The delicious roast chicken of Xeno

The smoke rising from the stalls can be seen from a distance throughout the day, and as one gets closer, one can also smell the mouth-watering aroma of the roasted chicken.
Travellers headed to southern Laos shouldn’t miss the delicious roast chicken sold at roadside stalls in Xeno area of Savannakhet province.

Mrs Kanya Phimmalath, the owner of a roast chicken shop in Xeno.

The best roast chicken is available at shops located along South Road No 13, in an area about 400 km from Vientiane.
People coming from Vientiane often stop at Xeno for lunch. It usually takes about six or seven hours to get to the spot in a minibus.
The owner of a roast chicken shop, Mrs Kanya Phimmalath, told Vientiane Times with a smile that most people liked her grilled chicken because it’s fresh, tastes great and is good value for money.
The chicken shops in Savannakhet are a regular stopover point for people on the long trip to the southern provinces of Laos.
Travellers usually stop for lunch at the Xeno, snapping up the grilled chicken that is soft and delicious. For many customers, the stopover for lunch is one of the most memorable parts of the journey.
There are two places that appear to be competing for the tag of “most popular” - Xeno in Savannakhet province and Napong village in Kongxedon district of Saravan province.
Grilled chicken from the many small outlets in Napong has been very famous across the country for many years, a reputation it continues to carry.
In the past, whenever a person from Vientiane travelled for work to southern of Laos, he would be requested by relatives to bring back grilled chicken from Napong. But Xeno now seems to be encroaching on that reputation.
Someone who has eaten at the stalls in Napong told this reporter that the taste of chicken there was different from that of Xeno. In Napong, the grilled chickens are quite large, and the meat is not tender but rather salty.
Mrs Kanya said she sells anywhere between 30 and 40 roasted chickens every day. Most of her customers are usually passengers from buses, minibuses, and other vehicles travelling down the highway.
“I do not lie, I can sell out my roast chicken every day. If I feel I will not sell it out on some day, I will hold up my roast chicken. I will ask a bus to stop and knock on the windows and ask people to buy from me,” she said.
Most people like to eat the grilled or roast chicken with papaya salad and sticky rice.
The price of the roast chicken depends on size. Large ones sell for 40,000 kip, while medium ones go for around 35,000 kip and small ones for 30,000 kip.
Mrs Kanya said some customers from Vientiane bargain too much. She would not say whether the chickens come from farms or are raised locally by villagers.

Chickens being grilled in an oven in Xeno area of Savannakhet province.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update May 12, 2022)