Food in Vientiane - Dear Luna

Dear Luna,

As you might already know, my time in Laos has come to an end, and in my eyes, this week has gone a lot quicker than my time in Hanoi. During my stay in Vietnam, I had the chance to try many different dishes that all tasted wonderful, and could not wait to fall more in love with food when I was in this country. However, I have come to a conclusion, and I've realised in this country, a lot more of the food was meaty. Don't get me wrong, most of the restaurants had veggiertrian options, but they were very limited, and sometimes challenging. Luckily for me, I do still eat fish, and if I couldn't have veggies, the was always fish. 

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed trying the different types of dishes that they had here, and on my first night, I ate veggies and tofu, Tom Yum Noodles. 

When the dish arrived, it did not look as I expected. For starters, there were no noodles, but I can assure you, that this was my dish and this was how it was meant to look. It was more of a soup, where the tofu had soaked up the juices, yet still had a slight crunch when biting. Although I wanted to finish the soup as the warmth was perfect for my throat, the basil which was drenched was just too powerful and took away the flavours of the other ingredients. 

Because of that, I would give this dish 3/5 stars. 

On the second day, we decided to go to this greenhouse place which I had seen originally when researching. There I had shredded mushrooms tofu bao bun. Although this dish seemed small, it was surprisingly filling and the mix between the crumbling tofu and slightly spicy dressing was done well. Therefore I would give this dish 4/5 stars. 

One of my favourite side dishes which I had was fried tofu. Since 2021, I have been using tofu more and more in my own cooking, but there are so many different ways to use tofu in a dish besides just using it in a curry. So far, my time in Asia has given me the chance to see the variety of ways to cook tofu, and this dish was one of the ways. It was a simple snack, yet also filling due to tofu being made from condensed soy milk. The tofu itself had a nice brown tone and it was crisp with every bite I took, and it went perfectly well with the tingly and slightly vinegary dressing. I am hoping when I arrive back home to try and do this with tofu myself... we will see how great or awful it turns out. 

Overall, this dish was 4.5/5 stars.

Although most of the dishes which I have eaten are either veggie or vegan-friendly, as mentioned, I still occasionally eat fish. One of the evenings I opted for a shrimp pad thai with glass noodles, the presentation was wonderful as always. The main element of this dish is on one side, with beansprouts, lemon grass and lime huddled together, with peanuts and spices to scatter over the pad thai if you wanted to. Before this dish, I had yet to try glass noodles, this type of noddles are very thin and almost see through. Everything about this dish worked well together, the softness of the noodles complimented the crunch of the shrimp and peanuts and beansprouts. 

This too would be 4.5/5 stars.

On our second to last day, we found an offbeat restaurant, the owner of this place was one woman who was working from her kitchen. I had tofu and veggie noodles. Although this dish was still tasty, as the tofu had been able to absorb the dressing, it was not my favorite, mainly because the noodles seemed very stuck together, making it challenging to eat as I couldn't pull the noodles apart. 

Due to this, I would give this dish 3.5/5 stars. 

Our last day was the most fun as we found our dinner around the corner down at the local food market. There was a lot to take in and a lot to try. I, unfortunately, could not have dumplings as they had pork, which is something I do not eat, but hopefully, I will find some veggie ones. That night, I had potato chips on a stick, the ones which you can have at the winter wonderland. I know, I know, you might be wondering, Luna, why have this when you can have it anywhere? The answer is because I've never had it, it always seemed too much, whereas here it was only 72 pence.

I also had a selection of sushi, which was 24 pence per piece. As well as a taro drink and of course, sweet potato cake with a coconut flavour inside. The taro drink was something I had never had before, and I was so happy I enjoyed it. This purple drink had a sweet nutty taste to it. But the sweet potato cake was amazing. 

Every evening in Vientiane, Erin and I had one of these each, it was a nice treat. My favourite one was the soybean flavour, with coconut next, and lastly the red bean. 

Because of the fun of trying all of these different foods, I would give this 5/5 stars because not only was it all tasty, it was an experience. 

Until next time, Luna ❤️❤️❤️