Laotian cuisine is quite an unknown, not only in Singapore where I came from but many parts of the world. It shares many similarities with Thai cuisine, especially that of Isan region in northern-east Thailand.
Lao staple food is steamed sticky rice, otherwise known as glutinous rice. It is often served in a small bamboo woven basket. Traditionally eaten by hand, the rice is formed into small balls before dipping into sauce and dishes. To Laotian, sticky rice is considered part of their identity, the essence of what it means to be Lao. In fact the Lao refers themselves as ‘luk khao niaow’ or ‘descendants of sticky rice’.
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Street Food
Street food can be found in many corners of town, mainly sold by vendors with mobile or makeshift stalls. Many would also gather during morning market or night market where there is higher footfall.
Coconut pancake
Coconut pancakes or khao nom kok is a popular snack sold in night market. The main ingredients for the batter are rice flour, sticky rice flour, coconut cream and sugar. Each pancake is made of 2 half-moon pieces sandwich together. It taste slightly crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside and taste best eaten hot off the charcoal grill. Bought these at 5 for 5,000 kips (S$0.80) in a sustainable take-away cup made from banana leaf.
Lao Baguette Sandwich
Lao-style baguette is a remnant of the country’s past when it was a French protectorate. Known as Khao Jee Pâté, the sandwich is similar to Vietnam’s bánh mì. The sandwich is made by slicing the bread lengthwise and stuffing with choice of fillings. Luang Prabang’s night market has a few stalls selling this. This tuna and avocado baguette made a hearty dinner for me on one evening at 15,000 kips accompanied by Taiwanese bubble milk tea.
Other combinations includes ingredients such as egg, ham, cheese and tofu. For sweet fillings, you can choose from peanut butter, jam and Nutella.
Lao-style Crepes
Another popular food item which is likely to be a culinary legacy left behind by the French: crepes. My evening snack of chocolate and banana crepes at 10,000 kips with pear fruit shake at 15,000 kips. There are choices of both sweet and savoury fillings. Other sweet fillings include condensed milk, apple, mango and honey. Examples of savoury choices include ham, tuna, egg and cheese.
Grilled sticky rice
Tried grilled sticky rice cake or khao jee at the morning market. It is a flat rice cake, dipped in egg before grilling over charcoal fire. The snack has a thin crispy layer on the outside and soft on the inside. It is served on a banana leaf and usually eaten with thinly spread chilli sauce which was really spicy. Cost 2,000 kips or S$0.30.
Grilled Larva
For an exotic snack, Laotian also eat larva wrapped in banana leaf and grilled over charcoal fire. Each bite pops the larva and out flows juice of a creamy texture that tasted slightly salty. Cost 10,000 kips or S$1.55.
Khao Soy
Lao Khao Soy is a widely-available, popular breakfast dish. It is made of flat rice noodle with a clear soup base, topped with mince meat, tomato, fermented bean paste and spring onions.
Khao Piak Sen
Dinner for one of the nights was a bowl of pork and chicken noodle soup know as khao piak sen for 15,000 kip. Thick rice noodles with thin strips of pork and chicken in a clear, flavourful broth, topped with coriander and herbs.
Rice Porridge
If you are at Wat May for Tak Bat in the morning, head to the make-shift stall at a corner of the temple for a local breakfast of rice porridge. At 7,000 kip, I got a bowl of steaming hot rice porridge with thinly sliced mushrooms, tiny shrimps, minced pork. Add a raw or braised egg at 3,000 kip and you get a hearty breakfast. Add condiments such as fish sauce, Maggie sauce, lemon juice, pickled ginger or chilli, chilli sauce or sugar for extra flavour. When I walked past much later, the stall-holder also served sliced fried dough fritters.
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Coffee Breaks
Cakes
Indigo House Hotel, where I stayed, has a ground floor cafe which sells a variety of homemade cakes and bread daily. This attracts a steady flow of customers especially during the evening. Tried their mini mango and lemon pound cakes, sold at 12,000 kips each.
For something more local, there are cake shops along the street selling whole cakes with butter cream. Reminds me of what I used to have as a birthday treat during childhood. A pity I never see any sliced ones in them though.
Coffee
Coffee is grown in Laos and predominantly in Bolaven Plateau in the south of the country. The fertile soil, high altitude and cool climate makes the area a suitable for coffee production. An estimated 95% of Lao coffee hail from Bolaven Plateau, with the two main types produced being Robusta and Arabica variety. Many of Luang Prabang’s cafes proudly proclaim to be using coffee beans grown and produced in the country.
Coffee break with iced mocha from Lao Coffee Bean, opposite Indigo House Hotel. Besides the Bolaven Plateau, coffee beans are also grown in Luang Prabang Province. Lao Coffee Bean claims to source their Arabica beans from the latter and the coffee was good. They use environmental friendly bamboo straws for take-away too.
Enjoyed an iced hazelnut cappuccino at Dada Cafe with view of the Mekong River.
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Mass-Market Restaurant
Lao Cuisine at Coconut Garden
I had a short break in one of the local mass market restaurant at Kuang Si Waterfall. This one sells a mix of Lao and Thai cuisine. One item on the menu that caught my eye was their Er Python stew as seen in the bottom right of poster below. I’m certainly not brave enough to try that.
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Buffet
Lunch at Manifa Elephant Camp
During my day tour to Park Ou Caves and Kuang Si Waterfall, our group had buffet lunch at Manifa Elephant Camp. They serve mainly local dishes such as Luang Prabang salad, barbeque skewered meat, pumpkin soup and khao soy. Laotian-style pumpkin soup is cooked with coconut milk, giving it a creamy texture with tint of sweetness from the pumpkin.
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Mid-Range Restaurants
Lao Cuisine at Coconut Garden
I had lunch at one of the popular local restaurant, Coconut Garden, on Day 1. The combination of delectable food and attentive service made it an enjoyable dining experience.
Ordered their popular crispy river weed (a.k.a Kaipen), and sour chicken soup with acacia leaves to go with steamed rice.
Kaipen is a seasonal specialty made from river weed harvested from Mekong and other rivers from December to May. The weed is cleaned and sun-dried, topped with sesame seeds, garlic and tomatoes. Taste-wise it is very similar to Japanese seaweed. Here’s an informative link to how Kaipen, a Luang Prabang seasonal specialty, is made from river weed.
Lao Cuisine Sampling Menu
Many Luang Prabang restaurants offer sampling menu, which is a good way to try out a variety of local dishes at small portions. I went for a sampling menu set at Bamboo Vatsene Restaurant, another popular restaurant.
I chose set 9 – Lao Authentic of Luang Prabang at 110,000 kip, out of the numerous choices. The meal started off with crispy fried banana snack with thinly sliced lemongrass and peanuts.
This set’s starter comprises of eggplant salad dip, sticky rice salad wrapped in cabbage and kaipen with pickled cucumber.
The main course consists of traditional Luang Prabang pork stew, lemongrass stuffed with chicken, steamed vegetables, local spicy chilli sauce and sticky rice.
The homemade Lao dessert of the day is fried banana with coffee sauce.
I had to stuff myself silly due to the large servings. Overall, the food was good but the service standard was disappointing as compared to Coconut Garden.
