Makphet started as a training restaurant for at-risk teenagers in Vientiane and grew into one of the city's best dining rooms. The trainees prepare dishes that play with traditional Lao flavours — lemongrass, sticky rice, river fish — but plate them more carefully than usual and add modern flourishes. Profits go back into the training programme.
Try the tasting menu if you want a tour of Lao cuisine in one sitting: pumpkin soup with coconut, river fish in banana leaf, jasmine rice with bamboo shoots. Vegetarians are well looked after, which is rare in Laos. Reservations recommended in high season.