Another pic from earlier the same day.

Not from me of course, but from Phia Sing, a former royal cook in the palace of Luang Prabang. The 115 recipes, originally written on notebook paper by Phia Sing, and later compiled and edited by former British diplomat, Alan Davidson, comprise what must be the most fascinating cook book I’ve ever encountered. Fascinating not only for the scope of obscure and delicious-sounding recipes (many of which were palace recipes and involve intriguing ingredients such as freshwater stingray, fish egg membrane and deer), but also for the vibrant and entertaining writing (Davidson also wrote the Oxford Companion to Food), Davidson’s interesting background on Lao food culture and ingredients, not to mention the context in which the recipes were obtained (Davidson was ambassador to Laos from 1973-75 and explains that he was probably the last Westerner to meet with the final king of Laos, King Sisavang Vong, who personally lent him Phia Sing’s hand-written recipes).

Lending the book a fairy-tale air is the fact that it was allegedly Phia Sing’s dying wish that his recipes be published. This mood is also evident in the endearingly anachronistic way Phia Sing describes measurements, examples of which include minced pork ‘the size of a hen’s egg’ and fish ‘the size of a man’s hand’. Some of Phia Sing’s recipes can be seen online here. I’m particularly keen to try the jaew bong (a chili paste associated with Luang Prabang) and the khoua sin fahn, a seemingly rendang-like dish of deer braised in coconut and a curry paste.

Highly recommended. If you’re not in Laos, the book can be purchased here.

After two weeks in Vientiane I have to admit that I’ve found relatively little in the way of Lao food worth sharing. I’ve encountered one exceptionally good Lao restaurant, a decent phở’ stall and a pretty solid night market, all of which I’ll blog about soon, but for the most part I get the impression that the vast majority of people here appear eat dinner at home, and when eating out, require little more a bit of grilled meat and Beerlao. This is unfortunate for visitors, as Lao food really can be good, but I imagine that much of what people manage to eat here is either gentrified for foreigners, or as is more often the case, just kinda crappy.

In voicing my thoughts to some local foodies, I was pointed in the direction of a laap restaurant near Vientiane’s northern bus terminal. I cycled out there this morning and amazingly found the place, which even more amazingly, considering that today was Lao Women’s Day (congratulations, Lao women), was open.

The proprietors of Han Khay Laap T2 (disappointingly, a reference to the name of the road the restaurant’s located on, not the Hollywood film) are friendly and even appear to speak a bit of English. The place specialises in beef dishes, in particular laap, which is prepared raw, par-boiled (shown at the top of this post) or fried, but also do a few other dishes including foe (Lao-style phở’), grilled beef (tongue, heart and teats), tom kheuang nai ngua (a thick broth with beef innards), koy paa (similar to laap, but made with big chunks of freshwater fish) and kaeng som paa, a tom yam-like soup with fish from the Mekong:

The laap was an excellent example of the Lao-school of the dish – tart, meaty, crunchy (from roasted and ground sticky rice) and herbal – and unlike most places, the obligatory veggies that accompany it weren’t wilted and even appear to have been washed. The restaurant also succeeded, somewhat, in alleviating my pessimism about finding good Lao food here, and made me realise that I just have to ask the right people.

Han Khay Laap T2
Thanon T2 (Located roughly across from Khounxai Hotel)
020 551 349
8am-3pm Mon-Sat

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Recently Global Post Thailand Correspondent Patrick Winn and I got the chance to visit the headquarters of the Lao Brewery Company (LBC), the brewers of Beerlao. For those not familiar with the brew, Beerlao is figuratively and literally the beer in Laos, commanding a staggering 99% market share. It’s often also generally considered the best beer in Southeast Asia; a lot like saying Chateau de Loei is the best winery in Thailand, although I must say that the brand’s Beerlao Dark is an unusual lager and a tasty beer by any standards.

The LBC brewery is located 12km from Vientiane at Tha Duea, and on weekdays from 10am onwards offers free brewery tours and tastings. So following a brief circuit of the brewery, and not long after breakfast, Patrick and I found ourselves conducting the following ‘research’:

Much of the rest of the day is a blur, so here follow some random facts about Beerlao and the Lao Brewery Company (LBC):

-The Lao Brewery Company dates back to 1973 and was originally a joint effort between French businessmen and the Lao government

Inside the Lao Brewery Company, Vientiane, Laos

-After ‘liberation’ in 1975, the Lao Brewery Company was taken over by the government, which today retains half (the other half is owned by Denmark’s Carlsberg)

At the Lao Brewery Company outside Vientiane, Laos

-In 2008 the Lao Brewery Company produced 210 million litres of beer in its two breweries in Vientiane and Pakse

Inside the Lao Brewery Company, Vientiane, Laos

-Beerlao is presently available in 10 countries around the world (although paradoxically it’s still relatively hard to find in Thailand)

Inside the Lao Brewery Company, Vientiane, Laos

-Beerlao’s current brewmaster, Sivilay Lasachack, studied brewing in the then Czech Republic

Glasses of Beerlao at a restaurant in Vientiane, Laos

-Of the malt used to produce Beerlao, 70% is barley from Belgium and the remaining 30% is rice from Laos

At the Lao Brewery Company, located outside Vientiane, Laos

-In 2009 the Lao Brewery Company introduced Beerlao Gold (pictured at the top of this post), using ’sapphire aroma hops’ from Germany

Read more about Beerlao in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and NPR.

