14 Must Try Food in Laos
It can be said that Laotian cuisine is remarkably diverse, from the choice of ingredients to the way each dish is prepared and presented. Many of these specialties share flavors that are pleasantly familiar to Vietnamese tastes. If you have the chance to visit, be sure to try these dishes—let’s explore the top 14 irresistible Lao specialties!
About Lao cuisine
Laos is a country of millions of elephants and is geographically located very close to Vietnam, possessing countless interesting things to explore and experience for all tourists. When traveling to Laos, you and your family will have the opportunity to visit famous historical sites, explore the world cultural heritage in the ancient capital of Luang Prabang, and most interestingly, experience an extremely unique Lao cuisine waiting for you to discover.
A rather hearty Lao table with attractive specialties
Lao cuisine has a similar style to neighboring countries Thailand and Cambodia and is spicy, salty, and sour. However, Lao cuisine has its own unique styles, and prominent among them is the popularity of sticky rice.
The most attractive Lao specialties
Our travel guide will summarize to you the top attractive Lao specialties that you must try once when you have the opportunity to travel in Laos.
1. Grilled chicken
Maybe you don’t know, but grilled chicken is one of the Lao specialties that you and your family should not miss when coming to Laos. This dish is easy to find and buy when it is sold in almost every roadside stall, but the most famous is still in the province of Savannakhet.
The chicken skin is juicy, and the chicken meat has a certain toughness.
Lao grilled chicken is usually grilled whole; after being seasoned, it is clamped in place with a double bamboo stick and tied tightly. The chicken will be grilled on a charcoal stove. The chicken skin is grilled crispy, the meat is firm, and the taste is very delicious and is often enjoyed with a sauce made from lemon juice, coriander, fish sauce, garlic… and some other spices.
2. Sald minced meat (larb)
This is a dish made from minced meat and accompanying herbs. Salad minced meat is considered the national dish of Laos. The main ingredients to make this dish will usually be beef, chicken, duck, or pork along with some traditional spices such as ground rice, fish sauce, lemon juice, and fresh herbs. Besides, this dummy is often served with raw vegetables and glutinous rice to enhance the taste of the dish, helping us not to get bored and bloated easily.
Minced meat salad served with fresh vegetables
3. Kaipen fried seaweed
Not only Japanese but also Laotians also have famous snacks from seaweed and fried seaweed. Kaipen is a super famous snack in Laos. Lao people make this dish by pounding seaweed and some typical spices. Then, arrange it on a tray, spread it out thinly, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top and dry it according to industrial methods.
The crispy seaweed leaves are seasoned with extremely delicious spices.
In addition, seaweed is also taken to dry in the sun until it dries to obtain the finished product. This seaweed dish, which you can enjoy with white rice, fresh sashimi, or eaten irregularly, is very tasty.
4. Papaya salad (Tam Mak Hoong)
Tam Mak Houng is a very famous dish in this land of a million elephants. When you come to Laos, you can easily enjoy Tam Mak Houng at sidewalk stalls, traditional markets, or luxury restaurants at affordable prices.
Eye-catching colorful salad plates of different vegetables
Similar to Vietnam’s papaya salad, Tam Mak Houng is also made from unripe papaya fibers, tomatoes, green beans… All are mixed with fish sauce, sugar, garlic, dried shrimp, and chili until the spices are absorbed and finally sprinkled with herbs and roasted peanuts to create a standard deliciousness for the dish.
5. Lao sticky rice
Glutinous rice in Laos is often known as “khao niaw,” which is a daily dish of Lao people, especially on important holidays such as parties and family gatherings. Lao sticky rice is processed from glutinous rice grown on the field, so it has adhesion and has an ivory white color that looks very beautiful. It can be said that sticky rice is a traditional dish of the Lao people for many generations, and they are considered to be tastier than any other type of rice in the world.
The glutinous grains are cooked just enough to retain their inherent plasticity and aroma.
Traditionally, sticky rice is steamed in a bamboo basket and is often enjoyed with grilled chicken or dipped with a typical Lao dipping sauce called “cheo deck.”
6. Steamed Fish (Mok Pa)
Mok Pa is a steamed fish fillet dish and is usually wrapped in banana leaves and tied with bamboo rope. The ingredients of the dish include lemongrass, green onions, green peppers, kaffir leaves, fresh dill, shrimp paste… all mixed with steamed fish pieces. Like many other Laotian specialties, Mok Pa is also often served with sticky rice.
The fish meat is steamed in banana leaves to retain a certain amount of moisture.
