What to eat in Luang Prabang, beyond the night market.

Most travelers walk through the night market buffet, pile a plate, and call it dinner. It is famous. It is also the weakest food on offer in town.

This guide is what a chef actually eats in Luang Prabang. Eight dishes, with the spots that do each one well.

Morning: the market beats every restaurant

Skip the hotel breakfast. Walk to the morning market with one of the bakeries on the riverside as your finish line. Order khao piak sen — the rice-noodle soup that anchors a Lao morning — at any of the open-front shops a few blocks behind the temple. The broth runs all night; whoever opens at 5 a.m. is serving the freshest version.

Lunch: laap, the right way

The version travelers usually meet — salty, peanutty, served warm — is a tourist compromise. Real Lao laap is room-temperature, sour with lime, raw or barely-blanched, and aromatic with mint, coriander, dill, and shallot. Eat it with sticky rice in your hand.

What to skip

The night market buffet. The "Lao spaghetti." Anywhere on the main strip that has photos of every dish on a laminated menu.

The good food is one block over, in a courtyard, with three plastic stools and no English sign.