Laos is famous for being one of the most laid back countries on the planet; however its street food scene is anything but! On my travels through this South East Asian beauty I found myself eating my way around the streets of Luang Prabang, sampling as many of the tasty delights this country has to offer as I could in two weeks.
Laos food is like a burst of fresh flavours that are pummeled together with a traditional mortar and pestle and topped off with a good splash of padaek, otherwise known as the pungent fermented fish sauce used to add a salty zing to dishes. The signature flavours that typify Laos cuisine are galangal, chilies, kaffir lime, lemongrass, lime juice, garlic, ginger, coriander, mint, dill, and a whole bunch of different kinds of basil local to Laos. Taste buds aside, I’d have to say the best part about Laos street food has got to be the way it’s eaten – with your fingers, and rubbing shoulders with the locals!
The dishes on offer have descriptions that are pretty hard to resist. Like marinated fish steamed in banana leaf, or the Laos delicacy dried spiced buffalo meat, and Jaew Bong a thick sweet and spicy sauce made from roasted chillies, tamarind and dry buffalo skin which is best lapped up with a serving of sticky rice.
Mmmm…
Perhaps one of my favourite Laos street food memories was after a night of wandering through the dimly lit night market – a Roti style chocolate and pineapple pancake, cooked on a humble food cart over casual conversations with the lovely vendor, and eaten on the back of a tuk tuk.
The best!
Kylie
Step right up! It’s time for some authentic Mexican street food, brought to you on a cart no less. This season’s STREAT menu serving from our Fed Square location is—yes, you guessed it—
One night I ate some good street food in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We drove down to what’s called the costanera sur, a paved street beside the ecological reserve where many food vendors or carritos line up to offer a cheap, delicious selection of chorizos (pork sausages), bondiolas (pork shoulder), vacíos (flank primal cut), and hamburgers. Each carrito offers a variety of sauces to accompany the sandwich, including chimichurri, la criolla, and la cebollita. Buying a drink and a sandwich of one of these mouth-watering Argentine meats will cost you about 12 Argentine pesos, or roughly 3 U.S. dollars, and the ironic thing is that it’s right next to Puerto Madero where the richest condominiums and the most expensive restaurants are in Buenos Aires. As a hungry student I was quite happy with my sandwich de bondiola. :)
Our Plan
After several months of planning and discussion, we are finally about to road test our first menu items. Planning a menu that meets all our criteria – authenticity, affordability and most importantly flavour and taste.
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