Delicious Lao dishes take centre stage at Waterloo restaurant

For weeks, there hasn't been a wall sign on the facade at 21 King St. N. in Waterloo, so look for the sidewalk sign that declares “Champa Kitchen Now Open.”

When you get inside, peruse the 80-item menu and ask owner Outhoumphonh Vongkhamchanh — “I go by Linda,” she said — about her Lao cooking: she’s excited to describe it and how much it means to her to be running her own restaurant.

Vongkhamchanh has worked in hospitality for 15 years. She attended Conestoga College for business, has worked in a Cambridge restaurant and opened Champa Kitchen (Champa is a national flower of Laos, she says) on July 2.

Born in Laos, she came to Canada from Savannakhet province in the southern part of the country when she was 14: her story is told many times by new Canadians.

“My dad left first and brought us over,” she said. “He wanted us to have a better future. It was tough. You don’t know the language, and you don’t know the culture.”

Her future, it turned out, was to share Southeast Asian dishes and culture with Waterloo Region, especially Lao cuisine.

“I enjoy feeding people, whether it’s at home or wherever. I want to serve the community Lao cuisine. There’s not a lot around here.”

With food businesses such as Kitchener’s Knife and Pestle and Choun Kitchen in Hespeler, Lao cooking is steeping from the shadows of Thai food. It’s a less familiar cuisine that is gaining popularity, much like the burgeoning Filipino food scene in the region.

There are several dozen dishes at Champa that originate from countries of what was known as the Indochinese Peninsula, including Thai, Vietnamese and Lao, such as appetizers, soups, curries such as gang garee yellow curry, pho, specialties such as crispy duck, noodle dishes and several vegetarian dishes.

Traditional Lao dishes, such as chicken larb kai and beef larb seen beef salad with tripe (just delicious), coconut pork patties and seen lod (a scrumptious, more crispy Lao-style beef jerky) share menu space with Thai dishes.

Sai gok is a delicious rich marinated ground pork sausage.

“You have to have a little fat in there,” Vongkhamchanh said. “There’s lemon grass, some lime leaf, and a mix of herbs and garlic powder. We add a bit of chili paste, and it sits in the cooler for a couple of hours before we stuff the sausage.”

It’s steamed first, then grilled and served with a Lao chili paste called jeow bong, this version of which wasn’t too hot.

A commonly found condiment originating in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage-designated town in north-central Laos, jeow bong is sweet and savoury with just a hint of umami-rich fish sauce detectable.

“Jeow bong’s very popular back home, and we eat it with sticky rice. Ground chili is blended with galangal and lime leaf. We eat it by hand and dip the sticky rice into the jeow bong.”

With three children under 10, she wears many hats, and her husband, Tim, an electrician, helps on the side.

“My mom, Saisamone, helps since we just started a month ago, and I am the cook. We’re looking for kitchen help, by the way,” she said.

Her family is focused on introducing their food to the community. “Lao food is for sharing. The way we eat is family oriented,” she said, adding that it’s taking a lot of energy to keep the new restaurant afloat as they build business.

It’s tough right now. But we’ll get by with all the support from the community,” Vongkhamchanh said.

“This is my dream. This is what I want to do. At school, I wanted to run my own business. It’s taken a while, but we’re here.”

For more info on Champa Kitchen, visit Facebook/champakitchen.info.

Andrew Coppolino is a Kitchener-based food writer and broadcaster. Visit him at www.andrewcoppolino.com.