Best Food Spots in Vang Vieng, Laos

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There are so many great places to eat in Vang Vieng - with a mix of local and western cuisines, there is bound to be an option for everyone! We’ve included some of our favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner spots below!

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We were pleasantly surprised by how many food places we enjoyed in Vang Vieng! Laos itself has very few foods that are considered traditionally Laotian cuisines, it otherwise draws on the food from other nearby countries, like Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, meaning there is really something for everyone.

We have found food in Laos to be slightly more expensive than that of neighbouring Thailand, and particularly in Vang Vieng, we found it hard to find some cheaper options (we found this a little easier in Luang Prabang). As a tourist hotspot, Vang Vieng definitely has a lot of western food options, including the best pizza we’ve had in Asia!

If you’re planning a trip to Vang Vieng, check out some of our favourite food spots below!

We made TWO videos of our time in Vang Vieng! Check out PART 1 HERE!

BREAKFAST SPOTS

NAKED ESPRESSO

Naked Espresso is a pretty famous chain throughout Laos, with multiple locations, incuding in Vientiane and Vang Vieng. We personally felt pretty at home inside, given these cafés have a strong Australian influence.

The story behind the cafés is actually pretty cool. The owner studied and worked in Australia and during his time there, noticed the popularity of cafés and coffee that is evident in Australia. In particular, he noticed one café that had quite a long line and curiously hopped in line to try one himself. He ended up getting a job as a dishwasher at that café and overtime eventually became a barista. After trying Australian coffee, he realised that there was a big gap in the market in Laos, and that this is something that plenty of Laotians would enjoy.

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Therefore, when opening Naked Espresso in Laos, he brought plenty of that Australian influence, not only just to the coffee but also to the design of the cafés. It’s no surprise that Naked Espresso is super popular amongst tourists, due to its familiarity with coffees you might get back home, but it has become increasingly popular amongst locals.

Naked Espresso also has an extensive food menu, offering up some options that look like they are plucked straight off an Australian café menu. Therefore, if you’re missing your “brunch” fix, this is a great place to visit.

One of the additional perks of the location in Vang Vieng is that it is one of very few food places that have air conditioning, making it a great place to come if you’re looking for a spot to get some work done.

There is also additional seating upstairs if downstairs is a little noisy for you. We came one time and were the only ones upstairs for hours!

Given it’s popularity, it can be a little more on the expensive side compared to other options in Vang Vieng, but is well worth a visit.

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HANCHAM COFFEE

We stumbled across this place on our first day in Vang Vieng, as we were trying to find somewhere to kill time until we could check-in to our accommodation. It sits along the main road and if you look for Pan’s Place guesthouse, this sits just in front.

This had our favourite coffee in Vang Vieng, and we tried quite a few different places. We will preface that statement by saying we are not coffee connoisseurs, and we much prefer sweet coffee drinks than your usual black coffee. This place was perfect for us because it offered a wide variety of frappe drinks, with the caramel frappe our preferred option!

This is a little hole in the wall type establishment, so there is no food, and there is only a small outdoor seating area, so don’t expect anything too fancy, but these coffees were really delicious and it’s a great spot to pick up a takeaway coffee if you are on the move. They are also less expensive than other coffees in Vang Vieng, like Naked Espresso, with the caramel frappe setting us back 45,000 LAK each.

LUNCH SPOTS

LUANG PRABANG BAKERY

In terms of lunch spots, Luang Prabang Bakery is a very popular one. However, if you are to look it up on Google, it does have very mixed reviews. Most of these reviews tend to relate to experiences with the staff, more than the food and drink, and we definitely experienced both sides of coin!

Despite the name, this bakery is in fact in Vang Vieng, and it serves up a variety of baked goods, like giant cookies, cinnamon scrolls and other pastries, as well as a full menu of both western and local cuisines.

They also have a variety of sandwiches, including some ingredients that you don’t see too often during your travels in South East Asia, like Brie! Rosh tried the chicken and cheese sandwich, and I had the Salami and Brie sandwich, and we both really liked them. They are a little on the pricier side compared to some of the local places that offer sandwiches (see more on this below), at 69,000 LAK a sandwich. However, they did have more variety than what you’d find elsewhere which we liked.

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Something else you will see amongst the reviews is the size of the drinks. Whether you order a coffee or a fruit shake, they are ginormous. Comically big. While we didn’t enjoy the coffee as much as Hancham which we talked about above, it was still pretty decent, and for the price, it was great value. If you are looking to order a shake for a child, then make sure you’re aware of the size!

In terms of the reviews in regards to the staff, the first few times we ate in we had no issues at all. Granted, we are not particularly picky when it comes to customer experience when we’re eating out. So long as they take our order and the food comes at a reasonable time, we’re happy! We did have a little bit of an issue when trying to order some takeaway sandwiches. While they weren’t outwardly rude or anything, the particular staff members we dealt with on the day weren’t overly friendly. Again, it didn’t bother us too much, but we’re aware that it would bother other people, so just something to be mindful of.

BAMBOO BISTRO GARDEN

As with most places on this list, Bamboo Bistro Garden offers up a mix of western and local cuisines. While it’s a great spot for breakfast, lunch or dinner, we particularly liked it as a lunch spot, as it was a little quieter. It offers both indoor and outdoor seating and is on the bigger side. Nonetheless, as with most places in Vang Vieng, it’s worth getting there early to make sure you get a seat.

