Laos - Vientiane Restaurants and Bars

[dirtydog]

The thread of where to eat, where to drink, which are the best and worst places in Vientiane, actually I have to admit I was not disappointed with any of the restaurants we went to, ok the bars weren't quite on par with Soi Yodsak in Pattaya, but we didn't go there for the girls, although they are pretty damn good looking and quite friendly towards us nasty farangs, plus my friend is a TEFLer so he can't do those sort of nasty things us normal folks do, plus he is married aswell and his wife was with us so he didn't stand a chance.

So first restaurant is The Sweet Corner on Sihom Road which was opposite where we stayed at the Sihom Hotel Guesthouse place.

Actually Vientiane is pretty good for food, we done French food, Indian restaurants and still missed out on loads of other stuff like Pizza and that.

This restaurant I think is owned by a farang and is about 500 meters from the main street of restaurants by the Mekhong River.



Nice outdoor area for eating, never did see anybody eating inside but this is a newly opened restaurant.



The breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon, ham and a roll.



Mine was ham and cheese baguette with french fries, this cost about 70baht, funny thing is coffee cost 35baht while a large beer Laos cost 30baht, I really should have started drinking in the day time



Backpackers menu for the restaurant.



It's about 28,000kip to 100baht or 3 US dollars, so that gives you an idea of the prices, personally I think the prices, food quality and selection is way ahead of Thailand, maybe it would have been good for Thailand if they had been taken over by the French.

[dirtydog]

We shall get to the lovely Indian restaurants in Vientiane later, for now lets stick with European food, although this place also done Thai food.

This is Addy Restaurant, it's on the wrong side of the road to be viewing the Mekhong river, but most of those places are for the night time, anyway we needed sandwiches or baguettes as the nasty French call them, these cost between 10,000 and 20,000 kip, ie 30 to 60baht so they aint gonna break the bank.

Cigarettes in Vientiane cost about 10baht per packet for the Laos and Chinese ones so they are quite a bargain.



Only reason we were inside was that it started raining.



Look at that lovely cheese and ham baguette, about 15,000kip.



This is my sausage and cheese roll, not sure what butter they use but it sure does taste good

[dirtydog]

This picture of NaZim Indian Restaurant i took in the day time, got to admit that evening it was a difficult choice between Indian or Mexican food, yep, there is that much choice in Vientiane.

Again this restaurant is down by the river Mekhong and on the wrong side of the road, but hell, who cares when your eating lovely Indian food.



So we got 3 curries, 2 rice and a mint nan bread, with a beer each the whole lot came to about 300baht, yep, Vientiane is damn cheap for food and beer.
So going from left to right let me introduce you to our dinner, vegetable curry, chicken madras, rogan josh, the rogan josh was my favourite, the mint nan bread was the first time I had eaten that, normally go for cheese or garlic.



Close up picture of the mint nan bread.



The lovely rogan josh, chicken it was.



Some of the menu.

[obsidian]

they used a cheese butter when was there that was wonderful.

[Mr Earl]

I could live there just for those NaZim indian restaurants. They're also in Vang Vien and Luang Prabang.
The expresso at the Scandinavian bakery is the best too, that those little butter cookies are positively evil!

[dirtydog]

ahhh, that must have been it, it sure does taste good though.

So lets have a look at the street food in Vientiane, no where near as prolific as in Thailand and they eat frogs little cute ones that they BBQ.

[dirtydog]

Ok first up we got the Carlsberg bar boat on the mighty Mekhong river, this is a bar for the evenings, soft drinks cost half of what beer does so are not really worth drinking, 35baht a big beer sounds good to me.

The river you can see is flowing about as strongly as I can piss after a few beers, so mighty may not be the right word to describe it.



One of many similar restaurants on the banks of the river Mekhong.



Would look so much better if there was some water in the river.

[hooter]

I'm going to Vientiane for the 1st time mid-March interesting stuff.

[dirtydog]

So you want to be rich and look good in the street cafes of Laos?
Time to get some Lao Kip, for 4,000baht or about 120 US dollars you can become a Laos Millionaire, although I should mention that a note as small as a 500kip note wouldn't actually buy you anything, I was in an internet cafe, my bill came to 2,500kip, I gave her 5,000kip note, she gave me 2,000kip and 3 boiled sweets for change

The beer costs about 10,000kip for a large bottle, ie about 1 US dollar

[dirtydog]

The Nazim Indian Restaurant.



Some drink prices, beer costs two times as much as water and 10 percent more than a coke

[dirtydog]

The entrance to the Carlsberg beer boat on the river Mekong.

[dirtydog]

Had quite a few of these stall type places selling ham and cheese rolls, also got pate and that.



Farang food all over the place.



The Swedish Pizza and Baking house, this is off of the river front a bit and down a side street.



Or you could even try some Lao food.

[dirtydog]

This lady was the only food vendor I saw that actually carried her stuff with her.



The Wind West bar, only open in the evenings and has a live band.



The Victory Club, which consists of the Xaya snack bar, Xaytana Night Club and probably a few hot Lao girls

[MARC]

I notice that all the restaurant prices are in kip. My hotel advertises in USD$'s .
What is the preferred currency, $'s, baht, or kip?
Is the bridge the best place to change money to kip?
Thanks.

[ChiangMai noon]

Been a while since I went but i don't think you don't need to change baht for kip at all.
everybody is happy to accept the baht and give you change in kip for any item.

[dirtydog]

Dollars baht or Kip, it don't make a difference to them, just make sure you give small notes in whatever currencey.

[benbaaa]

I notice that all the restaurant prices are in kip. My hotel advertises in USD$'s . What is the preferred currency, $'s, baht, or kip? Is the bridge the best place to change money to kip? Thanks.

Yep, me & Mrs BB stopped at a Martini bar early one evening to try a mango martini. The menu was all priced in US$, we paid the bill in Baht and they gave us change in Kip. Useful to be good at mental arithmetic in Laos.

We also went to that Nazim curry place and it was ok-ish, but I definitely get better Indian food here in Chiang Mai.

[kingwilly]

I gave her 5,000kip note, she gave me 2,000kip and 3 boiled sweets for change

yep, they do the same here, in indo, also. legal tender they are!

[benbaaa]

It's probably a good idea to take some cash with you too. There are ATMs you can use, but they only dispense upto a daily maximum of 700,000 Kip - ie 2,500B or enough to pay for 4 nights in a decent guest house/family hotel.

[benbaaa]

Here are some of my snaps...

[benbaaa]

[benbaaa]

[benbaaa]

[benbaaa]

[Thai Pom]

Great Photos. I have enjoyed many a bottle of wine in the French place, can't remember the food !!!