Echo Park: PhoLAOSouphy Pop-up at Hey Hey Tea

 

I’m pretty sure up until last week I never had Laotian food before. So when I saw the popup for noodles at Hey Hey in Echo Park, I was on it. The pop-up is every weekend this month. Hopefully the run gets extended.

For an informative video on the difference between Laos (the country) vs Laotian (the people) and Lao (the ethnic group, language), check this out.

 

 

I was immediately attracted to this soup, Suki Yaki Lao, because it had a myriad of seafood balls. It also came with fresh squid and shrimp. I loved the mung bean noodles (like vermicelli). The light broth was very comforting. There are a number of condiments you can add to your soup but I stuck with the bowl as is my first time trying it because I wanted to see what it’s like before adding anything. However, I was so enthusiastic about my bowl, I never did add anything!

I also loved all the mushrooms in this bowl.

 

 

Next we have khao soi which you may be familiar with from Thai restaurants. As it turns out, Laos borders Thailand and there are ethnic Lao people in Thailand and Isan food has Laotian roots!).

These noodles were rice noodles topped with pork. In a lot of ways, I felt this was a gentler bowl form the Thai versions I’ve had before. Of course I could have added my own seasonings but I was attempting to enjoy the bowl as is– but yes, perhaps a bit more chile heat would be nice.

 

And finally we had the khao poon nam gai which were vermicelli noodles with red curry paste. The protein was shredded chicken and I liked the veggies as well. For this bowl, I probably would have liked something zingy like lime or maybe a vinegar. I am definitely going to order this again though! I hope to make it back to the popup this week.

There were two others we didn’t try; a beefy bowl and a ginger chicken. I want to try these as well.

 

PhoLaoSouphy Popup by PhakhaoThip at Hey Hey

1555 W Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026 

 

 

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