A Feast

Tonight after getting a stomach bug from a street meal last night, I looked up a restaurant called Vieng Sawan. An open sided restaurant in the heart of Chinatown here in Vientiene, it specializes in many types of ‘yaw’ (spring rolls) sold in sets with fresh lettuce, mint, basil, corriander and various dipping sauces, sliced star fruit, green banana, bean sprouts and cucumber.
We cruised by trying to decide if it was another iffy place that might make us have more stomach ache. Deciding to give it a go, we found the only available table in a place that was hopping with a good mix of locals and falangs. We were given a menu with photos and English captions and placed our order for fried spring rolls with fresh veges and fresh spring rolls as well, having no idea if we had ordered enough for two or ten people.
There was a sink in the front for washing before and after because for the most part it was an eat with your hands meal. There was also a waste basket under the table for the stems of things and all the napkins you would go through while eating.
When the food came it was a spread fit for Kings and Queens. The additional things included were cooked rice vermicelli, a plate of fresh sliced garlic, fresh chillis and rice wrappers so you could make more rolls using lettuce or the wrappers. It was ingenious because the rice wrappers came under the fresh veges so that their moisture would make them pliable to use.
The cooked rolls were more like a sausage with a rice wrapper and completely sumptuous. We also tried wrapping them in lettuce and other goodies which made them even better. My favourite turned out to be the rolls made with lettuce and stuffed to measure with all the yummy fillings, probably because they were light and I could eat more of them! All this was washed down with perfectly sweetened fresh lemonade.
It was a fabulous meal and we only left a small amount uneaten. The whole shebang cost about $9.
I make fresh spring rolls at home and I’m looking forward to doing it more as an entire meal with the kind of spread we just had because usually I make them for parties or as an appetizer. I wouldn’t even try to reproduce those fried ones though, I don’t think it could be done!