Cafe de Laos is a beautiful restaurant set in an old-fashioned wooden house found at the back of Silom Soi 17, not far from Pullman Silom and Lebua Tower. Cafe de Laos serves a delightful mix of Laos and Issan cuisine (North-eastern Thailand), perfect for something a bit different and yet still with Thai flavours. The place is quite popular but if you don't know where to look you might just miss it as it's hidden behind a wall of trees on the side of a parking lot. The restaurant interior looks as classic as the outside with painted wooden walls and varnished floors, traditional staircases and a lot of old framed images hanging everywhere. This ageless atmosphere adds plenty of charm to the dinning experience.
The well illustrated menu really helps to pick from the sometimes unusual but attractive dishes. As always we encourage you to try something new or different as it would be a waste of time to come to such restaurant and order fried rice. Having a soft spot for betel leaves, we ordered two dishes wrapped in this beautiful green leaf known for its lightly bitter but agreeable taste. To our surprise a small complimentary plate of deep fried betel leaves in deep fried batter was brought to us soon after ordering, a delicious snack to accompany a beer or a glass of wine. Each dish was superbly presented, a perfect Facebook snapshot to drive your friends jealous back home.
We really enjoyed the Mok Jawh, a marinated fish in fresh betel leaves with some fresh chilies and a sour and lightly spicy sauce (200 baht). The Neuh Sirloin Yanhg, a grilled beef with sticky rice was tasty and tender (350 baht) and to compliment these, we ordered a traditional spicy Gaeng Paa (Jungle soup) with bitter gourd, mushrooms and peppercorn… the perfect match.
The food was good and without being really extraordinary it was a fun and original dinner… The price is a little bit above average and the house wine is not that impressive but we were very happy with the food served in this timeless atmosphere and would recommend the restaurant if you are in this part of Silom (not far from the famous Sky bar).