1. Pimenton: steak, manchego custard and the milk chocolate bread pudding. I love 90% of the things on the Pimenton menu (and sometimes when they change the menu they get rid of my favorites). But the manchego custard appetizer and the bread pudding are two of my favorite foods in the world:
2. Xang Khoo: crepes. My favorites are the Savoyarde and the Presale (which is almost more of a salad than anything). The thing I love about this restaurant is that they are great with big groups- I came here for my birthday last year :)
3. Ban Gai: UFO at best Tex Mex in Asia. I unfortunately didn't have enough time to go there this week but I did have my 'leaving Laos' dinner here back in June. The UFO (unidentified fried object), which is like a deep fried burrito stuffed with bacon, beans, cheese and topped with guacamole and queso, is SO good but also SO unhealthy so I usually ask to split it with someone.
4. Masa Spoon: dinner dishes, especially the duck breast. Man, I love duck breast. The restaurant itself is really sweet, too. Unfortunately there was a fire here last Thursday so the restaurant was closed all week.
5. Chok Dee: mussels (on the weekend), Flemish stew, goat salad. We were here on a Monday so no mussels but I love that it is around 100,000 kip ($13) for a kilo of mussels!
6. Le Banneton: brunch or the lunch sandwiches/tartines. Incredible French menu. (Ran out of time)
7. Soul Kitchen: my favorite pizza in Vientiane. Particularly the quirky pizzas, like the Big Apple (apple slices and Gorgonzola cheese) or the Hannibal Lecter (meat lover pizza to the extreme)
I got this on my first night back in Vientiane but didn't take any pictures...
8. Lao Kitchen: laap, and Lao food in general. It's a bit more touristy (esp due to location) so it's pricier but the people speak English and the food is clean. And I love getting their duck laap with morning glory and sticky rice. The mango with sticky rice for dessert is delicious too :)
There are other runner ups, both restaurants in general (I visited the Joma coffee shop at least 3 times) and food from street stalls (the chocolate paratha from the Nazim food vendor/ across from Salana Boutique hotel is sooooo good) but I feel like I did good by Vientiane by visiting my favorites. I even tried a new burger joint called Sputnik which has a $23 burger with foie gras and bacon peanut butter ! (And killer chocolate shakes)
Between all the food and no gym, I probably gained a couple pounds in the process, too, but Nick and I are both about to do a LOT of walking...
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Laos? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Laos in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez