A Laotian eatery situated by Moore Square in Downtown Raleigh.

    It’s been a skinny minute since I last enjoyed a meal.

Not because there has been a lack of good food- in fact, there’s been tons of great bites around me. However, having just received radiation to my throat again I have been bound to Ensure and feeding tubes since Christmas. I was going to write about my “Best Bites of 2022” to wrap up the year, but getting inspired while only having liquid feeds was a difficult task. Also, Boost was by far my most consumed meal of the year, and who wants to see that on a food blog? Not me, that’s for sure.

   Anyhow, my throat has slowly (emphasis on the slow here,) but surely gotten a bit less sore and today I decided it was time to go grab a good lunch and get out of the house for a bit. It turned into a really incredible afternoon, one I won’t soon forget, and part of that was helped by the meal I got to enjoy with my mom. The other part was getting to meet the cutest family and one of my favorite accounts to follow @Mealssheeats in person; they’re incredibly sweet and just as precious in person as they are online, but I am here to review food, not fangirl, so let me get back on track.

    We found ourselves at the big wooden door of Bida Manda, a Laotian restaurant that has been in downtown Raleigh for as long as I can remember, but a place I had never stopped by. We knew they had soups and were craving something cozy and easy to eat (still worried about the whole throat being swollen-thing,) so we wandered in and got seated.

    The space was nice and dim, smaller, and felt private. It was nice, just a relaxed spot where I didn’t feel I had to be too dressed up to enjoy, which I really appreciated. Our server was super prompt and very informative, telling us all about Laos. Quick little culinary lesson: Laos is a small country very close to Thailand, so you see a lot of overlap in their dishes, but some of the preparation is different. 

    We got started with drinks- my mom got herself a margarita which was done with tequila, lime, and hibiscus tea. It was tart and super smooth, and she really enjoyed it. I opted for my favorite drink of all time, Thai tea. Now, Thai tea is something everyone needs to try (are you taking notes yet?) because it’s the perfect sweet treat. Condensed milk and black tea makes for the perfect drink, so make it a goal to go and try one. The one here was super yummy, and Hummingbird makes a mean one as well in case you’re on the hunt. Back to the meal at hand, though!

    For an appetizer, we ordered the crispy rice lettuce wraps, which were wonderfully flavorful and full of fresh veggies. You know when you make stir fried rice and you get those little burnt clumps all along the sides of the pan, but they’re secretly the very best bits of rice and you collect all of them for yourself when serving it at a meal? Is that just me? Well, if you too find yourself searching for the crispy bits, look no further. This dish consists only of crispy bits of rice and it’s so perfect and texturally such a treat. Wrapped in the crunchy lettuce, the rice has a nice initial bite then softens and is chewy. Drizzle a bit of the sweet chili sauce they serve with it on top and you’re absolutely golden. These were the highlight of my entire meal, and frankly I could’ve just eaten this and been fine. The portion was super generous as well, as was the case for every other dish we ate. Mind you, these are their lunch portions too, so I can only begin to imagine the leftovers one would have following dinner here.

    For our mains, I got the pad lao with crisp pork belly, which is a sweeter fried rice noodle with julienned eggs (aka sliced up omelette, yum,) a bunch of herbs, bean sprouts and peanuts. I didn’t get too much of the herbs, which I wish I had because the sauce was very sweet and the dish would have benefited from a nice cilantro or basil to cut that a bit, but the pork belly was cooked to perfection, the noodles were springy and awesome, and all around it felt like a hug. That was the one thing I kept coming back to- this is comfort food. Maybe not what was made in my house, but food that makes you feel like you’re home, like you’re safe, like you’re sitting at your dining table while it’s chilly out and keeping warm with something that’s been on the stove for a while. It was absolutely perfect for an overcast day like today.

    I only had a bite of my mom’s pad thai, but she said it was delicious. The preparation was very different from traditional pad thai, as it didn’t have a peanut sauce and got all of its nuttiness from the peanuts alone. There were these awesome bits of tofu sprinkled amongst the chicken and veggies, and it had a really cool tartness to it that regular pad thai tends to lack. 

    At the end of our meal, our stomachs were very full and very, very content. This is a place I would recommend to anyone because it has something for everyone. Fried rice for those who maybe want to play it safe, vegetarian options for those who want to avoid animals, soups for those who want to cozy up. It’s the perfect “one-size-fits-all” spot, no one will leave hungry. Pop in for a lunch or dinner service and enjoy Laotian food at its coziest. Next time, I have my eye on the Bahn Mi or the salmon dish, but I may very well find myself ordering many, many lettuce wraps.

Final Rating:

4.5/5