NOTE: we always share our meals. That makes a big difference in the cost of our meals and the expansion of our waistlines. We don’t have the kitchen split the meals because Audre doesn’t eat as much as Dimitri. We just ask for an extra plate and Audre takes what she thinks she should eat.
ALE and DM discussed adding ratings to our restaurant reviews and compromised on the following ratings:
HR: Highly recommended
R++: Recommended almost as much as HR
R: Recommended
NR: Not recommended
A: Awful
We didn't have any preconceptions about Khmer food except that we had eaten in a Cambodian restaurant south of Los Angeles and had a scrumptious sour fish hot pot in 2000. We were looking forward to eating food like that in Cambodia.
1. HR: Malis, Phnom, No. 136 Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh, Cambodia +855 (0)15 814 888, https://malis-restaurant.com/. We sat in the beautiful garden under fans and had an excellent meal with delightful service. Our table had a beautiful lotus flower on it that Audre loved. Our server, Chan Sophea, was personable and knowledgeable. Other servers were always nearby to help too. We decided to order á la carte and to only order traditional Khmer dishes. We were brought amuse bouche of passion fruit juice, a yam bean pickled vegetable, and a fabulous dollop of chile paste. Wow, what a great start. We ordered water and lemongrass tea (KHR 10,000៛). The lemongrass tea was another “WOW”. We started with the Royal Mak Mee (KHR 53,300៛) that was prepared at the tableside. The tastes were distinctive and really yummy. We couldn’t finish the portion that we shared and our server suggested we take it home (which we did). We asked for the dishes to be delivered one at a time but the next 3 came all at once, unfortunately. The Tek Kroeung and vegetable dish (KHR 45,100៛) was delicious. It had winged beans in it as well as eggplant, cucumber, and different lettuce. Again we couldn’t finish it and Chan Sophea boxed it up for us. The Samlor M’Chou seafood sour soup (KHR 57,400៛) was excellent—the way we remember it 30 years ago in a LA Cambodian restaurant. It had a lot of seafood and the right amount of lime, tamarind, and yellow curry taste; we ate it all (no takeaway for that one!) The Amok fish (KHR 45,100៛) made with goby fish fillets and marinated in a lemongrass curry paste was light and delicious; a triumph. We had some to take home for lunch of that dish. For dessert, we chose Cambodian ice cream (KHR 28,700៛) and the really tasty one was the durian. We spent KHR 291,982.04៛ / US$72.31 and were very, very happy.
2. HR: Sombok, No. 1, Street 154, Preah Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh, 12200, Cambodia +855 (0) 93 575 157, info@sombok.asia. We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner in a beautiful room with excellent attention. We only ordered traditional Khmer dishes reinvented by Kimsan Pol and Kimsan Sok, the chefs from the Siem Reap Embassy Restaurant. We started with Sombok teuk kroeung, a dip made of pounded river fish with garlic, grilled fermented fish, lime, and salmon roe, served with wonderful, crunchy seasonal vegetables. (KHR 51,250៛). Our next course was a wonderful soup: Borbor phek with Kep snail. It was made with fish pounded with green curry paste, taro stem, sweet potato, lufa, corn, bean sprout, coconut milk, and long bean and topped with Kep snails. (KHR 51,250៛). The tastes and textures were great. Our next course was the famous amok. This was called Amok Bangkang / grouper. It was described as a Khmer traditional dish of steamed Mekong grouper in coconut milk and light yellow curry. (KHR 78,000៛). It was a soupy, tasty dish and it was served with 2 kinds of rice: white rice and brown one. With our meal, we had a green tea called Road to Samarkand (KHR 15,000៛). We couldn’t decide so we had 2 desserts: the Sticky rice dumpling (served warm) that was served with roasted sesame and ginger sauce (KHR 26,650៛). It was good and the other one was Seasonal fruit sabayon—which Dimitri could not resist. It was not at all traditional Italian (or French) but Dimitri liked it (KHR 30,750៛). We were very happy and we spent KHR 305,327៛ / US $ 75.61.
