Chorney-Booth: Kin Dee Street Kitchen introduces a taste of Laos cuisine

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As Calgary grows, global representation within our restaurant landscape is growing, too, but some cuisines remain more well-represented than others. We don’t, for example, have a huge number of Portuguese or South American restaurants. Another country that hasn’t seen a lot, or much of any, culinary action here in Calgary is Laos, though that’s changing thanks to a new restaurant called Kin Dee Street Kitchen, specializing in Laos-Thai food.

Laos is a landlocked country in Southeast Asian, sandwiched in the middle of an oblong doughnut formed by Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and China. Unsurprisingly, its food resembles that of its neighbours, albeit with some unique and quite tasty characteristics.

Kin Dee was founded by three sisters who have long been part of the city’s food industry through the family-run Mandarin Noodles, a food manufacturing company with products available nationally at Superstore, Safeway, Sobey’s, T&T and other grocery stores. While Mandarin continues to be a success for the family, the sisters also felt a yearning to share the delicious food their mother cooked for them as they were growing up.

Co-owner Rasz Almodovar says her mother has since retired back in Laos, but left her daughters with a stack of recipes for their favourite meals. After putting together some meal kits through Mandarin during the early part of the pandemic, they got the urge to start a restaurant, celebrating the culture of Laos as well as their mom’s skills in the kitchen.

“The food here is basically all her recipes, just tweaked a little bit,” Almodovar says.

Given Laos’ proximity to both Thailand and Vietnam — two countries with cuisine well-known to many Calgarians — the food at Kin Dee won’t feel too unfamiliar to customers without any experience with Laos. The hallmarks include sticky rice, lots of fresh herbs like basil, mint and cilantro, and frequent use of pungently delicious fermented fish sauce. Almodovar notes that while some of the dishes are not too far off what one would find at an exclusively Thai restaurant and even share similar names, Laos’ flavours tend to be less sweet and more savoury than typical Thai cuisine.

“It has all the flavours,” she says. “You’ll taste everything: sweet, salty, spicy. There’s a balance.”

One key pillar of Kin Dee’s menu is a spicy Laos-style papaya salad ($4.75) which is best served with meat to balance out the richness — it also serves as the centrepiece of the restaurant’s Thum Platter ($46.75), a celebration of protein featuring Laos pork rinds, sausage, chicken wings, and pork skewers, portioned for two to three hungry people. Other menu highlights include the traditional laab meat and herb salad ($7.95) and an ultra-savoury, basil pork stir-fry bowl ($9.95). There are various soups and skewers and rolls, but the absolute must-try appetizer is the crispy Lao fried chicken wings ($6.85) with a side of the restaurant’s signature jaew, a tangy herbal dip spiked with chili and fish sauce.

Speaking of that jaew, all of Kin Dee’s sauces are made from scratch. Given the owners’ food production background, Almodovar says she and her sisters hope to start selling jarred sauces soon to extend customers’ experiences into their homes.

Kin Dee is located in an industrial area just east of Deerfoot and south of McKnight, in an unassuming but pleasant space. It’s a counter service situation with the food served on disposable plates and plenty of seating for dine-in customers. As fresh and expertly prepared as the food is, Almodovar and her sisters keep the cost of their dishes as low as possible to make the food accessible to a wider range of people. That community-minded service and family atmosphere make Kin Dee feel instantly welcoming and comfortable, even for customers who may be experiencing the food of Laos for the very first time.

Kin Dee Street Kitchen is located at 3449 12th St. N.E. and can be reached at 587-349-9768 or kindeestreetfood.com. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday for lunch and (early) dinner.

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In other restaurant news, after earning accolades for its tasting menu-only concept, Sauvage restaurant in Canmore is re-introducing an à la carte menu to give guests a wider variety of options. While chef Tracy Little has created a loyal following with her signature tasting menus built with mountain foraged ingredients and a unique sense of Canadian storytelling through food, she wanted to be able to offer something for visitors with smaller appetites, limited budgets, or simply a desire to, as she says, “choose their own adventure.”

The new menus launched earlier this week and include sections for appetizers, mains and sides, with selections like a 16-ounce elk short rib with birch syrup barbecue sauce, West Coast Dungeness crab cakes with Taber corn, and wild mushrooms on toast. Little’s seasonal tasting menu will still be available for those looking for a full meal deal. For reservations or more information, visit sauvagerestaurant.ca.

Elizabeth Chorney-Booth can be reached at elizabooth@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram at @elizabooth or sign up for her newsletter at hungrycalgary.substack.com.