Souk Savanh Restaurant, lao and thai cuisine [Oakland]

[shanghaikid]

Soul Savanh takes over the spot of the black & white. they claim to serve both lao and thai food. believe they lean to the lao side more.

tried lao sausage (5) fresher than black & white , nice pungent dipping sauce
larb salad (5.95) with chicken was fresh and very tasty also. liberal use of vegetables.
majority of pricing 5.95 and down. portions moderate.
thai dishes listed. believe strength is in laos food.

souk savanh restaurant
1927 international ave.
[phone]

[...tm...]

I stopped by here for lunch earlier this week on a nam kao quest and think I found my favorite version so far. Not only did it have the crunchiest bits of rice, there was also some scraped coconut in the fried mix. The dressing needed a bit of lime, but was otherwise very flavorful.
I wanted to try something else while I was there but didn't want to end up with a too many leftovers situation, so I ordered the kao fune for $3. Descrbed as "our Laos style jello made out of rice flour in a light tomato broth served with our homemade spicy soybean paste", I actually expected not to like it, as I'm prone to think things like mochi or rice cakes are too bland and not worth eating, even as a vehicle for sauce. But the delicate texture of these (like Jello, as they say), along with the lightness of the broth really appealed to me. The homemade spicy fermented soybean sauce was delicious--very salty on its own, but a great addition to this room temperature soup. I hadn't heard of this before, or gotten any rice-flour preparation quite so silky. A little searching leads me to believe this may be from some slaked lime in the batter. I got some decent info here http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatinga... especially in the comments section. It seems it is also known as Kao Laeng Fuen or Klang Fen or klang fin from the lu-Mien tribes. In fact, googling with the menu spelling leads me to believe that this place is a remodel with very similar menu of the Black and Silver Laos Food and Burger that was formerly in that location (though no more burgers on the menu). There is a Laos Special page, however.

[twocents]

Been here half adozen times since they became souk savanh. First time, i was looking for Black & Silver. Prices have gone up a bit since this post, average more like 6.95. I really enjoy their version of pad kee mao, the chef seasons it well, agressively. Definitely more Lao then Thai, as are many of the places in the area... Chai Thai and Champa. I like the kao piak, chicken noodle better here than at the other two places. Kao poon katee is also tasty. Worth a try. F