#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Laos Forum >  >  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  :Smile: 



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.

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## 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  :Smile:

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## 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.

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## obsidian

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

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## 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! :Smile:

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## 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  :Sad:  little cute ones that they BBQ.

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## 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.

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## hooter

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

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## 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  :Sad: 

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

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## dirtydog

The Nazim Indian Restaurant.



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

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## dirtydog

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

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## 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.

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## 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  :Smile:

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## dirtydog

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

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## 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.

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## 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!

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## 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.

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## benbaaa

Here are some of my snaps...

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## benbaaa



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## benbaaa



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## benbaaa



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## benbaaa



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## Thai Pom

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

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## benbaaa

^ Thanks, TP.  I really like the eagle one.  When's the next photo competition, DD?

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## MARC

I have been told that many Western imported food items, ie: cheese, etc., are available in Vientiane, and are less money than they are in Thailand, due to low duty?
Any recommendations or locations of shops that sell Western food items?
Thanks.

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## qwerty

I just loved the fresh baguettes you could get there.  Here's a chicken sandwich I had:



And here's the girl who made the sandwich:  :Smile:

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## dirtydog

This was on Samsenthai Road, they got a few restaurants that do the fresh fruit juice, me, I'm not into all that healthy stuff do had a sausage Baugette, although why they think sausages are actually hotdogs I have no idea.



Inside the restaurant.



8,000kip or about 30baht for this baugette, wish Thailand had something compareable price wise.

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## dirtydog

Due to getting pissed and passing out in my hotel at 6.30pm my plans of having a Mexican meal then an Indian meal that evening were slightly messed up, luckily Nazims opens at 9.30am.

I have a feeling that they have also put their prices up, my chicken rogan josh was 28,000kip, ie about 110baht, still well worth the money and got to admit I had a couple of cigarette breaks whilst eating it due to the amount of chicken in it.

Inside the Nazim restaurant.



I sat outside as I am not sure if you can smoke inside, probably can and there was no one else there that early in the morning.



Lovely rogan josh with plain rice  :Smile: 



and onto my second helping.

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## dirtydog

So what better to do Laos than sample the Lao beer, this was a Lao restaurant but I didn't bother eating here, so here's my first beer  :Smile: 



Pretty tatty restaurant on Mahosot Road but it was next door to my hotel.



Then it got exciting, this old Lao guy came wandering out of the toilet pointing at something and shouting, a couple of the girls run off, by the time I got up to look it had got under the crates, the old guy then asks me to help him lift the cooler box to catch the thing, hmmmmm, I asked if it was poisonous, they said yes, so they expect me to lift the cooler box where some unknown animal that is poisonous is lurking under there, I assumed it would have been a big monster cobra, we then discussed what sort of animal it was and I felt a bit braver.



Yep nearly a foot long of nasty centerpede  :Sad:

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## jandajoy

Did it taste good?

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## dirtydog

No idea, the old guy let it go across the road.

Anyway if your looking for some action in Vientiane then they have the Etoile Nightclub right by the That Dam monument thingy.

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## dirtydog

Here is a better picture of the evil bugger.

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## Aquaman

They have a Nazim restaraunt in Pakse as well.  worst bathroom ive ever stepped foot in.  nearly puked.

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## dirtydog

Indians and bathrooms do not go together.

Is this Indian restaurant on the river front a new one? It's called the Fathima Restaurant, first time I saw it anyway.

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## dirtydog

This Mexican restaurant down on the river front in Vientiane has got to be good, well a lot better than the crap in Pattaya, just wish I didn't spend my days getting pissed and actually made it there  :Sad:

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## Aquaman

Ive only drank beer there, cant say anything about the food.

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## dirtydog

Vientiane unlike Thailand doesn't charge extortionate taxes on wine, so here's one place to go.



Some french wine and some fruit, things don't get better than this.

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## Dick Rangerous

Nazim's curry house is pretty so-so these days... sounds like your meal was fine but BE WARNED Nazim's gets so much business they don't have to try with their food anymore. I was left very disappointed from their shop in Luang Phrabang and have since boycotted their chain. The curry was dead plain, had few raw spices in the mix and the nans were like old cardboard. Lazy chefs in Nazim's.

Instead, give the FATHIMA place a try in Vientiene, I was well pleased with the vindaloo, meaty samosas and garlic nan....
but the best value INDIANS in Laos for those that know are NISHA curry houses. There isn't one in Vientiene but there's a shop in Vang Vieng and another in Luang Phrabang..as it says on the menu.... "NISHA -CHEAP AND BEST". Great Indian food and at far better rates than just about the rest of SEA. (Though there is one place on Weather Station Hill, Sanookville that just about beats allcomers but that's another story.)

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## Key Knock

what about La terrace? they had the best long island iced teas in town...

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## benlovesnuk

i would have to disagree with you about the atm's as there is an atm outside the grande hotel(whatever it might be called), and it dispensed me 1 million kip, there might have been an option for more however my mid is rotting away so i cannot remember..........

yes my brains all gone!

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## Aquaman



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## Aquaman

Had quite a good feast there.
rather hung over from the previous evening while there, 7pm.
right to bed after that.

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## sabang

Le Cote D'Azur restaurant is on the riverside promenade in Vientianne, the farang strip.

Had an excellent meal there, and run by a nice Thai/Laos couple. Definitely one to try, and for about a third the price it would cost you in Bangkok for similar standard French fare.

