Pinoy Roadtrip: LUANG PRABANG, LAOS: My Guide to Dining at the Night Market

January 18, 2020

LUANG PRABANG, LAOS:

My Guide to Dining at the Night Market

The first time we attempted to dine at the night market we found it difficult to find. We went through endless rows of stalls in makeshift tents selling goods like clothes, housewares and souvenirs before finding the night market food area. At some point, we got lost. So I felt there's a need to make this guide.

The night market stalls are in makeshift tents. They are not visible during the day. Tents are only set up late afternoon of every day to prepare for the night market. When we explored the Royal Palace the next day, we didn't realize that the road across it, Sisavangvong Road, was actually the location of the night market that we visited the night before. Not until we visited the night market again next day did we realize that the night market actually disappears during the day. The night market doesn't just close during the day. The tents actually disappear during the day.

The night market is along Sisavangvong Road, from Haw Pha Bang, across the Royal Palace, until Kitsalat Road. It's about half a kilometer of stalls set up in the late afternoon of every day. So where can we find the night market street food?

LOCATION OF NIGHT MARKET STREET FOOD

The night market street food area is on the road perpendicular to Sisavangvong Road. It's actually more of an alley than a road. It's the road between Indigo House and the Tourist Information Center. You can actually use Indigo House as point of reference in google maps.

When you walk through that alley, this is what you will see:

HOW TO ORDER

There are waitresses in charge of each food stall. You tell them what your order is and then they will find you a seat. Due to the limitation on the number of seats available, seats are usually shared with other diners. Turnover of diners is fast so you don't wait long. We were there on a weekday and on a weekend and we were seated immediately.

For grilled food, you get a plate and get the food that you want and then they grill it again to heat it. The stall below is where we ordered our food.

WHAT WE ORDERED

STICKY RICE

The only rice available is sticky rice.
But it's the perfect rice to balance the spiciness of the dish

PAPAYA SALAD

They ask how spicy you want the papaya salad to be.

LAO SAUSAGE

MUST NOT MISS!!!
The Lao sausage is so delicious that we returned to the night market on our last night to eat it again.
There's so much depth in the flavor of this sausage because of the variety of herbs and spices used.
I wasn't able to ask the locals what's in it but online research showed that it has
mint, basil, lemongrass, cilantro, galangal, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, lime leaf and chili.

One serving of Lao sausage
They grill it again and then cut it.
The Lao sausage is so delicious because of the pork without extenders and the multitude of herbs mixed with it.

Grilled fish, chicken and Lao sausage

This is what we ordered on the first night.
This meal costs 136,000 kip (780 php or 15 usd)
It consists of:
3 orders of sticky rice
1 grilled fish
1 skewer of grilled chicken
1 Lao sausage
1 order of papaya salad
3 orders of Beer Lao

This is what we ordered on our second night.
The red dipping sauce is for the sausage.
The Lao sausage with dipping sauce is so spicy and so delicious!!!
This meal costs 67,000 kip (385 php or 8 usd)
It consists of:
2 orders sticky rice
2 orders Lao sausage
(our 2nd serving of sausage is not in the photo)
1 order of papaya salad
1 Beer Lao

BEER LAO

Of course we had to try the Beer Lao. We tried the Dark Lager, the Limited Edition IPA (India Pale Ale) and the White Lager. It's the first time I tried the IPA and among all three, I liked the IPA the most.

So what is IPA?

"India pale ale (IPA) is a beefed-up version of pale ale, made using more hops and with a higher alcohol content. Created in England, the name is a result of its popularity with British troops stationed in India in the 19th century, when the subcontinent was still a British colony. However, there is some dispute about exactly how and why it was invented.

The most popular theory is that IPA was created to survive the tough, months-long trip from Britain to India through tropical weather with no refrigeration. “They upped the hops and [alcohol by volume in pale ale], and the beer not only made the voyage, but the troops loved it,” says Julia Herz, the craft beer program director at the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado."(source: https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/55095/what-does-india-have-to-do-with-india-pale-ale/)