Food Round-Up: August

Phnom Penh is delicious. Someone recently asked me what I've had here that has been especially good, and after rattling off everything I've tried so far, I realized it's probably a lot easier to just say what hasn't been good (which was only a grilled cheese on Day 2 made with liquid nacho cheese). Because I love food, and I know lots of you do too, I am going to try to share a few of my favorite discoveries with you each month. A lot of my eating has been spontaneous, so unfortunately I don't have original pictures for this post but will try my hardest to start keeping my camera attached to my hip for such occasions.

Near my house, there are two insanely yummy, cheap Khmer restaurants. One is more of a mom-and-pop establishment, with Khmer boxing playing on a giant TV and kids racing around the tables. One of my first days here, a friend introduced me to Lok Lak. This is a very common, traditional Khmer dish of marinated, grilled beef served with rice and a salad of cut up raw veggies. Not only is the meat incredibly tender, juicy and flavorful from soaking in soy and oyster sauce, you get a dish of ground up Kampot peppercorns and salt, to which you squeeze in lots of fresh lime and use as a dipping sauce. The combination of sweet meat, intense salt, fragrant pepper and zesty lime is absolutely mind-blowing. Definitely one of my favorites.

The other neighborhood restaurant is a bit more happening, with a younger, more rambunctious crowd and parked motorbikes fill the street outside most nights. "Beer girls" quickly ask you what type of beer you'd like for the evening (Angkor, Anchor or Tiger?) and keep your glass constantly full. Sidenote: people often drink their beer on ice here, something that I snobbishly resisted at first, but now find totally refreshing on a hot steamy evening. At this place, I tried Pleah Saiko, which is a cured beef salad of raw beef, lime, lemongrass, red chilies, cilantro and basil. The flavor was incredibly fresh, spicy and the beef had a nice mellow taste.

Another one of my favorites here is actually one of my favorite meals in general: Som Tum and sticky rice. This salad is a mixture of raw julienned green papaya, mint, green beans, red chilies, lots of lime and peanuts. In Cambodia, this is called Boklahong, and it's also served with lots of tiny dried shrimp and chunks of black river crab that you eat shell and all (these actually hurt my teeth, so I have to extract them). Back in NYC, Asian cuisine is usually my go-to for dinners out. I love pretty much all things Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. Here in Phnom Penh, I get to try out my favorites and have been exposed to countless other dishes that I never knew existed.

One day for lunch, I ventured into a Vietnamese restaurant and when I realized everything was in Khmer/Vietnamese I was at a loss for what to order. I knew I wanted something new, so picked out something unfamiliar and the restaurant owner took me into the kitchen and showed me what went into it: vermicelli rice noodles, fresh chopped lettuce and cucumbers, grilled pork bits, peanuts, chunks of fried spring rolls and bean sprouts. All in one bowl, this is Bun cha. I added a thin, sweet sauce loaded with more red chilies and it was a scrumptious lunch.

Finally, I had read about this Chinese restaurant called Fisherman Quay on a Phnom Penh food blog I recently began following (Nyam Penh). I dragged a group of friends along last Friday night and we sampled some delicious Peking Duck. I've actually only had peking duck once before, in Flushing, Queens, in a bun, which was also delicious. Here, the duck comes sliced and you put a piece or two inside a crepe-like pancake, along with cucumber, green onion, pickle and a dollop of hoisin sauce. The duck was fatty and yummy and excellent paired with the fresh veggies and light pancake wrapper. Will definitely be back for more.

That's it for August. Quite a delectable month.