Chokdee Café Belgian Beer Bar

Chokdee Café is a Belgian beer bar and restaurant on Quai Fa Ngum, the riverside road along the Mekong in central Vientiane. Belgian owner Vincent Wirtgen opened it in 2009 with around 30 seats, and by 2016 it had grown to seat more than 100. It is the one beer-focused bar named in current Vientiane guides from Fodor's and Wanderlog, and a long-standing alternative to the Beerlao served almost everywhere else in the city.

The draw is the imported Belgian range. Fodor's puts it at 14 beers on tap with many more in bottles, and listings describe more than 100 Belgian beers in all, including La Chouffe, Kasteel, Chimay and Leffe. That covers Trappist ales, strong dark beers and lighter blondes. Imported beer is expensive by Lao standards, a point reviewers raise often, though some have mentioned two-for-one offers on selected beers.

The kitchen goes well beyond bar snacks. Mussels are the speciality, served in garlic-butter sauce or cooked in wine with a baguette and fries, alongside Flemish beef stew, steaks, sausages, burgers, salads and a few Lao dishes. Each beer arrives with a dish of fried garlic nuts. The room is lined with stacked beer and Tintin-themed decoration reflecting the owner's Belgian roots.

Listings show it open daily from 10am to 11.30pm, so it works for lunch as well as an evening drink after a walk along the riverfront. Google reviews from the first half of 2026 praise the beer list, the friendly staff and the cosy feel, while a couple of late-2025 reviewers found the food uneven and the prices high. It suits visitors and residents who want something with more character than local lager, and anyone with a taste for Belgian ales.