I’m updating the next edition of Lonely Planet’s Laos guide, and have based myself in Vientiane, that country’s capital. I’ve rented a colonial-era shophouse strategically located within walking distance from an excellent Lao restaurant, a traditional Lao sauna, the city’s evening market, two very good French bakeries and the tam maak hung stall illustrated above. I’ll most likely in Laos for the better part of the next three months, and you can look forward to dispatches on the places mentioned above, and more.

After more than a decade in Bangkok, I’m still stumbling upon new entirely new dishes and places to eat. My latest discovery is an obscure intersection near Bangkok’s Chinatown that is home to several restaurants serving kuaytiaw khua kai, a fried noodle dish that’s also a relatively recent discovery of mine. The dish, which consists of wide rice noodles fried with chicken breast and pickled squid and served over lettuce, I first encountered at this alleyway vendor in Chinatown. He has been my go-to guy for the dish, and I don’t believe I’ve tried it anywhere else.

Until now.

For some reason, the Phlapphlachai intersection is home to at least five restaurants and street stalls serving kuaytiaw khua kai. Visiting the area over the course of two nights, I did three of these restaurants.

Located right at the intersection, Nong Stamp:

Does the standard kuaytiaw khua khai as described above, but we opted for the slightly unusual seafood version of the dish (pictured at the top of this post), which includes fresh shrimp and squid. Smokey and crispy, it was a very good interpretation of the dish, although I found it a bit under seasoned, and missed the combination of chicken and egg. (Nong Stamp also has an interesting menu of other non-kuaytiaw khua kai dishes, so you can expect to hear more from me about this restaurant in the near future.)

Just up the road, Nong Ann:

does several versions of the dish, and very little else, other than tasty fruit shakes (try the watermelon). We opted for the traditional, chicken with pickled squid:

Although good by most standards, particularly in terms of seasoning, it wasn’t as satisfying as Stamp’s, lacking the smokiness and slight crispiness I associate with kuaytiaw khua kai.

Located in an alleyway behind Nong Ann, Nay Hong immediately won me over its huge crowds:

ridiculously old-school and photogenic setting:

and crusty old cook:

who cooks the dish, over coals, almost pancake style, allowing the messy mixture of chicken, eggs and noodles to crisp on one side before flipping the whole lot over en masse. This provides the dish with a crispy texture and lots of tasty singed bits:

Smokey and well seasoned, and it’s the perfect kuaytiaw khua kai.

Kuaytiaw Khua Kai vendors
Phlapphlachai Intersection, Bangkok
Dinner

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Northern-style Chinese food is relatively hard to find here in Bangkok. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as most Chinese-Thais trace their roots back to southern China, and anyway, heavy wheat-based food isn’t generally the first thing people reach for when they’re sweating from every pore. So stumbling upon Khrua Paking (Beijing Kitchen) while actually in search of another restaurant, was a spot of good luck.

The restaurant appears relatively new, is a literal hole-in-the-wall, located in a neighbourhood I imagine only Chulalongkorn University students are familiar with, and serves most of the northern-style standards. The dish above, which was recommended, combined tasty hand-pulled noodles with a minced pork topping and slices of cucumber. The pork topping had an intensely meaty flavour and an almost dried texture.

The restaurant also pushed their flash-fried greens:

which, seasoned with garlic, a pinch of salt and a few drops of soy sauce, and just barely cooked, were very Chinese and very good. It’s funny how such a simple dish can be so hard to find in Bangkok (the Thai equivalent uses different greens and seasonings and a lot more oil).

I’m usually not a fan of Chinese-style soups that combine egg, corn starch and vinegar, but the restaurant’s Sichuan soup:

was actually pretty good.

There was a salad of Sichuan-style preserved greens:

which was a bit heavy on the sliced leeks, but crunchy and satisfying.

And fried dumplings:

although to be honest I thought I was ordering something similar to the stuffed breads described in this post. These were good, if a bit greasy, and like all the dishes here, were fully flavoured, made and served with confidence, and exceptionally cheap. Khrua Paking is definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for something a bit different. And yes, it’s air-conditioned.

