Food & Cuisine in Champasak

Food info sections | Eating locally

In Champasak, you can eat the basic Lao meal: noodle soup and laap with sticky rice at street stalls or restaurants in Champasak hotels or guesthouses. In Pakse and Champasak Town (as in most provinces of Laos) you'll find stalls selling baguettes on the main streets. Some restaurants in Champasak here do offer western, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese food - a surprising diversity for such small towns. What's more, restaurants are easy to find in Pakse and Champasak Town. In Pakse, the road between the Se Don River and the Champasak Palace Hotel is lined with most of the restaurants in town, and others are close by. All these places are near enough to walk to from your Paske hotel.

Most Champasake hotels and guesthouses have their own restaurants which offer good value and tasty local food.

Use this Champasak Restaurant Guide to see some recommended places to eat that we've listed below for your benefit. And what better way to build up an appetite than by wandering around the shops and markets and enjoying some shopping in Champasak? Our Laos Restaurant Guide gives more details on traditional cuisine.

Food & Cuisine in Champasak

What to eat

The cuisine of Laos closely resembles that of its Vietnamese and Thai neighbours. Some favourites are chicken or laab and sticky rice and spicy soup. In the major cities of Laos, there are restaurants serving any kind of cuisine you want, but once you get out of the cities, fewer choices are available. Don't miss the opportunity to sample the traditional cuisine of Laos while on your Champasake travel experience.

Pho

A specialty of Vietnam, Pho (or Foe), a noodle soup, is available throughout Laos. You can also try a Chinese style noodle soup with fine slices of beef, meatballs, tripe, and organ meats such as liver and heart. You'll also find Pho in Asian restaurants everywhere.

Salad

If you're vegetarian you'll adore Laos. Many restaurants have salads on their menus. The traditional Laos diet focuses on plenty of raw green vegetables. There's also the French tossed salad, and a delicious salad with watercress which you must try.

Laap

This common traditional dish is a salad prepared with minced duck, chicken or pork. Laap also has fried and crushed rice and spices. The dish is usually accompanied with sticky rice and fresh vegetables.

Tam Mak Houng

Tam Mak Houng, a very spicy salad, is a favourite with tourists. You can find this dish even in small towns, but for the real traditional taste, try the street vendors. The salad is made from green papaya, chillies, garlic, sugar, peanuts and lime juice; fermented fish sauce goes well with it. Tam Mak Houng is best eaten with sticky rice. The dish is also known as 'papaya salad' in English and as ‘somtam' in Thai.

Baguettes Sandwich

A leftover from the French colonial era, the baguette sandwich is commonly found in the Lao kitchen. While the French slice baguettes and fill them with pâté and cheese, in Laos, they make baguette sandwiches with pate, fresh greens, moo yor (pork lunchmeat) and chilli sauce. They also enjoy baguettes dunked into a cup of hot chocolate or coffee.

BBQ Som Moo

Barbequed som moon is made much like som moon. The difference is that it is grilled and served in the Vietnamese way with plenty of vegetables and herbs, lettuce, transparent rice paper, thin noodles and sauce. You can make your own spring roll by rolling up the ingredients in the rice paper.