Laos forum

Try any street stall that attempts western dishes, especially sandwich/burger bars in late afternoon when the mayo or pre-cooked egg has sat around all day. Potential quick weight-loss program when you get food poisoning and can't hold food down for 3 or 4 days whilst constantly leaking water from 2 or more orifices. Actually the worst I had in Laos was a coconut pancake, maybe due to the rancid margarine or whatever had been cooked in the same pan that day.

Bob
I tend to avoid street food period - for the reasons you cited. It's not as if you can't get sick in Asia eating Asian food. Sloppy health habits are sloppy health habits. Some western food requires a bit more preservation - although certainly not all.

Rufus
Indeed. It took me about six months here to figure out which places are OK to eat, and which are not. That's a luxury, of course, that transients just don't have.

Ask a local? You think I trust these guys opinions on anything Somsai? Are you kidding me? Like I said in another, unrelated post, God knows I love 'em, but Thais and I don't regard things like cuisine in quite the same manner - ditto for driving. The indigenous persons here are, well, we are definitely different in a number of areas. What they think is good, and what I think is good, are two different things. Also, yes, I speak Thai, but I speak it badly. So nuanced questions are out. For a lot of people here, good means cheap. Now, after living here a while, I know a number of people who's opinions on the subject I would be inclined to trust. But it took a long time to meet those people.