurately, that if 3 Nagas were moved to NYC there would be a line out the door. The same could be said for many places in Luang Prabang.

3 Nagas. Almost as good as Kualao in Vientiane and my favorite meal in Luang Prabang. They had a fish dish that was like larb but called something else and was seasoned with banana flower. Excellent. With chopped fresh chilis, this dish may be too spicy for most Westerners, even though 3 Nagas is an upscale place and I didn't make any special request. Also ordered a nice mushroom and green chili paste accompaniment. These chili pastes are all over Laos and can be smoking hot, though not so much at 3 Nagas. Also great was the fruit salad with a light Szechuan pepper syrup--a remarkable taste combination that I am very glad to have experienced. I don't remember this meal being as expensive as Mary remembers. I'm thinking $9-10ish.

Apsara (lovely hotel BTW). I had a Western dinner here--watercress salad with gorgonzola and walnuts, penne with olives and capers, and tapioca in coconut milk with mango and palm sugar. Each was close to flawless, though none was terribly exciting. Expensive by Luang Prabang standards, cheap by USA standards. Probably $15 for the above. Also had a very nice lychee daiquiri here--not too sweet.

The Three Elephants. Had an unusual chicken stew that was purportedly a Luang Prabang specialty. The most interesting thing about it was a pronounced juniper flavor. Also interesting was that the eggplant was cooked to the point that it formed the texture of the stew. Nonetheless, the stew was very watery (no coconut milk). It was bland to my tastes (not spicy in the least). The front page of their menu says that Lao people don't put chilis in their dishes, but instead serve chili pastes as accompaniments. However, I was served chilis in my dishes throughout Lao, including on Lao Airlines! Fried morning glory in a garlicky brown sauce was essentially perfect. Overripe banana and coconut in fried sticky rice balls was better than I expected.

L'Elephant. By far the most expensive restaurant in Luang Prabang. I was worried I would be disappointed because I didn't see any good Chowhound reviews, so I just got dessert, a three-fruit tarte tatin. I thought it was a mess. The fruits were syrupy and sloppy and the tarte was lopsided and falling apart by the time it reached the table. The fruits needed to be firmer--sweet mango just didn't work. The crust was both soggy from the fruit and burnt. However, the place was packed with people, some dressed in attire too elegant for Luang Prabang, others in Beerlao t-shirts.

Tum Tum Garden (not to be confused with Tam Tam Garden. Actually I hope I am not confusing them. Tum Tum Garden, I think, is the one close/adjacent to the Sports Bar). Good by USA standards (and great factoring in the price), but mediocre by Laos standards. Larb tofu was not a great dish. The tofu was in big deep fried chunks. I was hoping that it would be steamed or uncooked tofu to soak up the flavors of the dish. Not that there was much flavor--this seemed pretty Americanized. On the flip side, Luang Prabang yellow mushrooms, fresh picked from the forest, in a light coconut milk sauce was great (probably because the dish didn't need much spice). Spring rolls OK...which reminds me...

Spring rolls. Available all over the place, always good. You can get them from the outdoor markets for 10-20 cents a piece. Though in the USA I prefer the fresh ones, I liked the fried spring rolls better in LP. They're nothing too special, but eat one and if you're anything like me you'll be addicted. In restaurants an order of spring rolls means 5 or 6 springs rolls...

Lao Lao Garden. An amazing bar decor-wise, with a beautiful terraced outdoor garden. Decent cocktails, cheap Lao Lao (worthwhile rice whiskey), and great spring rolls (outstanding $2 snack food). If transplanted to Los Angeles, would be one of the coolest bars in town.

Hive Bar. Right next to Lao Lao Garden. My gin gimlet was made with Bacardi rum and was not very good. But because it was happy hour I got two! Hooray. Again, if transplanted to LA, might be the hippest bar in town.

Khmu Restaurant and Massage. Recommended for several reasons. They have a full range of Lao Laos to try and also herbal Khmu Whiskey. The latter is supposedly 90% alcohol but I find that difficult to believe. It had subtle rounded flavors that weren't harsh at all--I was impressed. The bright Khmu waiter explained that the Khmu people think it's a potent elixir. Food here wasn't memorable but was good (you can always get spring rolls!), and (it should go without saying at this point) outstanding for the price. Couple it with a Khmu massage. Good place, owned by a local Khmu.