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## peterpan

To add to the food thread, this is the best Value in Lao. a Bottle of Chilean Cab Sav and a French roll with salad and Pork Terrine for less than 300 Bt. 
Fvcking so awesome I ordered one more of each after finishing this one. The bread was great in fact much better than the Scandi Bakery one I had this morning. The wine was more than adequate, the 2 nd bottle even better.
If only the same could be had in Thailand.

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## Aquaman

Its amazing the difference, i could never get over why you couldnt find nice food close to Lao.  The food in vientiene is great.

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## benbaaa

> i would have to disagree with you about the atm's as there is an atm outside the grande hotel(whatever it might be called), and it dispensed me 1 million kip


You're quite correct, er, ben.  The ones that only dish out 700,000 kip are the BCEL bank ATMs.  We also discovered the ATM opposite some big hotel, and I think it allowed upto 2m or 3m kip.

You'd never be able to get all that in your wallet, of course.   :Very Happy: 

Regards,

er, ben

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## Watanaporn

> To add to the food thread, this is the best Value in Lao. a Bottle of Chilean Cab Sav and a French roll with salad and Pork Terrine for less than 300 Bt. 
> Fvcking so awesome I ordered one more of each after finishing this one. The bread was great in fact much better than the Scandi Bakery one I had this morning. The wine was more than adequate, the 2 nd bottle even better.
> If only the same could be had in Thailand.


Hi..it looks good. Where is this place?

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## dirtydog

This is the latest place to open in Vientiane, I went past it in the day time and thought it would be a good place for the evening due to the girls sign  :Smile: 



Sadly it seems the girls haven't found this place yet and there was just 2 sad lonely male customers and the barman, maybe next month?

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## dirtydog

If you are hungering for some real Laos food they still have chicken head stalls, think they went in the noodle soup  :Sad:

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## Aquaman

That doesnt look too good.

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## watterinja

Blatant prostitution is illegal in Laos. The laws are enforced fairly heavily. Most of the seedier nightlife happens underground, or so I'm told.

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## Ghandi

Great food pics  , but I was bored to tears in Laos  :Sad:

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## the dogcatcher

I don't know if this is true everywhere but the hotel staff in my hotel turned into corridoor girls when their shift was over.

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## pesky tourist

[quote=Mr Earl;523947]I could live there just for those NaZim indian restaurants. They're also in Vang Vien and Luang Prabang.

There's another branch of this family-owned chain in Huay Xai across the river from Chiang Khong.

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## melvbot

I went to Nazims on Monday, ordered chicken jalfrezi, steamed rice and garlic naan. The garlic naan was great, the steamed rice was steamed rice and the chicken jalfrezi was 95% vegetables, there were a few bitty strands of chicken in a mountain of cabbage, taste wise average to be honest and the value was poor for what was offered. I was pretty disappointed with the meal and will think twice about eating there again.

 I ate at a couple of different places for breakfast and I cant say any was worth the 30,000 kip they charged for 2 eggs, ham, crap bacon, stupid hot dog cocktail sausages, coffee and bread, the bread being the only redeeming factor. Ive had better for the same price in Thailand.

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## jarne

hello
another nice tread.


been to Vientanne afew times as well as LP.

V gets a bit boring when you are used to pattaya living.

regarding the girls they are easy available in bars and #snackbars# where you select from the fishbowl and then join you at your table and you make a deal.
Have the same system in PP at many local restaurants.
A few gh/hotels dont allow girls in the room, but just ask before booking.
Ive tried Nazir but it was not to my liking. PP have great cheap indian food.
But they have great noodle soup in laos, wow, I really miss the noodle soup, and there is a lot of sweet girls. 
Most of the massage places have nice girls and i have often brought two with me for dining and talking. And usually they give you a happy ending. Sweet girls.
They make their mama proud, for sure
Close to the wat by the river you have afew nice massage places and a traditional sauna. Around 25 b to enter the basic sauna facilities and on the second floor the have two lassies giving massasje. The last time i was there it was very much a local homo place so for me beeing keen on ladies it was a change for the worse. But check it out. In the same area as the swedish place.

If you do the visa run on your own you save 5000 bath compared to the 9900 b tours (double entry)
Regarding accomondation i find it a bit pricier than most places in thailand, but still ok.
In PP there is a million gh , newly built in good location ac/tv 7/10 us a night, but laos is more expensive. And so are the girls. 
But for me going alone i get bored. To quiet in the night. I miss good gyms and loads of girls avaiable everywhere. 
But the city is pleasant during daytime. The traffic is polite and quiet and the boulevards are wide and nice. its tidy 
My friend did afew days on a dirt bike in lao during the rainy season and that was a kick. He wasnt happy about Vang V because of all the fucking know it all backpackers, but he recomended the biking.

Evertime ive been there i tell myself i wont come back, but i do.
Must be the noodle soup.

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## MeMock

> Originally Posted by peterpan
> 
> 
> To add to the food thread, this is the best Value in Lao. a Bottle of Chilean Cab Sav and a French roll with salad and Pork Terrine for less than 300 Bt. 
> Fvcking so awesome I ordered one more of each after finishing this one. The bread was great in fact much better than the Scandi Bakery one I had this morning. The wine was more than adequate, the 2 nd bottle even better.
> If only the same could be had in Thailand.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah come on PP, where is it?

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## Hardy99

As a farang can i get Visa at the border? Is it same as in Cambodia 20$ "Entrance-fee". Are the Bordercrossings restricted for use by farangs?

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## dirtydog



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