Mid-morning coffee at Bon Cafe, a Western style chain with the nicest bathrooms we found in Luang Prabang ...
Lunches at The Tamarind Cafe, one of our favorite places ...
Lemongrass Chicken (ground chicken with herbs and spices stuffed in a lemongrass stalk and grilled) with sticky rice --- really good ...
Plain Rice Noodles. Who would have thought that simple rice noodles flavored with a few herbs could have been so exquisite! This was actually one of Phil's favorite dishes, each bite was amazing.
Lemongrass BBQ Pork (slices of pork chop marinated, stuffed in lemongrass and grilled). Very, very delicious ...
Sticky rice in banana leaves and Mango juice. Sticky rice is the base of Lao cooking. It is formed into a ball and dipped into relishes and other foods. The fresh juices were really wonderful.
Yogurt Bananas with Tamarind Sauce. Similar to the banana dish we had on our first day in Laos, but drizzled with a sweet-tart Tamarind sauce rather than chocolate with a wonderful yogurt for contrast.
One day we did take a break from Lao food. We had Indian for lunch, including Masala Chicken.
But then we returned to SE Asian foods like Fried Spring Rolls ... a favorite snack with beer late in the afternoon ...
and Chicken Stir Fry and friend eggplant
Just so you know that not all of our dining experiences were exquisite: This dinner at a Mekong riverside cafe was disrupted by a very heavy rainstorm. The cafe lacked a roof or awning and even with a temporary umbrella over our heads we both got wet trying to quickly finish our meal. The following evening, we were again looking for a restaurant along the Mekong when it began to rain. This time our number one priority was a roof. We found a place that said it served Thai food, so ordered fried Spring rolls and Pad Thai with chicken. A German man sat next to us and ordered a pumpkin soup. When it arrived and he tasted it he barked out at the staff...."I am not a dog and this food is fit only for dogs". That summed up our feelings too! The food was truly awful.
Our last night we ate at a wonderful French restaurant called Arisai. We split an antipasto platter and a plate of couscous with two lamb chops, a huge piece of chicken, two spicy sausages and lots of vegetables. Every bite of this plate was amazing. Phil kept swooning with each taste and Gail ate so much that she passed up an extra piece of lamb chop, which she loves. Neither of us had room for dessert the meal was so rich and satisfying.
In the end, our experience eating in Luang Prabang left two very happy diners.
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