3. R: Khmer Surin, In the Guesthouse, No. 8E0, Street 57 — Phnom Penh, Cambodia — 012 887 320, https://www.khmersurinrestaurant.com/. We had a very good dinner in the lovely atmosphere of Khmer Surin, with good service by English speakers. We started with the homemade rice crackers with a sauce of coconut, minced pork, and shrimp, ground peanuts, garlic, shallot, and sugar (KHR 51,000៛). The crackers were crunchy and the sauce was delicious. The lemongrass tea (KHR 2,100៛) that Audre ordered had lemongrass in it but just tasted like water, unfortunately. The next dish we ordered was the Samlor Ka Koh Fish (KHR 24,800៛) and it was delicious, with Groeung paste (made of lemongrass, turmeric, galangal, garlic, onions, and kafir/makrut lime leaves). The chunks of fish were juicy and flavorful. The soup had roasted rice, garlic, pumpkin, green papaya, string beans, marum, and angkeadl (Khmer green leaves). It was served with rice and a very good dish. Our next dish was not as successful. We wanted to try Lok Lac (KHR 24,800៛), a famous Khmer dish. The sauce was pretty good but the meat was so tough that we didn’t eat it. The noodles were too mushy as well. For dessert, we had the crispy tapioca sweet soup (KHR 24,800៛) and liked it. The meal was a success and we spent KHR 114,55៛/ $27.94 and we were happy.
4. R: Sleuk Chhouk Restaurant, ភោជនីយដ្ឋាន ស្លឹកឈូក, #4 Street 228 Phnom Penh, 12000 Phnom Penh, 12207, 098 246 222. We went to the sister restaurant of Malis called Khema, but it is a French restaurant and we didn’t want that kind of food. The young man there who spoke English suggested that we go to Sleuk Chhouk Restaurant and we walked there from Khema. We sat outside and it was lovely, with a fan blowing on us. We were the only ones outside and our server was devoted. He also spoke English. He suggested a dish called Pro Hok Grilled which we have never had and it was excellent. We have also never had anything like it, ever. He said that it would take ½ hour to prepare it so we ordered deep-fried fish for a starter. It came quickly and the fish were great—perfectly crisp. We also had 2 juices that were good. When our Pro Hok arrived it kind of looked like this but on a black hot rock dish.
Prohok is a salted and fermented fish paste (usually of mudfish) used in Cambodian cuisine as a seasoning or a condiment. It originated as a way of preserving fish during the months when fresh fish was not available in abundant supply. Our prohok was made with pork, holy basil, msg, sugar, garlic, lemonella lucida and was grilled and crisp. It was our main course and we ate it with white rice and yard-long beans, cucumbers, winged beans, and Thai eggplant. The restaurant didn’t have any desserts so we just got a Grab and went back to our hotel. We spent KHR98,000៛/ US$24.74 and were happy with the recommendation of the sister restaurant of Malis.
6. R: Eleven One Kitchen TTP, #37 Street 123 (corner of Street 460 Toul Tum Poung I, 12310), Phnom Penh, 086 516 111, https://elevenonekitchen.asia/, https://www.facebook.com/elevenonekitchen/. This meal wasn’t a success. Number One: Dimitri wasn’t feeling well. Number Two: nothing tasted good to him so he ate very little. On the other hand, Audre thought that the food was very tasty. We ordered one Super Juice with orange, watermelon, ginger, and turmeric (KHR 10,000៛) that Audre liked and one lemon tea with extra mint (KHR 7,000 ៛) that Dimitri did not finish. We started with the Grilled Eggplant (KHR 20,000៛) that Audre really liked—the grilling created a smoky taste to the eggplant that Audre thought was delicious. We also ordered the Steamed chicken in clay pot (KHR 23,300៛) with a delicious sauce and wonderful ingredients like kafir lime, lemongrass and galangal. Dimitri ate very little. Dimitri ordered durian ice cream (KHR 6,500៛) but he didn’t eat it; he said it had no taste. Audre thought it had a soupçon of durian taste. We spent KHR67,000៛/ US$16.60 and then took Dimitri home to recuperate.
7. R: Museum Cafe, 178 Preah Ang Makhak Vann (St. Inside the National Museum of Culture), Phnom Penh 12000 Cambodia+855 17 875 757. They have a very, very limited menu but the setting is lovely and the young man there took good care of us. Unlike the photos, the chairs outside do not have cushions. He found some pillows for us to sit on. He also spoke enough English. We had fried rice with pork and vegetables (the only thing available) and it was fine (KHR 20,600 ៛). We liked our juice drinks (KHR 26,800៛) and we liked that we were brought filtered water without having to buy a bottle. We spent KHR 47,150 ៛/US$11.44 and we were happy.
