Vegetarian Food Xayaphom Village

Foreigners can expect to be charged between 10-15 K for a few noodles and sliced mock-meat balls in soup (or 15 K for their equally unappetising, and limited, rice combo dish). No veggies or greens provided with soups. Would rather spend twice as much on the filling, delicious full-of-veg green curry at Lin's Cafe (which, while not veg*n, understands and can cater for the concept).

two elements come into play when rating a restaurant. taste and people. the owner went veg because her husband was sick and felt better now for 18 years strong. they have invited me to join their family for dinner. i love the fresh greens they add on side with soups. I am a cyclists touring s.e. asia and it's great to find a place like this in laos especially coming from vegan capital chiang mai thailand. I also met their neice and she is driving me to viantiene to make it in time for the khmer new year. plus they have dried packaged foods and dates.

As vegan food isn't widely understood in Laos, this restaurant is a treat as we were told the owner has been vegetarian for 18 years. We came as part of our VegVoyages tour and we had a buffet lunch the first day and breakfast with lunch to go the second day. The buffet lunch had tons of food: spring rolls, eggplant, tofu, rice noodles, soup and more. Very good and filling. I hope it's available to regular customers. For breakfast, we all enjoyed traditional noodle soup. Our picnic lunches included noodles and pate sandwiches. The restaurant also includes a small store area, so check out the supplies like vegan fish sauce.

According to reliable sources Savannakhet has between 30 and 40 vegetarians (Laotian Buddhists eat meat) and few foreigners visit the town. Therefore this restaurant is a real achievement: sympathetic, cheap, central location and (as far as I can judge) regional kitchen. It also has a small selection of vegetarian supplies. The restaurant is on the Western side of Latsavongseuk road (which is the main road), near corner Sutthanou road (on the opposite side of the street is apparently a car dealer).

When I was there a group of vegan tourists from the US was scheduled for lunch. I was served by an English speaking Laotian, who only works at such special occasions. The regular staff doesn't speak English, so be prepared to communicate with gestures.

I found the lunch tasty: spring rolls wrapped in rice paper as a starter, a soup of potatos, vegetables with fresh basil, chili and coconut milk.

One of the regular rice dishes on a weekday costs 15000 Kip, 5 spring rolls 10000 Kip. Fruit juices on demand, no alcohol.

Such a shame the restaurant isn't open in the evening!

simple, but good food, very friendly staff, very clean.
ate there 3 or 4 days, very good meals every time
highlight was a green jackfruit curry, hot but so gooood!!

Food was limited at the lunch buffet with just 3 dishes - The tofu and veg dish was good, served with rice.
Basic but nice friendly Buddhist atmosphere and spotlessly clean.
The couple that own it don't really speak english but the young woman manager speaks it fluently.
I bought some vegan instant noodles at their shop - A godsend when backpacking in remote areas - most hotels will give you a bowl, spoon and some boiling water.

The friendly staff wrote down the name in English for me as "Xayaphom Village" but just look for the "vegetarian food" sign outside (I will send photos). According to my Lonely Planet guidebook map the address is [236] Ratsavongseuk Road (between Chaimeuang Rd & Sutthanu Rd). Ratsavongseuk is the main road in Savannakhet. The shop includes a bubble drink counter out front and a shelf of packaged vegetarian food near the back, and tables for dining in between. Very friendly & helpful staff, great food.