Guangxi waterfall. This is a must-see sight in the LP area. A short walk from the waterfall and pools there are several bamboo huts serving simple Lao food. I finally got a chance to order a grilled Mekong fish, which you will see all over Laos. It was exquisite. With a refreshing papaya salad and a whole coconut to sip from, this was a special meal in a very special place.

That Sae waterfall. Not as impressive as Guangxi, but still beautiful and worth a visit. There is a bamboo restaurant built into the hill overlooking the falls. The sardine salad here could have been served as a first course in a fancy hotel restaurant. That said, I didn't think much of it. But eating it with the backpacker favorite (Ratebeer drainpour) Beerlao and watching the elegant cascading falls: priceless.

Nazim. The location on Sisavangvong (sp?) Road. Malai kofta was among the best I've ever had. What made it great was a unique smokiness in the creamy sauce. Prawn biryani was poor imo. I think the rice was not basmati rice. It was too glutinous. Could it possibly have been rinsed sticky rice? The biryani sauce was too bland and liquidy. Paratha was terrible. Crispy rather than chewy, burnt. Obviously a mixed bag here.

Joma. As in Vientiane, Joma's croissants and coffee are worth seeking out for breakfast. Also try Sinouk coffee (there is a big sign for it and steps leading up to a guesthouse serving it), which was even better (not as roasty, had good bright lemon peel flavors and was well rounded). Did not like the cookies I got from Scandinavian Bakery here--gave them to some kids.

[aventinus]

a correction. I didn't have paratha at Nazim (I was thinking of a place in Siem Reap). I had cashew nut pakoras. These were nothing special to me--batter-fried cashew nuts just didn't seem all that appealing.

[erica]

Just found this..will save for my trip.many thanks!

[pessoa]

Could the 'meket' have been fresh green peppercorns on the stem? We've had them in Khmer and Issan dishes and they're amazing. http://www.simply-thai.com/Thai-Marke...

[Ike]

Thanks for recommending the khao soi at Talaat Pousi (alternate spellings: Phousi or Phousy or Pousy). I just had some for lunch and it was GREAT!

Also picked up some really nice-looking kai pen and jaew bong there, but haven't tried it yet. I had kai pen for the first time last night at a riverside restaurant that Dave Cook recommended, Somchanh (or Somchan), and it was great. Much like seaweed, but better than any seaweed I remember eating. (And in fact, at Pousi, the vendors call it seaweed in English, and I kept saying, or thinking, "Well, actually it's river moss, isn't it?") Somchanh also had fabulous fried shrimp.

Anyway, here's a photo of the great khao soi at Pousi.

[mary shaposhnik]

Your photo nearly brought tears to my eyes, wishing I were back there right now. Thanks for the follow-up.

Aventinus, thanks very much for the detailed restaurant reports as well. A lot of these places are highly recommended in many books and I fear may have gotten tired over the years, so it's very helpful to get this kind of update.

[erica]

Mary I have just read the long chapter on Laos in Tim Parker- Bowles book, "The Year of Eating Dangerously." He raves about restaurant Mali, which I guess is the same that you mention above...Malee.

He also rhapsodizes about a dish of "baby bee" in Vientiane. Any information on that unusual specialty? The book contains lots of information on Lao food and I recommend for anyone planning a trip, although the specific restaurant information does not hold a candle to what you have offered us here...

I am headed that way in January and want to thank you again for your fabulous reports...

[cinematch]

My husband and I just returned from Southeast Asia and we are dying to find a recipe for the snack that you refer to as :"morning coconut custards - what are they called? those little khanoms made in a specially shaped tin, shaped into 2" small saucer shapes? - were everywhere, and were completely addictive." DId you ever find out the name (or get a recipe)?

[annamatic]

cinematch, there's a recipe here: http://importfood.com/recipes/kanom_krok.html
a picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/annamati...
mmm, i miss lao food...