8. R: Kravanh, Phnom, 74 Oknha Ket St. (174), Penh 12210, http://kravanhrestaurant.com/menu. We had a very good meal with attentive service in the lovely garden setting. We had 2 appetizers and a salad before our main course. We started with Meang Lao, a tiny roll (KHR 25,000៛) and then had the Nem Trey (KHR 35,000៛), a much tastier roll with a rice paper wrapper that was made for us in the kitchen. The Pomello salad (KHR 41,200៛) was refreshing but had very hard lardons in it that really couldn’t be chewed. Our main was Saraman (KHR 50,000៛) a delicious curry of slow-cooked coconut curry with peanuts and chicken. It had a bit of spiciness that was really good. With that we had the garlic rice (KHR 8,300៛) that was kind of like sticky rice. The restaurant provides a complimentary dessert of a fruit in coconut milk. We were happy with our meal and spent KHR 190,400 ៛/US$46.20.
9. R with a caveat: Romdoul Preak Liep, អាហារដ្ឋាន រំដួលព្រែកលៀប, 077 988 886. Well, this was a unique experience. The place was ½ hour out of town and it was literally on the Mekong River. We crossed the Cambodian-Japanese Friendship bridge on the Tonle Sap River in a Grab taxi and headed north. The woman at Sombok recommended it and Frommer's also suggested the Prek Leap area. The bamboo and wood slats holding the place together were over the river. We had the hotel make a reservation, meaning they knew that foreigners were coming. They sat us over the river in one of the many stalls separated by wood. Our table was by the edge of the river and we had a terrific view of the Mekong and the full moon that night. There was no menu in English. It was challenging but we did communicate that we wanted sour soup with fish: Samlar machu with fish (KHR 35,000៛). We also communicated we wanted rice (and with the help of Google translate) a small starter and water and no beer, an English word that they knew. Google translate worked only a little because the cell signal was poor. We had a young woman server (who was beautiful) and she helped us (and knew some English). All of the food came at once and the small starter turned out to be BBQ frogs (KHR 35,000៛). There was nothing special about the samlar machu but it did have lemongrass and other green ingredients as well as basil and lime. The sauce on the frog was tasty. They didn’t have any desserts. Then the adventure began. With some help, Dimitri was able to connect and order a Grab taxi back to the hotel. But it couldn’t find us and the cell signal was so weak we couldn’t communicate with the driver. One of the 6 people trying to help us tried using his cell phone; no luck. Finally, a tuk-tuk came by, we negotiated a price (US$5/ KHR 20,000៛) and off we went. It wasn’t too uncomfortable and we were glad we weren’t stuck outside the city. We spent KHR 76,000 ៛ / US $19 for the meal and the unique experience.
10. NR: La Croisette, #241 Preah Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh, 023 220 554, http://lacroisettekh.com. We tried their famous Flammkuchon form Alsace made in a wood-fired oven (KHR 53,600៛). It was made with bacon and gruyere, as well as onion. We didn’t think it was good and definitely not worth that kind of money. We also had one smoothie (KHR 12,400៛) and one water (KHR 10,300៛). The location and the upstairs Garden is nice, with a great view of Sisowath Quay. But really KHR 116,830៛/$29.35 for lunch is what we’ve been paying for dinner.
11. A: Bopha Phnom Penh, Titanic Restaurant with apsara dance show, St Preah Sisowath Quay, Penh 12202, +855 23 427 209. Aside from the setting and the devoted server we had, it was awful. It was full of foreigners with their guides and the food was kind of tasteless. Ratha from the Hyatt Regency suggested it when we asked about a riverside restaurant. We thought that there would be an apsara dance show. We were told never on Monday night even though the Hyatt had called to check. Humm. We had a small bottle of water (US$2.50/ KHR 10,000៛). Our starter was a Kompong Som Seafood Salad with Khmer dressing (KHR 26,200៛) and it had some nice herbs and lots of shrimp (with annoying tails on) and squid. So it was okay. Our main was a duck hot pot soup (KHR 34,300៛). The duck was tender enough, the broth good enough, the amount of vegetables was sufficient but it was insipid. It came with rice. We had one lime juice (KHR 14,000៛) and one fresh coconut juice (KHR 14,000៛). The coconut juice was good. We wanted coconut ice cream for dessert but they did not have any. We spent KHR111,573៛/ US$27.63 and went next door to the gelato shop for coconut gelato which was good. We walked back along the riverside promenade and enjoyed that.
A map of the spots we visited
Unfortunately, the Chrome browser has a glitch and this link will only work in browsers other than Chrome.
Click on "Older Post" (yes, it is counterintuitive) or the arrow on the right under the comment box, to read our next post wherever that may be in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment