Gai-Yang

A friend of ours found this very popular Gai-Yang road side restaurant by accident.  Actually they were driving down the road and decided to stop due to pure hunger.  What caught their eye, lots of people eating and gai-yang (originally roast chicken from Laos).  

This is one of those types of restaurants that lets the food speak for itself.  No decor whatsoever.  It really is set up on the side of the road.  Basic plastic chairs and cheap aluminum tables.  It is an open kitchen set up on one side of the restaurant and eating area on the other side.

We were so hungry, we ordered a lot of food.  The first dish was a beef soup.  This soup was so flavourful.  It was full of herbs and stewed beef.  Well blended flavours of sour, sweet, tangy and spicy. 

The next dish was ofcourse the gai-yang.  This was not the normal gai-yang that you normally get from road side stalls.  It was encrusted with herbs and spices.  It reminded us of indian spices.  It added an extra crunch and spicyness to the chicken.  

The next dish was larb-gai; a minced chicken salad with herbs and lime.  This is one of my favourite dishes.  So simple yet so tasty.  I was not disappointed with this version.  

The next dish was som-tum cucumber.  As you know, som-tum normally is made with green papaya.  So, it was very exciting to try this version.  Big chunks of cucumber, sliced tomatoes, peanuts, lime, fish sauce, caramalized sugar???, & green beans.  A very refreshing version.

The next dish was beef salad.  Thinly sliced roasted beef, with herbs, lime, fish sauce, and other ingredients (that I don't know and will find out) that made dish so tasty.  

Finally, the last dish was som-tum thai.  The original version that is world famous.  Grated green papaya, sliced tomatoes, green beans, peanuts, fish sauce, lime and caramalized sugar (i will find out exactly what this sugar is for you).  

I cannot say enough words to describe how wonderful our lunch was at this gai-yang road side. It was also so cheap.  It was raining heavily this day so it added some cool breezes and a nice atmosphere.  Oh, by the way, I was still hungry after all this food that I ordered another order of gai-yang.  But, I was not the only one who ate it, so I am not the only black hole of a stomach in my gang.  Will definately return...again...and again...and again.