L'Elephant (second visit)

Raved about L'Elephant yesterday, in fact we liked it so much we were back again today for lunch.  Not surprisingly the staff were the same as yesterday and being a small restaurant, they remembered us.

Today we ordered pretty much the same, the only difference was replacing the nem rice with buffalo skin curry (in addition to the grilled buffalo). 

The curry was basically a red curry with three types of meat, chicken, pork and the hard buffalo skin.  It could have been a challenge, but I'm used to having pork skin etc, so this was really no difference.  The thing we noticed with Lao cooking is that they used slightly different spices which (to me) makes the dishes taste more gamey.

L'Elephant, Luang Prabang

Desperation to get away from the heat drove us into the airconditioned L'Elephant french/lao restaurant in the tree-lined touristy part of Luang Prabang.

It was a small establishment that had only four or five tables inside and the same outside (in the heat!).  The prices, while not quite Sydney prices, we're on the premium end, even for tourists!

We didn't regret it though:

Grilled Buffalo was benefited from a subtle sweet marinade which reduced the gaminess but highlighted it as well.  We ordered it to be adventurous, but after tasting it, vowed to come back for more.

Chicken larb was again subtle but tasty.

And the Nem rice was not as crunchy as others we've tried but also delicious in subtle flavours.

Of course, sticky rice, eaten with your hands is a must, but this sticky rice was like a wild version, so it was red.  I've seen it used in Vietnamese sweet sticky rice, but not part of a savoury staple before.

And of course, to finish of a delicous lunch we had to have dessert:

Creme caramel for me, a little too light for me, but not bad consistency, the caramel sauce was perfect.