We came here three times, two of the times Rosh had the pesto chicken burger, which she absolutely loved. The first time I had spaghetti bolognaise which was actually really delicious, and the second time I had the stuffed baguette off the breakfast menu which was also really good! The third time we shared a pizza and wedges. The wedges were really good but a little small in terms of serving size. The pizza was good, but not as good as the pizza from Green Restaurant, which we’ll talk about below. If you do have a pizza craving, we’d recommend getting this at Green Restaurant, and choosing something else from Bamboo Bistro.

Are you travelling to Laos from Thailand? Check out our our full article on how to do this, or alternatively, you can check out the video we made on YouTube!

You can’t go wrong with food here, but it is on the pricier side, so it’s probably not somewhere to frequent if you’re on a budget, but it’s a great spot for a splurge meal. Especially if you’re looking for a little western food after eating local food for a while!

DINNER SPOTS

GREEN RESTAURANT

This was our absolute favourite restaurant in Vang Vieng, and we visited it countless times during our 11 days there. Green Restaurant is known for having one of the best views of the sunset, which is what originally drew us to it, but we ended up really enjoying all the food there as well, and had some particular favourite dishes that we kept coming back for.

Green Restaurant sits right along the river and truly has an incredible view of the sun setting behind the mountains. As you sit and eat your dinner, hot air balloons and paramotors will fly over your head, making for a very unique experience. There is both undercover and outdoor seating, with the best views out on the balcony. If you are wanting to get a seat on the balcony, particularly right on the edge, we’d recommend getting there VERY early, even as early as 5pm, as this place does fill up and those seats are the first to go. In fact, the entire restaurant gets super busy, and by about 6.30-7pm, you may find it hard to get a table.

If you’re looking for things to do in Vang Vieng, check out our article on our experience hot air ballooning with Above Laos!

In terms of cuisine, Green Restaurant has a bit of everything, including local dishes, Thai food and western dishes. There is a sign out the front claiming that they have the best pizza in Vang Vieng, and let us tell you, this is absolutely the truth. This was the best pizza we’ve had in Asia after about 1.5 months travelling through. The pizzas are woodfired, and there can be over an hour wait for them on busy nights, so again if you plan to get pizza, try to get your order in early. At the time of writing this article (February 2024), a pizza will set you back 120,000 LAK.

*The “Chicken Veg Curry” stir fry dish from Green Restaurant in Vang Vieng, Laos*

Our absolute favourite dish was a bit of a random one that we tried on a whim, and that was the “Chicken Curry Veg” stir fry dish. This had such a delicious flavouring and we ordered it almost every time we went back after first trying it. We also tried various curries and other stir fry dishes and they were all delicious.

In terms of pricing, this would sit in around the medium tier. From what we’ve found in Laos, it isn’t as easy to get super cheap food, especially in restaurants, as it is in Thailand for example. While this wasn’t the cheapest food we’ve had, we had more expensive food from other places on this list. Obviously if you’re going to order a pizza, that is on the more expensive side, but the more local dishes like the stir fry were more reasonably priced.

We’ve listed it here under dinner options given the views of the sunset, but as the food is also delicious it makes for a great lunch spot as well.

HAPPY MANGO THAI RESTAURANT

Happy Mango Thai restaurant is a slightly more expensive restaurant, offering a variety of different Thai dishes, as well as a bunch of different mango-related drinks and desserts. As we’re travelling on a budget, we didn’t try any of the mango drinks or dishes, but would recommend giving these a go if you do head to this restaurant.

Unlike Green Restaurant, Happy Mango doesn’t offer any particular views, but it does also have both indoor and outdoor seating. It is also significantly smaller than Green Restaurant and is known to generate quite the line later in the evening, so this is one to arrive to early as well.

We shared two curries, the Green Curry and the Panang Curry. We asked for the green curry to be not too spicy which they were able to cater for and it was really delicious. In fact, it was one of the best curries we’ve had during our travels so far. The panang curry on the other hand wasn’t our favourite and we probably wouldn’t recommend ordering that.

This restaurant would sit more in the higher tier pricing wise, with our two curries and one soft drink, coming out to 197,000 LAK. Considering how much we paid for curries in Thailand, this one hurt a little!

LUANG XAI KHAM RESTAURANT

If you’re looking for a more local option, that is more budget-friendly, we stumbled across Luang Xai Kham Restaurant on the main road and really enjoyed it. Serving mostly local foods, they also sell different sweet rotis, as well as sandwiches.

They also have some pretty incredible shakes that will only set you back around 15,000 - 30,000 LAK depending on the flavour you choose.

Now, we don’t want you to make the same mistake we did. This place has really delicious shakes, but they are MASSIVE! They may be the biggest shakes we’ve ever had, or at least tied with Luang Prabang Bakery. We unknowingly made the mistake of both ordering one of these on our first visit, and by the time our food arrived, we were already full. Not only this, they will give you a plate of fruit to go with the meal as well. This may be the most full we’ve ever felt after a meal and it’s not even close.

The main meal servings are also quite large, so it may even be worth sharing a smaller dish and a main (e.g. spring rolls), which is what we did when we returned. We of course shared an Oreo shake as well! This is definitely in the lower tier price-wise, so is a great option if you are budget travelling like us. A lot of the meals sit around 40,000 - 60,000 LAK, making it a great option to save some cash.

We also got takeaway sandwiches from here and they were also delicious and incredibly cheap. A chicken sandwich will set you back only 15,000 LAK, which is less than $1 USD.

There we go, there are some of favourite places to eat in Vang Vieng! If you’re planning a trip to Vang Vieng, make sure you check them out!

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