By Evelyn Nguyen, Oct 7, 2024
Laotian cuisine shares similarities with the flavours and ingredients found in Thailand and Vietnam, featuring fresh herbs, spices, noodles, and rice. Sticky rice, known as khao niaw, is a staple food in Laos. Traditionally steamed in a cone-shaped bamboo basket and then served in a covered basket, it is eaten by hand alongside spicy soups and meat-based dishes. Dining in Laos is a communal experience, with dishes shared among everyone at the table.
In addition to local delicacies, Vientiane, the capital of Laos, offers a selection of excellent French restaurants and cafes, a legacy of the country's colonial past. If you're seeking authentic cuisine during your visit, be sure to explore this list of must-try foods in Laos.
Kaipen (or kai paen) is a Laotian delicacy made from freshwater green algae that grows in the Mekong river in northern Laos. The algae is washed, pressed into thin sheets, and sprinkled with garlic and sesame seeds, before being dried under the sun.
The best way to enjoy kaipen is to fry the sheets until they are crunchy and dip them in Jaew Bong – a spicy sauce made with roasted chilli and buffalo skin.
Khao Jee is a Laotian version of the Vietnamese banh mi – a baguette filled with lettuce, tomato, carrot, onion, moo yor (pork sausage), ham, and pâté or chilli sauce.
This Laos street food is easy to find and affordable, as many vendors sell it on the road. Khao jee is a popular breakfast choice, paired with a cup of potent filtered coffee.
Khao poon is a Laotian dish that warms your soul, with rice vermicelli noodles in a hot soup. The soup is cooked for a long time with meat (chicken, fish, or pork) that is pounded, fish sauce, garlic, shallots, chillies, lime leaves, galangal, and perilla leaves.
You can also add various toppings such as shredded cabbage, shallots, spring onion, coriander, mint leaves and string beans.
Sai gok (Lao sausage) is a tasty Laotian starter that goes well with sticky rice and fresh veggies. It’s usually made with minced pork meat and flavoured with lemongrass, galangal, kaffir leaves, shallots, cilantro, chillies, and fish sauce. You can see sai gok dangling on hooks at local markets and street vendors in Laos.
Larb or laap is a meat-based salad that many regard as Laos’ national dish – it has a zesty flavour from mint leaves, chilli, fish sauce, and lime juice. You can find larb with pork or chicken in most restaurants, but you can also try it with minced beef, duck, or fish.
Like most Laotian dishes, locals eat this salad with sticky rice and different side dishes.
Laos pho is a beef noodle soup that comes from Vietnam but is also popular among the locals. It contains thin slices of beef, pork, or chicken, tripe, meatballs and sometimes organs (heart, liver, or tongue). You can have it with flat or thin rice noodles. Laos pho is usually garnished with chilli oil, lime juice, bean sprouts, long beans, holy basil, and cilantro.
Or lam is a thick and mildly spicy Lao stew that comes from Luang Prabang. It has beans, eggplant, lemongrass, basil, chillies, wood ear mushrooms, cilantro, and green onion.
A special ingredient in this stew is mai sa kaan a vine that grows locally and is not really edible (you’re supposed to chew and spit it out). Or lam also has dried buffalo meat, beef, or chicken meat.
Sien savanh is a snack that goes well with Beerlao (lagers made by the Lao Brewery Company). It’s like beef jerky but made with beef flank steak (or water buffalo meat in some places) that’s marinated in garlic, fish sauce, ginger, sesame seed, sugar, salt and black pepper.
The strips are then dried in the sun. Locals like sien savanh by grilling it over a charcoal stove for a smoky taste, before having it with sticky rice or jaew maak len (a chilli dip with tomato).
Som moo is a Laos appetiser made from chopped, fermented raw pork – with the rump and skin – wrapped in green leaves. The meat has fresh chillies in it, which makes it spicy.
You can have it raw or grilled, but the locals like the raw one better. Have Som Moo with raw cabbage leaves and string beans, which make it less sour.
Tam mak hoong is a Lao papaya salad that is like Thailand’s som tam – green papaya, garlic, tomatoes, chilli, palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce are mixed in a mortar. This salad skips peanuts but adds fermented fish sauce and shrimp paste as the key ingredients. It can be too spicy for some, but you can make it milder by having tam mak hoong with sticky rice.
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