Luang Nam Tha
Eat and meet
Luang Nam Tha
Given the good range of accommodation, it's not surprising there is a good range of places to eat. While many guesthouses will offer some kind of breakfast offering, there a couple of good cheap and cheerful pho/noodle joints on the main road just south of Manychan. Of the two, the southernmost one we found to be better, but they're both good.Directly opposite the bulk of the backpacker accommodation is the Luang Nam Tha night market. Open in the evening only it has a good range of local specialities and the prices are very reasonable.
Manychan does very well off the traveller trade throughout the day and into the evening, offering a comprehensive traveller menu taking in most dishes you come up with at a drop of the hat -- their Lao food is ok.
Head further down the same side of the road and you'll reach the Minority Restaurant which specialises in, you guessed it, minority food. We tried one of their versions of bamboo soup -- it was so authentic we found worms in the bamboo! Service was particularly friendly and helpful and we wouldn't hold the worms against them.
Further south again on the other side of the road is the Banana Restaurant. It's main claim to fame is the 20,000 kip buffet dinner that drags backpackers in religiously. When we ate there we ordered some lao lao only to have it served in martini glasses. Friendly.
Off the main strip there are two places well worth mentioning -- the aptly named Coffee House (take the left turn immediately after Green Discovery when heading south and it's on your left), which serves mainly coffee but also lots of other stuff.
If you'd rather just feed your inner carnivore, look no further than Miss Lai's Pig -- a pork BBQ joint. If you're after a local experience with quite a bit of drinking, then this is where you should be headed. To get there, take the immediate left after Zuela when heading north, and it's three blocks down on your left.
While we didn't try it, the Huen Lao Restaurant, at the northern end of town (on the main road, on your left, before you reach the gas station) was packed every time we passed it by -- which was quiet a few times. Could be worth investigating for a nosh-up meal. Others we didn't manage to fit in (hey there's only so many places we can eat at) include the Panda (near the sauna) and Papaya Restaurants (near Coffee House).
Luang Nam Tha goes to bed early and even if the place was awash in late openers, you may have considerable difficulty getting back into your guesthouse after about 11:30pm. We did spy one karaoke joint, it's called Red Pig Karaoke from memory and is a block behind the night market.
