For over a decade my remarkable wife, Ponpailin ‘Noi’ Kaewduangdee, delighted diners at Doi Ka Noi, her unique restaurant in Vientiane, Laos. Noi’s focus was on market-fresh, seasonal, and foraged ingredients. 

At Doi Ka Noi, she offered a small weekly changing menu of just nine or ten dishes. Recipes used were inherited from her grandmother, or in the case of less well-known regional dishes, collected during food-focused travels in rural Laos in an effort to document and safeguard the country’s disappearing culinary heritage.

Noi always eschewed the title of chef, saying she was a cook. She proudly asserted that the best Lao food was to be found in home kitchens. Her restaurant Doi Ka Noi was just that – a home kitchen, but one that she opened so others could enjoy her food.

Tragically, Noi passed away in May 2025 at the age of just 45 and at a time when she had come to be regarded as the most important voice for Lao food there has ever been. Through her honest cooking, her radiant personality full of her love and light, she reached and inspired many people. And she continues to do so.

In November 2024, we self-published A Child of the Rice Fields: Recipes from Noi’s Kitchen. As a writer and photographer, I wanted to document Noi’s incredible culinary heritage. The resulting 480-page tome was a labour of love for both of us. It stands as the most comprehensive book ever written on Lao food. It won multiple accolades at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Portugal and Saudi Arabia, and received high praise from Nigella Lawson and food writer, Tom Parker Bowles.

In February 2025, Doi Ka Noi was the first ever Lao restaurant to be in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards, ranking 86 on the extended list in 2025. For a humble restaurant serving traditional Lao food, this was a significant achievement.

Noi passed away just as her voice was reaching a global audience. ‘A Child of the Rice Fields’ born into poor subsistence Phu Tai farming community in Khammouane Province, she did more than anyone to put Lao cuisine on the global map. 

When Noi died, we were halfway through our second book about the regional food of northern Laos. I will complete it and her culinary legacy will endure, as will my love for her. 

Mick