Dining out in Vientiane
I liked Luang Prabang a lot since it was fun biking around town, going to the market for tropical fruits, and just relaxing, but in restaurants my taste buds fell fast asleep. I think since the tourist to local ratio is like 9:1, many restaurants serve food that's under-spiced and overall quite dull.
The eating scene in Vientiane is much better. Tourists are fewer here, and while there are a lot of foreigners still, a lot of them are in the diplomatic or NGO community who have money to spend and are potential repeat customers. Vientiane is also the commercial center for Laos, and locals here seem to be better off. So the general rule played out: fewer tourists + more disposable income = good food.
The first night we were in town, our hotel staff recommended Kua Lao, just around the corner. I hadn't heard of this before from the guidebook or other sources, and first impressions weren't great since we practically had to rouse the staff from watching TV to be seated and get a menu. We chose the tasting menu, which at 150,000 Lao kip ($18) is the second most expensive meal on my trip so far (the most expensive being Brasil a Gosto in Sao Paulo). There was grilled chicken, duck larb, sour fish soup, eggplant dip; in total 9 dishes and then fresh fruit. Later, I read this former expat's blog post about eating in Vientiane, Kua Lao was called "the fanciest and best Lao food in town." Indeed, there were a lot of locals there for some special occasion party. A great first meal in a new city.
The next night, we ventured by tuk tuk east of the tourist center to Bounmala restaurant (you can find it on tourist maps). I had learned about this restaurant from a blog I follow about eating in San Diego. Entering the restaurant, the first thought in my mind was, "these plastic chairs need some good Mr. Clean Magic Eraser action." But that's often a sign of a good local restaurant! Here, we tried the roast pork, bamboo shoot soup, and I think my favorite dish of all of the restaurants in Vientiane, the bindweed salad. It's like the salad we made in the Luang Prabang cooking class, but the dressing was more sour, the vegetables had varying textures and crunch, and it was served with preserved egg, which I believe is more traditional and definitely tastier than the hard boiled egg we put in our salad.
The following day, we went to try Restaurant Na Dao, which was recommended as the best French food in town by a few different sources. Adjacent to the Patuxay monument on the west side, there's barely any sign that there's a restaurant here. But seeing what looked like the French Ambassador's car parked outside, with the driver waiting patiently inside, I felt pretty good that we were in the right place!
Na Dao offers a very nice 3 course set menu with a couple appetizer options, a couple main course options, fruit for dessert, and tea and coffee, for 72,000 kip or $8.60. The food was tasty if not particularly exciting, but there was gracious service, and it was fun to hang out with some distinguished, diplomatic looking foreigners.
Our final dinner in Vientiane was at Khop Chai Deu, a place popular among expats but also drawing a good number of locals the night we were there. The food here tasted pretty safe and not all that great, so I'd give this a pass if I come back to Vientiane.