Steamed fish dishes are popular in many countries, but steamed fish in Laos is prepared in a very special way. People fillet the fresh fish, cut it into small pieces, and mix it with herbs, garlic, chili, and onions. After that, this mixture will be wrapped in banana leaves and taken to steam in a water bath. Almost any eatery or restaurant in Laos will have this dish, so you and your family can freely choose a restaurant to enjoy this unique steamed fish.
7. Examination
Khao Soi, or Khao Soy, is a soup made from large rice noodles, chopped pork, fermented soybeans, peppers, shallots, tomatoes, and garlic, and then topped with fat lobsters, green onions, bean sprouts, and chopped coriander on top.
A bowl of hot noodle soup with a variety of accompanying herbs
Although northern Laos has a special way of preparing this dish, other variations of this soup can be found in various Lao restaurants.
8. Sindat – grilled on the bottom hot pot
If you travel to Laos with your family or with a group of close friends, you must definitely try this extremely famous grilled dish on the lower hot pot in Laos. This dish can satisfy both grill lovers and hot pot lovers. The food includes meats and seafood, just like other regular hot pot and grilled dishes.
A hot pot with built-in grilling is very typical of Lao cuisine.
9. Laap – the lucky dish of the Lao people
You can enjoy this Lao specialty in any restaurant in Laos at an affordable price. The ingredients to prepare this dish are also very simple, such as pork, chicken, beef, duck… along with their internal organs such as their hearts and liver.
Laap is mixed with a variety of herbs.
Some restaurants also use deer meat to make this dish. The meats are mixed together with rice, herbs, chili peppers, and spices before being cooked. Laap is often eaten by many people with sticky rice and raw vegetables so as not to get bored.
10. Lao Sausage (Sai Uah, Sai Gok)
Lao sausage, also known as Sai Uah or Sai Gok, is a famous Lao specialty and is made from herb-soaked meat mixed with lemongrass, galangal, kaffir leaves, chili, cilantro… then stuffed into the small intestine layer and grilled or smoked. This dish is often dipped in Nam Cheo soy sauce and enjoyed with a bowl of sticky rice.
Huge hot dog bars grilled just to the point
11. Khao Jee Pa-Ta
Khao Jee Pa-Ta is also known as Lao-style bread. The seller will cut the bread lengthwise, then spread it on a thin layer of pâté with a creamy taste, and then add toppings such as grilled sausage, pickled radish, cucumber, green onion, carrot, and pork belly with a moderately sweet and spicy sauce. Many people say that for them, this best bread can be found at the Khua Din market in Vientiane.
The loaf features a shredded filling that is easy to eat.
12. Sien Savanh
Lao-style beef jerky is also one of the dishes that you should not miss when traveling to Laos. Sien Savanh is made from beef or buffalo meat. The meat is marinated with a mixture of fish sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper and then dried in the hot sun.
Fragrant grilled beef jerky pieces with a cup of sweet and sour sauce
The dried meat will then be grilled on a charcoal stove so that the meat has a smoky taste to add flavor. This beef jerky dish is also often served with sticky rice or dipped with jaew maak len sauce—a sauce made from tomatoes and peppers.
13. Or Lam
Or Lam is a dish with stewed meat and accompanying vegetables and has a rather spicy taste. This dish originated from the ancient capital of Luang Prabang, Laos. The ingredients to make this dish are mainly eggplant, peppers, tofu, lemongrass, wild mushrooms, basil, herbs, and Mai Sakaan—the plant that gives the dish a spicy taste.
The beef stewed softly melts in your mouth.
The meat to prepare this dish will usually be beef, chicken… and of course, it will be enjoyed with sticky rice.
14. Naem Khao Tod
Naem Khao Tod is known as a mixed dish with a variety of ingredients from meat and vegetables, along with smashed fried rice balls, peanuts, pork sausage, and grated coconut to create moderate fat; the dish is also combined with easy-to-find spices such as dried chili powder, fish sauce, red onions, etc., and is enjoyed with fresh fish lettuce. It is thanks to the combination of ingredients that make up this dish that it is also often referred to as crispy rice salad.
Feel the crispiness of the crumbled rice in the dish.
Currently, Naem Khao Tod is more served in Laotian restaurants in Southeast Asian countries. However, if you have the opportunity, we suggest that you enjoy the food at restaurants in Vientiane, Laos, to be able to eat the most delicious and authentic.
Wrapping Up
With the top 14 super attractive Lao specialties above, we hope you and your family can enjoy all these specialties in Laos in the near future!
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