Bida Manda Birthday Dinner

I've been wanting to go to Bida Manda, a Laotian restaurant downtown, for quite a while but Ben felt their whole marketing strategy was pretentious and annoying. Well, yesterday was my birthday, so I get to make him do what I want. We ended up having a fantastic experience - the food was great and the service was even better, genuinely friendly and extremely prompt.

We ordered some crispy ground pork egg rolls to start. They were excellent, far better than the standard type of egg roll I expected.

For my entree I ordered the shrimp & bacon saffron crepe, which was huge! Fortunately I was able to finish it with no problems because it was also great.

Ben ordered the caramelized ginger pork ribs with grilled asparagus and sticky rice. I have to admit I was pretty jealous when this showed up at the table, because it looked amazing.

And then they brought us a free birthday dessert!

These items are mango sorbet, tamarind cobbler, and coconut custard. It was the perfect end to a great meal! Happy birthday to me!