Bring in the Funk, Bring in the Lao

Bangkok’s most stylish Lao restaurant leaving tongues wagging.

TEXT BY VANIDA PHIMPHRACHANH & JASON ROLAN PHOTOGRAPHS BY FUNKY LAM / CAMILLA DAVIDSSON

above: For the wine list, Veronica Saurus created an illustration based on a Lao record from the 1960s. Inside there is even a real vinyl record. right: Traditional Lao food served with a modern twist

Funky Lam Kitchen is an inspiring modern-retro Lao pop-up restaurant in Bangkok’s Thonglor district launched by Sanya Souvanna Phouma and Saya Na Champasak and is leading the way in the city’s culinary scene. Growing up in Laos, they inherited the rich cooking tradition of the country, which they have gone on to develop, enhance, and reinvent – with a dash of funk and fun, like electrifi ed twangs of popular molam music. Patrons, often familiar with food from Thailand’s northeastern Isan region, do not always realize that staples such as fi ery papaya salad, herb-infused mincemeat laap, and sticky rice actually entered the area from Laos.

The space is decorated by Philippe Bramaz of Pagoda & Co, a furniture design outfi t, and Veronica Guarino, an illustrator known as Veronosaurus. Veronica handpainted bamboo curtains imported from Laos with illustrations of vintage shop signs of a hairdresser, a dentist, and a record shop inspired from signs that once hung in the streets of Vientiane and Luang Prabang in the 1950s and 1960s. Veronica explains that “before printing technology was widespread and accessible, people used to hire artists to paint signs over their shops with literal depictions of what they sold or what service they offered.” She also painted the 8-meter crocodile seen across the window shades, which was inspired by Lao folklore beliefs that they are guardian spirits of the lakes and waterways.

In blending the old and new in unique ways, at Funky Lam Kitchen you can fi nd the iconic Pou Nyeu and Nya Nyeu ancestor spirits of Luang Prabang around a ping kai grilled chicken served with a padaek fermented fi sh sauce guacamole. The mini cleavers often used in cooking are here to cut the chicken before serving so that the Lao meal is easy to share with the table. Here, as in traditional Lao cuisine, the fi ngers are used to ball up sticky rice and grab, dip, and spread, along with khai phen, deepfried Mekong river weed.

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left: An 8-meter crocodile from Lao legend across the restaurant's bamboo blinds 1. A replica of a Lao tailor shop sign from an bygone era 2. The red neon sign brings a retro feel 3. Luang Prabang ancestor spirits decorating the table (Photo 2 & 3 by Camilla Davidsson camilladavidsson.com)

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Funky Lam pops up nightly inside Luka Moto cafe from 18:00–23:00. Enjoy the creative visual references to Laos, from the curly font of the red neon Funky Lam sign and chair covers sporting Lao characters. For Sanya, the reasoning to fi t a modern-retro Lao restaurant inside of a vintage motorbike cafe, he just quotes Anthony Bourdain “Motorbike: the only way to see this part of the world. The thick, unmoving air. The smell past rice paddies. Water buffalo. What feels like another century. Laos is the kind of place that can easily capture your heart and not let you go.”

MORE INFO Funky Lam Kitchen is located on Thonglor Soi 11 in Bangkok funkylamkitchen.com

Other inspiring places curated by Sanya: Maggie Choo, Sing Sing, Cactus, and Siri House.

Saya has launched the fi rst Thai food delivery service in Paris, Thai At Home