Nong Khiaw · Food

South of the bridge on the west side and reliably the busiest kitchen in town: vegetarian dishes from about 15,000 kip, meat curries around 28,000. No alcohol served, and the wait stretches badly when a trekking group gets back at once.

Also south of the bridge, west side, doing curries, Lao staples and shakshuka at roughly 20,000–30,000 kip a dish. Waits of up to two hours are normal at peak times, so order before you are actually hungry.

Grilled pork and chicken skewers appear along the main street in the late afternoon and are gone soon after dark. That is the entire street-food scene here, and it is the only thing in town you can eat without waiting.

Nong Kiau Riverside serves Lao starters — chilli dips, papaya salad, kaipen river weed pressed with sesame — at around 18,500 kip a plate. Sindad, the Lao table-top grill-and-broth, turns up around town at 50,000–60,000 kip and is designed for two or more to share.