We arrived in Phnom Penh too late the first night for a proper dinner and we were fed well on Thai airlines anyway, so our one night dining out in this city had to be a special choice!
We arrived at the large colonial house and yard (with outdoor dining as well) and were thrilled to be escorted inside to a cool comfortable table in the 90 degree heat!
The place was decorated with many colonial French photos and memorabilia on the walls and there were cool floral tile floors. We were hot from the 25 minute walk over and a tad disappointed with the very limited cocktail menu as they did not have a full bar. KALA was a drink with local herbal gin with tonic and kaffir lime & lime leaves which we both loved. It came with a giant cardamom seed in it as well.
I had read a small book in our (Jacqueline Kennedy) suite at the Raffles Le Royal about local food and was well prepared. We were thrilled that they had a mixed appetizer plate containing many of the dishes we wanted try: Snail Amok was a huge snail in the local Amok sauce made with coconut milk and Amok paste. Amok technically means steaming in banana leaves in kroeung paste (lemongrass and spices). Also on the platter was Kwa-Koh or sour beef sausage which tasted like a spicy pickled sausage! Meang Lao was ground pork, tamarind, toasted nuts and ginger in a tapioca leaf. This method is used n other SE Asian counties and is a really fun appetizer. There were spring rolls with vegetables in a coconut dipping sauce and Meang Kham-toasted coconut, lime peel, dried shrimp, chilies, toasted peanuts, ginger, crispy shallot, garlic, all in a betel leaf with tamarind-shrimp sauce!! It was quite chewy but had tons of flavor and great spice!
We looked at the wine list and went into shock after paying such high prices in Thailand. The M. Chapoutier Viognier from Domaine de Granges de Mirabel was spectacular and cost about $40!
We decided to order one dish at a time and again this was a brilliant move. Next came Snakefish Ceviche with Banana Blossoms that was made with lime, prahok (fermented fish paste), herbs, galangal, banana blossom leaves, bean sprouts and crispy shallots for fun crunch. It was one of the best ceviche/salad dishes ever and we gobbled it up so fast as it was so refreshing with spices, and the fish was tender and yummy.
As Amok is the famous local dish we decided to have the Fish Amok next and again it was an ideal choice. The dish was not huge, but enough for two people to easily share and came wrapped in banana leaves with a beautiful tin-like container of brown rice. The dish was like a fish cake but had an intense coconut curry custard spicy flavor as well. I can only describe it as a custardy-fish cake curry! We fell in love, and I am so sorry I did not get another chance to have Amok as the places we went to in Siem Reap seemed to gear away from it!
Even though we decided against dessert, we were presented with two bowls of very refreshing corn with coconut cream that was basically a creamed corn with coconut dessert! we were ready for more Cambodian cuisine after this fabulous start.
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