Our last dinner in Cambodia was at the hotel's famous 1932 restaurant which is a gorgeous, elegant setting with rattan and wood chairs, silk pillow and walls lit with niches full of artwork. One wall was all glass facing the patio and pool area below, but there was a horrid disjoint with hideous music that sounded like something from a disco club. We finally got them to change it and what a relief that was.
The menus were presented, and each came from a different time period in the last 100 years reflecting the cuisine of the time. It was an odd choice, but we were told we could also mix and match. I chose the 6 course 1960's menu and Will opted for the same with one less course...a wise move indeed.
Bread arrived with butter, fun salt and a coconut curry spicy dip that was super. The amuse was supposed to be Khmer fish cake but Lobster arrived which was really delish (from another of the menus as apparently the fish cake had sesame seeds, a no-no for me these days!). The wine prices were miuch higher thatn we had seen elsewhere in Cambodia so we opted for a basic Yalumba "Y: Viognier knowing it works with spicy food. we asked for spicy, but that was really not the case here as it is a tourist hotel restaurant.
A very loud Englishwoman and her companion sat at a nearby table, and we noticed their menu was nothing we had seen. Apparently, one could order anything from the other restaurants in the hotel, which we did not know. Boy, would I have liked one last Fish Amok!
The starter was a Roasted Eggplant/Minced Pork/Lime dressing/crispy vermicelli(fried white rice noodles) and local herbs that was nice and this was followed by the soup a Barramundi fish soup with tamarind/tomato and Khmer Ma'orm(a herb) that was a slightly sour broth that we loved, although then pineapple in it was weird.
I forgot a picture of the Stri-fry scallops with prawns, baby squid, green Kampot pepper(that gave the dish a quick kick of spice) and palm sugar. The dish was quite nice, but more spice would have been most welcome.
The Siem Reap roasted chicken with green tamarind dip, banana flowers and organic brown rice was pretty much a dud, and Will was glad he omitted this. My dessert was a delicious Pumpkin & Vanilla Tart with Bantaey Srey(where we had visited that day) vanilla ice cream, while Will switched to the banana fritter with pandam and coconut sorbet. They were nice and we headed upstairs sadly knowing we had to leave Cambodia the next day.
