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Baguette Stalls
You can get a huge chicken, mayo and salad baguette for around US$1 from the baguette stalls at the corner of Th Sisavangvong and Th Kitsarat. There are also fruit stalls across the road.
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Café des Artes
The scrummy selection of deli goods on this menu satiates chorizo, salami, saucisson , pâté and cheese cravings. It also boasts French fare, soups, tartines , burgers, brochettes and set menus, plus some infusions like duck pizza.
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Café Toui
This little cosmopolitan oasis serves delicious breakfast bagels and mostly European mains such as grilled buffalo with red wine and tomato sauce. The setting is terracotta and tasteful and the wine list is French.
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CT Bakery Restaurant
Although it lacks a decadent array of chocolate treats and pastries, this bakery serves outstanding 'breakfast baguettes' stuffed with delicious meats and cheeses. It also has an extensive Thai, Lao and European menu at reasonable prices and a secondhand bookshop.
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Fruit Shake Restaurant
The effort they didn't spend on the moniker has all gone into the fine Lao food at this local restaurant. Fried dried beef, Luang Prabang style, fresh chilli pastes and wild deer with basil are up for grabs as well as three-course set menus.
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JoMa Bakery Café
Arguably the best bakery in town, JoMa Bakery Café has alfresco tables along the street as well as in a spacious air-con dining room indoors. In addition to the large bread and pastry selection, the cafe offers a menu of sandwiches, soups and salads.
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Khemkhong View Restaurant
One of the many riverside restaurants lining the Mekong, the split-level Khemkhong View has an extensive menu with choices such as spicy prawn and coconut soup, squid lab (or intestine lab for the more adventurous) or steamed, fermented fish.
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Lala Café
A refreshing variation from the ubiquitous burger-and-pizza selection greets diners at this trendy little spot. Gracing the menu are Greek dishes, massaman curries and a kicking spicy catfish and mango salad. Dine in the intimate café or at the tables on the riverbank across the road.
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Lao Lao Garden
Superlative Thai, Lao and Western fare graces the long menu at this hip, alfresco restaurant, where tables tumble into a hilly, candle-lit garden. The Lao barbecue here is a must - diners are served a basket of raw meat and vegetables, which they cook at their own leisure on a round hot plate in the centre of the table. It's about as much fun as dinner gets.
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Le Café Ban Vat Sene
In a restored colonial building decorated with antiques, this fine café serves tapenades and tapas, smoked chicken and feta salads, and roast pork and tarragon-filled baguettes. The tarts and cakes are delicious. It's quietly chic, and the service is excellent.
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Maly Lao Food
Great, authentic Lao food is served at this casual eatery. House specialities include a range of exotic meat dishes made with buffalo, deer, turkey or fish, green papaya salad, and sáa (minced fish or chicken salad with lemon grass and ginger). Lao beer, rice whisky and local rice wine are also available.
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Morning Glory Café
This smart and cosy café dishes up some of the tastiest breakfasts in town; smoked ham omelettes, fresh muesli, rice soup, and fabulous coffee. For lunch tuck into pesto chicken pasta or a fragrant Thai curry. Comfy chairs sit on the pavement and jazz bubbles in the background.
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Mr Hong's Coffeeshop & Restaurant
Mr Hong draws a steady clientele with his long menu of reasonably-priced Lao dishes like jeow eggplant, and lab pet (duck salad). The cocktails are potent and the conversation easy.
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Naunenapha Restaurant
The no-nonsense Naunenapha has a pleasant tumble of tables edging onto the street and a wide variety of Thai, Lao and Western dishes. There are ample vegetarian options and the hot soupy curries are particularly delicious.
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Nazim Indian Food
This vacuous Indian diner has a huge menu of North and South Indian food. The curries come as spicy as you like and the vegetarian selection is extensive. The Indian deities and faux tandoori chickens adorning the walls are more appealing after several bottles of Kingfisher.
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Night Stalls
Some of the cheapest and tastiest dishes in town can be found at the night stalls that emerge at dusk on streets running off Th Sisavangvong where the night market takes place. The main congregation is one street north of Th Kitsarat, where you can dine on a whole barbequed pig's head, superb vegetarian dishes and noodles, and just about everything in between. There's even a 'vegan' stall.
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Nisha Restaurant
Smaller than Nazim and tucked on a quieter street, this place serves Indian specialities, Western breakfasts and Lao dishes, both veg and non-veg.
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Paradise Restaurant
This ambient spot resides in a quiet neck of the woods and serves great Lao and Luang Prabang specialties like sweet and sour Mekong squid, or áw lám - stewed meat with green beans and eggplant. Diners sit at picnic benches in a leafy courtyard.
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Phousi Cafe & Gallery
In a leafy bamboo courtyard, this quiet café serves set western breakfasts, salads, sandwiches, and a host of quasi-Lao and Thai stir fries. It's deliberately tranquil with bubbling water features, stylish timber slab tables, and local art on the walls.
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Restaurant Brasserie L'Elephant
One of Luang Prabang's most elegant Western eateries, Restaurant Brasserie L'Elephant occupies a choice corner spot near Wat Nong Sikhunmeuang with wooden floors, subdued lighting and Lao antiques. The menu is French, the wine list international.
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Restaurant Luang Prabang Bakery
This swish restaurant treats timid palates to excellent burgers, pizzas, pastas, steaks and salads, and fairly generic 'Lao food'. The beautiful timber seating is worth a visit, as is the French and Australian wine, superb coffee and gluttonous cakes.
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Scandinavian Bakery
A falang -fave, this branch of the Vientiane bakery serves gluttonous cakes, pastries and cookies, as well as large breakfasts and fabulous baguettes. It's small and pricey but you can enjoy air-con and yesterday's Bangkok Times with your meal.
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Somchanh Restaurant
This simple but pleasant outdoor place near the cluster of guesthouses in Ban Wat That serves a large selection of Lao and Luang Prabang dishes, including the best choice of vegetarian Lao food in town. Dining areas are divided between tables on a slight bluff near the kitchen and seating across the road on the riverbank.
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Tamarind
Chic little Tamarind injects a great deal of style into the Luang Prabang dining scene, inventing its very own make of 'Mod-Lao' cuisine.
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Tamnak Lao Three Elephant Cafe
Lao, Luang Prabang and Thai food. Luang Prabang has a unique cuisine all its own. One of the local specialities is jąew bąwng, a jamlike condiment made with chillies and dried buffalo skin.





