Lao Food in Shoreline
Isan, in northeastern Thailand, and Laos share a river, a language family and most of a cuisine. The food we cook comes from that shared tradition, so a good deal of our menu is Lao food by any honest reckoning — sticky rice as the staple, pla ra as the depth, herbs by the fistful, and pounding and grilling as the two main techniques.
Some dishes on our menu are specifically Lao rather than Thai-Isan, and they are the ones people who grew up with this food come looking for. They are listed below with the section each one is printed under.
The Lao dishes on our menu
Printed across our E-Sarn Salad and Salad sections. The Pla Ra* mark means the dish is built on fermented fish sauce.
Tum Luang Prabang (LAO)(Pla Ra*)
$14.45Wide noodle papaya, anchovy shrimp paste, salted crab, thai eggplant, green bean, garlic, tomato, pork rinds
Tum Mua (Pla Ra*)
$16.45Vermicelli noodle, papaya, carrot, salted crab, crispy anchovy, bean sprout, garlic, pickled mustard, green bean
Nham Khao Tod
$17.45Crispy rice, nahm, pork skin, peanut, ngo gai, green onion, red onion, cilantro, mint, lime leaf, chili, ginger
Larb Ped (Duck)
$18.45Ground duck, crispy duck skin, ngo gai, green onion, red onion, cilantro, mint, lime leaf, roasted sticky rice
Soob Normai (Pla Ra*)
$15.45Bamboo, ngo gai, green onion, red onion, cilantro, mint, lime leaf, dill, roasted sticky rice
Questions people ask
- Is Lao food the same as Thai food?
- Not the same, but closely related. The food of Isan — northeastern Thailand — and the food of Laos come from one shared tradition either side of the Mekong. Both are built on sticky rice rather than jasmine rice, both use pla ra fermented fish sauce for depth, and both favour pounding and grilling over stir-frying. Central Thai cooking, the curries and pad thai most people know, is a genuinely different kitchen.
- What is nham khao tod?
- A Lao salad of crispy fried rice broken up by hand and tossed with nham — sour fermented pork — along with peanut, ginger, lime leaf, chilli and herbs. The texture is the point: crunchy, sour, and rich all at once. It is one of the dishes people most often tell us they cannot find nearby.
- What makes Tum Luang Prabang different from Thai papaya salad?
- It is the Lao version, named for the city. Wide-cut papaya rather than fine shreds, anchovy shrimp paste and salted crab instead of peanuts and dried shrimp, Thai eggplant, and pork rinds on top. Deeper, funkier and less sweet than Tum Thai.
- Do you have sticky rice?
- Yes, and you will want it. Sticky rice is the staple these dishes are built around — it is the utensil for larb and papaya salad, not a side dish. It is on the menu under Sides.