PAM GRANT DINING OUT
Lao-Vientiane Restaurant
Address: 771 Vernon Ave., Victoria
Tel: 250-475-3522
Hours: Lunch Monday-Saturday, 11: 30 a.m.-2: 30 p.m. Dinner nightly, 5 p.m.-9: 30 p.m.
Major credit cards and Interac accepted. Wheelchair accessible. Rating 5
When I met Terri, Jay and Phil for dinner recently, two things were immediately clear: We were hungry and none of us knew very much about Laotian food.
Fortunately, the menu wasn't completely unfamiliar. In fact at first glance, options don't seem much different than what you might find in any local Thai restaurant. This is no surprise when you consider the geographic position of Laos, a landlocked nation neighbouring Thailand, Myanmar, China, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Perhaps more then any other corner of the world, the culinary borders of Southeast Asia are particularly blurry. Besides this, northern Laos-born chef/owner Jess Keoxayavong decided to open her first restaurant (with help from husband Glenn Gibson) in August after years spent fine-tuning Thai and Laotian classics.
It was soon apparent that we were interested in most of the menu, so we decided to order our meal in two sections. Even after doing so, we were slightly amused to find our server gently directing us to a larger table nearby.
Since we were one of the first groups to arrive for dinner, our dishes arrived quickly. Crispy spring rolls stuffed with pork and finely minced vegetables, though very good, didn't seem much different than any other good spring roll, until they were combined with house-made plum sauce, which made an enlightening change from bottled Thai chili sauce typically paired with this dish. Moist chicken satay flavoured with star anise held its own against creamy peanut sauce infused with coconut.
This section of our meal also featured elements that would typically be featured in any shared meal in Laos, namely soup and salad.
After an initial bite, we attacked a plate of lab ped - finely minced duck seasoned with fresh lime juice, chili, scallions, shallots, fresh herbs and ground roasted rice on a bed of crisp greens - which we enjoyed with steamed rice rather than the traditional sticky rice, though this was offered as an option. We hadn't realized this came with soup, so we enjoyed two - the lemongrassscented chicken broth we weren't expecting, and kao poon narm ya, reminiscent of Singaporean laksa.
Packed with thick rice noodles, bean sprouts, cabbage and fresh mint in a rich chicken coconut broth warmed with chilli, shallots and citrus, this will likely be a house specialty. Both dishes were large enough for four people to share as an appetizer, but either would make an ample meal for one on its own.
We discussed what we had eaten as we took a break. None of us could say what we liked the most, only that we liked everything. Jay summed it up by saying that the intricate balance of textures and layers of heat, sour and richness made everything extraordinary. Whether this can be attributed to the chef or cuisine styles, I don't know; it was like Thai food - but multiplied by a thousand.
The similarities between these cuisines may be obvious; the difference here is that flavours in all cases were intensely developed.
This held true for the rest of our meal. A pound of enormous chicken wings provoked exclamations from all of us and tasted even better than they looked. Tender slices of lamb stir-fried with peppers, herbs, onions and mushrooms with what I think was oyster sauce were garnished with deepfried basil leaves that looked like shards of stained glass.
Equally attractive was a bowl filled with coin-sized slices of Japanese eggplant, chicken and slivers of red pepper in a green curry sauce that put most others in Victoria to shame.
You know it's a good meal when you haven't even finished it and you're planning your next visit. As Phil noted, dishes were obviously prepared to order and not served from a steam table in the back. Prices are fair - lunch for less than $10, an ample dinner could be managed for less than $20 a person.
Terri read a few reviews online before our meal that raved about the food and bashed the service. I avoid reviews before I conduct my own, but having read them later I would say this. It should be noted that Lao Vientiene is a relatively new restaurant. If you visit a restaurant during its grand opening when dishes are 20 per cent off, you should expect to wait - as you should if you visit shortly after a place has received a five-star review.
Our service was fabulous, but this is a big room and things could go sideways here easily with only two people serving, as there were during our visit.
Finally, if your soup needs to be at a scalding temperature in order for you to eat it, or you cannot conceive of a salad that isn't chilled, you should discuss this when you order food in an ethnic restaurant.
RATINGS
Rating 1 Below bad
Rating 2 Below average
Rating 3 Average
Rating 4 Above average
Rating 5 Excellent
