LIGHTS OUT IN VIENTIANE

I awoke this morning not to the sound of the room air conditioner, rather the absence of it.  No lights. Nothing.  No electricity at all in the hotel, so breakfast was out since every dish they serve has eggs.  It was a sign from Providence to go to la Banneton for the ‘best croissant this side of Paris’.

I discovered when I left the hotel and began my walk to the restaurant that the lights were out on the street.  That discovery led to another one when I turned the corner to walk along one of the main streets.  The lights were out in all of the area.  Fortunately, I could buy a croissant, but not enjoy it with a steaming cup of Lao tea, which has become one of my favorite teas. 

It is a glorious morning.  The heat has taken refuge somewhere.  It is cool and a light breeze makes itself known on the fine hairs of my arm.  It is a perfect morning to sit outside and enjoy a croissant.  The waitress brings it out to my table.  I pick it up and am immediately struck by how light it is for its size. 

I’m no croissant connoisseur.   All I can tell you is that it has a buttery flavor, a light texture inside, and a fine flaky crust on the outside.   The structure of the croissant is very interesting.  The paper thin dough seems to somehow have been spun in spirals leaving part of the inside hollow.  Now, I guess I’ll have to eat one in Paris to make a comparison.

Ah ah.  I hear music coming from somewhere.  I go inside the restaurant and discover that the lights have come back on.  To celebrate I order a cup of hot tea.  However, my croissant is gone so a pinwheel shaped pastry with pineapple and mini chocolate chips in the center follows me out of the restaurant and back to my table.  This pastry is tasty, but the croissant was really the star.

This is my last day.  I have ticked off on my list some of the finer restaurants in Vientiane but a couple are left.  One is la Belle Epoque.  It vies with Le Silapa for the priciest place in town.  I don’t feel like eating a rich dinner there and then getting up at the dawn of crack to make my flight to Kuala Lumpur so I choose la Belle for lunch.

The restaurant itself is set in a five star hotel.  The menu lists some French dishes, but also, lamb, steak, salmon, etc.  The review did say it caters to both the French and Western diners.  I try to stay with the French theme I set four days ago and order eggs poached in red wine topped with bacon, their version of a salad nicoise, and a cheese plate.  I also asked for all the dishes to be served at the same time. 

Out they came.  The eggs, being the warm dish, would be the first to be eaten.  They were lightly poached sitting atop bread which had been trimmed of its crust.  The sauce was a red wine reduction with mushrooms.  Bacon adorned the top.  It was tasty. 

I started working on the very large salad nicoise next (it was served on a dinner plate).  The star of the salad was six plump sun dried tomatoes with oil still clinging to them.

As I worked on the salad I kept eyeing the cheese pate.  There was a slice of brie and one of bleu.  I took a bite of the bleu cheese and discovered that it was so rich that I had to alternate eating a small bit of the cheese and then a couple bites of my salad to cut its richness.  I have never eaten a bleu cheese this rich.  Working back and forth between the two plates, I finished them at them same time.

The bill came to $35.  A pricey lunch for a couple of poached eggs, salad, and a couple slices of cheese and a small bottle of mineral water.  Even though the butter came from New Zealand and that delicious bleu cheese made its way from Auvergne France, for $15 more I had dinner at Le Silapa and enjoyed foie gras, a large glass of wine, and veal brains.  From my limited experience at the two restaurants, Le Silapa gets my vote.

It is time to bid adieu to Vientiane.  Looking back it feels like it was a hectic four and a half days, with somewhere around $300 invested in restaurant food.  I consider money well spent and a lot of fun to boot.  

A considerable amount of research went into the restaurants here to make my list of the top ones to eat at.  I think I ate at eight of the best.  In reality you could eat here for a couple of weeks trying a couple of new restaurants every day if you wanted to cover other well regarded French and Laotian restaurants, as well as Italian, Japanese, Bakeries, coffee shops, etc. etc.

I passed a Swensen’s Ice Cream parlor a couple days ago.  It turns out they are going global - not only in S E Asia but India as well.  Who knows?  My Vientiane farewell dinner just might be another Reueben followed by a hot fudge sundae.