Fawn J.
Yelp
Madison, WI is very lucky to have Hot-N-Spicy restaurant, an amazing little culinary gem serving authentic Thai, Laotian, & Vietnamese cuisine! It is currently inside the back corner of Viet Hoa Asian Market. There are a few tables to dine in but it is mostly a take out spot. There is nothing esthetically fancy inside but the food is incredible & it's a very friendly family oriented business!
I recommend trying my favorite the Beef Laab. Laab is absolutely delicious & a very popular national dish that is a minced meat salad with herbs traditionally served in Laos & North Eastern/Isaan Thailand & varying with minced pork/chicken. The beef Laab at Hot-N-Spicy is mostly minced steak with onions, scallion, cilantro, mint, toasted ground rice, cooked tripe, fish sauce, & lime juice served with refreshing cucumber slices. I order sticky rice to eat it with it!!
Try their Thai or Laotian style papaya salad also a well loved favorite popular dish in both Thailand & Laos eaten with sticky rice with lots of different variations. I usually order their Lao style which is mostly long beans, green papaya, Thai egg plant, tomatoes, Thai chili peppers, padaek (fermented) ,fish sauce, & fresh lime juice. In my opinion, Lao style papaya salad is more pungent than Thai style with the umami fermented fish sauce with more complex flavors/ingredients. Papaya salad is well loved because it's flavors of spicy, sweet, sour, bitter, & salty all in one dish!
Hot-N-Spicy also has great Angel Wings, Vietnamese Pho soup, Chicken Satay, curries, Pad Thai & other noodle dishes, etc.
This place is true to their name which I love! If you don't have a high spice tolerance or not used to eating very hot spicy foods regularly, you may want to start at spice level 1 to see if you want to order more spicy next time. For some of their dishes such as the Laab they will mostly ask you 1-4 what level of spiciness you would like but even a level 2 may be too much for some people. They have higher spice levels but do so at your own risk only if you are used to intense fiery heat! I highly recommend trying Hot-N-Spicy if you would love to explore Southeast Asian cuisine!