Business Insider picks Bida Manda as best in NC

For Business Insider’s Best Restaurant in Every State write-up, contributor Emmie Martin selects Raleigh’s Bida Manda as North Carolina’s best. No arguments here. The BI piece is short on details, so if you have any reservations about checking out Bida Manda, check out Walter Magazine’s 2013 profile of the restaurant. Here’s a taste:

With one of the few true Laotian restaurants in the United States, these two twenty-somethings are introducing Raleighites to the fresh and unexpected cuisine of their tiny native country. They’re doing it with the help of a local community rooted at N.C. State that has risen up to make their dream a reality. And they’re doing it in tribute to their parents, who have been prevented by post–9/11 visa restrictions from traveling here to witness their children’s achievement.

With ingredients common to the food of its neighbors in China, Vietnam, and Thailand, and with techniques inherited from its years as a French protectorate, Laos’s food is a tantalizing hybrid. Flavors are refined but surprising; dishes are familiar but refreshing, and always beautiful.

The accolades for Bida Manda are well-deserved and are a great testament to Raleigh’s ever-evolving culinary scene.