Lao pho (foe) — rice noodles in a star-anise-spiced beef- or pork-bone broth, served with a generous plate of raw herbs, bean sprouts, lettuce and lime that the diner adds to the bowl, plus a battery of self-mix condiments. A Vientiane all-day staple, herbier and sweeter than Vietnamese phở.
Lao foe descends from Vietnamese phở, which itself took shape under French Indochina — French appetite for beef gave rise to the bone-broth-and-rice-noodle bowl — and travelled to Laos with the Vietnamese who settled along the Mekong. Adapted to Lao taste in Vientiane, it gained added sugar, a more generous raw-herb plate, and a fermented-fish (padaek) condiment, diverging into its own herbier, sweeter style.
Pho Dung in Vientiane (Khun Bulom Road) opened 1972, the longest-running pho house in the capital; founder Khamla Phommavong learned from Vietnamese neighbours in Ban Sangveuy. The bowl comes with a quarter-lime, not the standard Vietnamese half-lime — a small Lao economic memory.
A spice-rich beef or pork broth (star anise, cinnamon, lemongrass) with sliced rare beef or pork, sometimes meatballs. The real star is the side plate the diner builds in: bean sprouts, Thai basil, mint, sawtooth coriander, lettuce, lime wedge and sliced bird's-eye chili. The table line-up — hoisin, chili sauce, lime, fermented fish sauce (padaek) and sugar — is self-mixed; a spoon or two of sugar and the padaek dip are the Lao tell.
The flavour comes from a loaded broth, not a long single-note simmer: beef or pork bones for gelatin and body, a warm-spice battery (star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, clove, Sichuan pepper) and aromatics (onion, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime), giving a complex but un-muddied stock — distinct from the Hanoi charred-onion-and-ginger base. Herbs go in only at the table: basil, mint and sawtooth coriander give up their volatile aromatics when pressed onto the hot soup, so Lao diners add them fresh, bowl by bowl.
Variations
Beef (the Vientiane canonical); pork (lighter, paler broth); chicken (milder, often for kids); extra-herb (an added handful of greens, ordered at Vientiane morning-market stalls); the Luang Prabang version leans toward Vietnamese phở with cinnamon — a tourist-trade adaptation since the 2000s.
On the Palate
Where Pho Lao sits in the Lao flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
3 steps · 6 min active + 2 hours 3 min waiting
- 1120 min
Simmer 1 kg beef bones in 3 L water with star anise, ginger, onion 2 hr; strain.
Watch outSimmer the bones at a bare tremble, not a rolling boil, and skim the scum — gentle heat draws out clean gelatin and keeps the broth clear instead of cloudy and greasy.
- 26 min
Boil 400 g rice noodles 3 min; drain; add sliced rare beef on top.
- 33 min
Pour hot broth over to cook beef; serve with mint, basil, lime, sprouts on side.
Watch outThe broth must be near-boiling when you pour so it just blushes the raw beef — cool broth leaves the slices red and raw, over-hot overcooks them grey.
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