Love It?. . .Yes. . .Larb It!

Prior to the trip, we went with friends to a Laos restaurant in Arlington, VA where we had some different Laotian dishes.  Tom Sietsma, the famed Washington Post restaurant critic, loves the place, and especially raved about the Larb, which is a minced meat salad.  

The menu at the Arlington restaurant spells it one way, Sietsma's review had it spelled a different way, and the menu at the Luang Prabang restaurant had it spelled yet another way.  I'm going with the Luang Prabang restaurant's spelling, under the controversial theory that the people of Laos know how to correctly spell one of their national meals.

I thought the Larb at the Arlington restaurant was good, albeit not rave-worthy.  Well, at restaurant Khaipaen, I ordered the duck Larb, and let me tell you, it was fantastic.  Khaipaen is a a training and vocational restaurant, but you wouldn't know it from the great food and wonderful service.  Gail ordered a soup of that she absolutely loved, Carol had the fish and chips and found them quite tasty.  I would highly recommend Khaipaen for dinner the next time you are in Luang Prabang. 

The goals of the training and vocational restaurant:

"Khaiphaen will give marginalized and at-risk youth the chance to receive professional restaurant training, safe accommodation and counselling, including work placement support after they graduate from the 18-month program."

(Source: SoManyMiles.com article by Cindy Fan)

(Editor: Don't say it.  Writer: You guessed it -- I was a big Fan of her blog post!). 

Duck Larb

Another revelation besides how wonderful the Larb is, was that you can buy beer in small or large bottles.  The small bottles are close to US size, whilst the large beer bottles aren't quite wine magnum size, but you can picture it as close.  Meanwhile, Carol enjoyed her Makphiet's Hibiscus and Lime Daiquiri.

Given the success of "Beerlao"

in Laos, I'm starting a craft

beer to be named "Beerusa."

Carol's beaming at the taste

of her Hibiscus & Lime Daiquiri.

Alas, most of the gin & tonics

 she's had here in SE Asia

have underwhelmed, but

the daiquiri starred.

Another highlight was walking through the Luang Prabang night market on our way to the restaurant.  It's quite a scene, and the place was packed.  Think of it as a massive flea market selling everything from elephant pants to carved elephants, clothes and tschotchkes, and even more.  The street, narrowed by little stalls with the goods on the ground or on hangers on each side, was packed.  It would be a pickpocket's dream, but fortunately none of us were picked.  Or pocketed.  

(Spoiler alert: No, I didn't buy elephant pants.  Instead, I bought elephant shorts.  And yes, if you join us occasionally in our backyard for food and wine on summer nights, I WILL be wearing my elephant shorts.  You've been warned.

It was another fun group dinner.