8 best restaurant foods in Vientiane

I did a blog post a while ago about my favorite restaurants in Vientiane -http://katiesasianadventures.blogspot.com/2013/09/top-five-restaurants-in-vientiane.html?m=1 - but when I arrived back in Vientiane last week I made a new list of the specific foods I absolutely HAD to have.

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: 

Manchego custard

Milk chocolate bread pudding with whiskey sauce

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 :)

Crepe Savoyarde (ham, potatoes, melted cheese)

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!

Goat cheese salad

Flemish stew (served with fries and gingerbread)

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 :)

Duck laap and morning glory

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...

1 Year Anniversary in Laos!!

A year ago Friday (May 30th), a group of 7 of us traveled from our development center in Denver to Vientiane, Laos. 

Long story short, due to some bad weather and some crappy management by American Airlines, the trip had to be rescheduled from a 27 hour journey (Denver> LAX> Seoul, S Korea > Vientiane) on May 29th to a 35 hour journey (Denver > LAX > Seoul, S Korea > Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam > Phnom Penh, Cambodia > Vientiane) on May 30th with United Airlines. It was quite the ordeal...

But Friday morning breakfast was Lotee/ Roti/ Paratha/ Pancake/ Crepe, depending on what you call it, and it was, as always, delicious. Almost all the Americans got the same thing: Chocolate banana with milk. ("Milk" = condensed milk and it goes on top of the deep fried deliciousness that is the Lotee.)

Frying up the sugariest greasiest breakfast ever. 

After work, Nick and I went to Xang Khoo, the French restaurant where we've eaten a lot over the last 12 months (also where we spent Christmas dinner with my family and our coworkers). As our meal ended, it started down-pouring outside. And of course, per Nick's insistence, we had taken the scooter. 

We ended up scootering home in the mini-typhoon. We were absolutely SOAKED by the time we got back to the apartment. 

In honor of one of our coworkers' last week in Vientiane, he hosted a poker game - 12 of us playing Texas Hold-Em. I'm terrible, particularly (a) I'm a horrible liar, and (b) I get really impatient, which does not a successful poker player make. Still, with a 200,000kip buy-in ($27) it was pretty fun and fairly competitive.

Plus I found root beer at one of the local grocery stores!

I left early (I think I was the first one to lose all my chips?) but it was a fun way to celebrate one year.