Top Five Restaurants in Vientiane
1. Pimenton- Spanish, Argentinian, Western
$$$
For my "perfect meal", I would order Spanish food, cheeses, chocolate desserts and well-made sangria. This restaurant has all of that. It's really new and run by this incredibly awesome Spanish woman (who is also fluent in French and English, and married to a French Lao man who cooks some incredible steaks.
It's more expensive than pretty much any other restaurant than I go to in Vientiane, but that's still really cheap compared to any other city. For a steak dinner, dessert and two glasses of wine, it's about $30.
Favorite things to order: Sangria (60,000 kip/ $8 for a carafe), the manchego cheese "pudding" (it's like a cheese dip, but so good you want to eat it with a spoon), Calamari, Milk chocolate croissant pudding (40,000 kip/ $5)
Sangria
Nick, unwilling to share his milk chocolate croissant pudding.
2. Le Banneton- French, Western
$$
This place is only open for breakfast and lunch, but their brunch set is incredible. Weekends it's usually full of expats, even if it's just for "takeaway" to grab some pastries or a baguette (so far, I think the baguette at Le Banneton is the best I've had in Vientiane). Next door to Pimenton.
Favorite things to order: Big brunch set, which includes a croissant, mini salad, toast with smoke salmon and creme fraiche, OJ, coffee and a "salted muffin" (which is delicious) for 65,000kip/ $8; for lunch the Salade au Vientianoue Chaude, which is really a mix of foods like salad and olive ratatouille and this super sketchy eggplant "mousse" BUT it comes with these mini baguette toasts with goat cheese (from Vientiane) and Lao honey, as well as eggplant and sundried tomatoes. SO GOOD.
Salade au vientianoue chaud
Big brunch
3. Dhaka- Indian
$$
The restaurants surrounding the fountain near Lao Plaza have kind of a weird set-up. There are a bunch of tables set up in front of one particular restaurant, but any of the restaurants around the fountain can serve you. This includes a Lao/Thai restaurant (the main one), a Japanses restaurant, and Dhaka, the Indian restaurant. The guys who work there are great and the food is delicious. While there are cheaper Indian restaurants in town, I haven't found one I like better.
Favorite things to order: The mango lassi is good (15,000kip/ $2), but what makes this place awesome is the curries. The chicken tikka massala and chicken shai korma are to die for, especially when you skip silverware and just use naan to eat it (40,000- 45,000 kip, $6). Nick and I regularly do massive take-away orders that can last us up to 6 meals, and never really spend more than 100,000kip ($13).
Fountain
4. Ray's Grill- American, BBQ
$$
This is another newer restaurant, which is owned by an American from right near Seattle (minor freakout at meeting someone from back home!). Deliciously greasy food is his specialty, from burgers, to the greasiest Philly cheesesteak I've ever had to a quesadilla that's more like a chimichanga (based on all the oil seeping out of it). Not at all healthy, but that's not why you go there. You go because it's absolutely, chin-dripping delicious. Daniel, the owner, is also the main cook and the cashier, which makes it kind of crazy when there are a lot of people, but it's a great place to grab a bit. Behind Wind West, next to CCC Bar.
Favorite things to order: Philly cheesesteak (38,000 kip/ $5), Burgers with avocado/ cheddar cheese/ bacon (35,000 kip/ $5). They also have Pac NW microbrews, like Widmer Brothers beer from Portland, OR.
5. Green Cafe- Lao, Thai
$
I recognize how sad it is that this is the only Asian restaurant on my Top 5 list. My favorite cuisine has always been Thai, Indian and Vietnamese, but when you are constantly surrounded by Vietnamese and Thai food, it loses some of its specialness.
But this place, which is close to our work, is delicious, it's cheap, and it has the most amazing watermelon shakes known to man. The servers who work here do not really speak English (though the cook in the back does, and will usually come out when it's time to pay), but you communicate your order through pointing at the pictures along the board in the back of the restaurant. The seating is covered, but there are no walls so the mosquitos can be crazy. Kind of hidden, down a tiny trail from the main street, near Swedish House and Bakery north of Patuxai.
Favorite things to order: Panang curry (20,000kip/ $3), Phad thai (15,000 kip/ $2), Watermelon shake (5,000 kip/ $.65).
The "menu"
Runner ups (and restaurants with great Lao food, in particular)
1. Lao Garden- Lao, Thai
$$
We can here as part of our orientation tour, and the service is good, location is pretty and the Lao/ Thai/ Chinese menu has a lot to choose from. It supposedly can get quite crazy on weekend nights, especially with locals, but I've never been there at that time. A little further out of town but it has the best fish laab I've had yet.
2. Makphet- Lao
$$
This place is downtown, down an alley connecting two of the biggest expat. tourist streets in town. It's pricier than pretty much any other Lao restaurant, but Makphet is part of a non-profit organization, and apparently most of the servers and kitchen help come off the street and are taught a trade. It's a beautiful restaurant, and the food is pretty great, especially for people who want to order Lao food from a menu they can actually read :)
3. Spirit House - Western, Lao
$$$
Along the river, a little ways out of town, but it's a very pretty restaurant and the cocktail list is more extensive than I've seen in a while. Not just the basics, either- they have the standard mojito and Singapore Sling, but the restaurant also came up with some originals, especially ones that have a Western/ Eastern fusion (35,000 kip - 45,000 kip/ $5- $7). The food here is pretty good, too, but nothing compared to their cocktail list.
4. La Signature, Ansara- French
$$$$
Easily the most expensive restaurant I've been to in Laos, and the fanciest. It's pretty, with outside seating and white linen table cloths, but their menu fixe is the really great thing about it. For a basic three-course menu it's around 160,000kip ($22), for their "Signature" menu (5 course meal with wine pairings) it's about 600,000kip ($80). A carafe of house red wine was incredibly reasonable, and way better quality than the average house wine, at about 80,000kip ($11) for a carafe.