Khrua Paking
229 Soi Chula 11, Bangkok
02 611 9281
10am-10pm

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Located near Bangkok’s historic Nang Loeng Market is a narrow alley where you’ll find two slightly different dishes, united in their use of the same name, a crispy shell and a predominately sweet flavour:

The first vendor, Ya Sam, makes the rarer form of khanom beuang (pictured at the top of this post), a crispy egg- and flour-based omelet filled with bean sprouts, tofu, coriander and a savoury/spicy mixture of coconut meat, shrimp, black pepper and coriander root. The dish is served with a sweet/sour dipping sauce that combines sliced cucumbers, chili, ginger and shallots. Frankly, I find this type of khanom beuang a bit too sweet, but this is a personal preference, and in fact think these flavours are probably representative of authentic old-school Bangkok-style food.

Virtually across from this stall there’s also a vendor of the more ubiquitous form of khanom beuang:

Lung Noy still makes these crispy taco-like snacks the traditional way, with a bean-based batter and two fillings, sweet, which combines dried fruit and sweet duck egg yolk strands, and savoury, which has a spicy shrimp mixture similar to the one mentioned above.

An ideal one-stop meal destination for those who appreciate linguistic redundancy, sweet flavours and a bit of crunch.

Khanom beuang vendors
Soi 4, Thanon Nakhon Sawan, Bangkok
Lunchtime

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I often get emails from people en route to Bangkok asking me to recommend the best places in town to eat. I reply to these when I can, but sometimes the volume of mail can get overwhelming, so back in 2006 I put together a blog post to address this problem. I recently stumbled upon the post, which by now is somewhat out of date, and thought it was high time to provide an updated version.

Again, this isn’t a definitive list of Bangkok’s best restaurants, but rather a general guide aimed at first-time visitors trying to make sense of the city’s food offerings.

If you’re fresh off the plane on your first trip to Thailand, I still feel that the best place to dip your toe in the water of Thai food is a mall food court. They’re clean and cheap, the menus are written in English, you have a wide range of choices, and actually, the food can be pretty good. My favorite food court is probably the one on the sixth floor of Mah Boon Krong (also known as MBK). There you’ll find most of the Thai standards, a huge variety of Thai-Chinese food, and there’s even a stall selling Thai-Muslim food and a good vegetarian stall. The food court in the basement of Siam Paragon is a bit more expensive and mostly Chinese-Thai, but is also a decent and convenient choice. If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, you could also try one of the slightly more downmarket food centres such as the two huge food halls at the end of Silom Soi 10 that serve the area’s hungry office staff, or Food Plus, the alleyway between Soi 3 and Soi 4 at Siam Square.

At this point you’ve found a dish or two that you like and are likely at least somewhat familiar with the flavours of Thai food. Assuming you’re on vacation, you’ll want to hit up at least one upscale Thai restaurant. Unfortunately I haven’t actually been to many upscale Thai restaurants in the years since I wrote the first version of this post. The only one I’m really familiar with right now is Bo.lan, which despite having eaten there at least five times, I’ve yet to blog about (they’re open for lunch on weekends now, so I’ll get around to it soon). The restaurant is owned and run by two former chefs of David Thompson’s London restaurant Nahm, and their dedication to great ingredients and obscure old-school Thai recipes combine to make it a worthwhile investment. Another alternative, although it’s upscale in the Thai sense, is the delightfully old-school Sorndaeng.

Once you’ve downed a few plates of food court nosh and have consumed the requisite nice Thai meal, I reckon you’re ready for the next step in Thai dining: a good food neighborhood. In my opinion, this is the highest level of Thai dining, and a good food ‘hood will have mix of good stalls, specialist shops and a good all-around restaurant or two.  The downsides to this are that you’ll need a bit of experience to recognise what’s on offer, and language can be a barrier. If you’re game for a bit of adventure, one of Bangkok’s best is the area around Thanon Tanao:

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a strip of road teeming with legendary Thai eats, including several specialised vendors including my favourite khanom beuang the excellent Paa Thong Ko Sawoey, and a few good all-around restaurants such as Chote Chitr, Poj Spa Kar, Kim Leng and a couple blocks away, Krua Apsorn.

At this point you’ll have sampled a cross section of Thai cuisine and you’re most likely ready for the final step: Thai street food. These affairs are generally only open at night, are not the cleanest restaurants you’ll ever see, very little English is spoken and are located in inconvenient parts of town. But the food can be outstanding and the experience fun. In this regard, I wholeheartedly endorse Bangkok’s Chinatown:

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Simply walk down Thanon Yaowarat, avoid the annoying touts at touristy seafood restaurants, and pay attention as you reach the intersection at Soi 6. There you will find virtually every form of Chinese-influenced Thai street food. In this area I particularly like the egg dishes at Nay Mong, the kuaytiaw khua kai vendor and Nay Uan’s kuay jap.