Khaiphaen

About Khaiphaen

Khaiphaen is a training restaurant on Sisavang Vatthana Road in Luang Prabang, run by the charity Friends International as part of its TREE Alliance of vocational restaurants. It opened in 2015, funded in part by the Luang Prabang Half Marathon and Fondation L'Orangerie, and takes its name from khaiphaen — the crispy, fried Mekong river-weed snack that is a Luang Prabang speciality. More than 130 marginalised young people have trained here, learning to cook, wait and run a kitchen; the students are not salaried but receive free training, meals, accommodation and healthcare, and all profits go back into the programme.

For the rest of the city's Lao dining, compare the heritage cooking at Manda de Laos, the colonial-house bistro Tangor or the riverside 3 Nagas.

The Kitchen

The food is Lao with a creative twist, and the cooking is genuinely good rather than a charity afterthought. The menu runs to buffalo carpaccio, five-spice pork belly and a pea-and-apple eggplant curry, alongside the river-weed snack the restaurant is named for and a range of fresh shakes and cocktails the students mix at the bar. Dishes are made from scratch in the open kitchen, where trainees work noodle bowls and curries alongside their teachers. Prices are modest — this is a casual, mid-budget table rather than a special-occasion splurge — and the value is unusually high given the standard of the plates and the cause behind them.

The Room

The setting is a relaxed two-level space with a breezy terrace, casual and unhurried, where the service is warm if sometimes still learning — which is the whole point. There is a small gift shop selling crafts made by local families to help keep their children in school. The mood is friendly and informal rather than polished, well suited to a solo traveller, a relaxed dinner or a daytime stop between temples; it is the kind of room where lingering is encouraged and the staff are visibly proud of the work. Book ahead in the high season, when the terrace fills.