A bowl of noodles on a cold day is love. A bowl of noodles with some deep-fried spring rolls on the side (7 mini ones to a plate, perfect for sharing) is a love that can hardly be contained, but I will try. Steering away from more traditional pho, I tried a dish that had a combination of beef balls, squid balls and fish balls in it, along with the requisite noodles and a giant soggy piece of lettuce that gave some colour to the bowl but was deemed inedible by myself and my dining mates. The soup was nearly perfect, with a broth flavored with garlic and green onions, but the floating balls of meat could have been better. Starting off with the beef balls, I was hooked on the solid form of the greasy, meaty flavour that I had already tasted in the broth – they were excellent – but the squid balls were slightly less excellent and by the time I got to the bland fish balls (one of which had a bone in it), I was ready to leave the meat alone and start in on the noodles. That’s my favorite part anyways, so it worked out, but I don’t think I will order it again.
So maybe I should change my title. Maybe rather than a bowl of love… instead a bowl of “like you a lot” or a bowl of “pretty good”. If we are talking terms of endearment, though, then I was crushing hard on my friend’s dried noodles with soup on the side (below). I will definitely be giving that one a try next time.
Having recently moved away from an apartment that was 5 minutes away from Phnom Penh, I wish I had spent more time there. My favorite dishes are the butter beef with a side of gai lan, or if I`m feeling particularly unhealthy, chicken wings. The butter beef is served barely cooked – thin strips of rare beef, tossed with cilantro, soy sauce, garlic and butter. The chicken wings are deep fried heaven – full of grease, of course – but also exceedingly flavorful and just the thing for a hangover. They come with a side of lemon dipping sauce which is so ingenious you wonder why it’s not a city-wide standard.
The restaurant is large-ish, but it does busy on weekends and don’t even try to go on Chinese New Year unless you are prepared to stand around for a while.
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Phnom Penh
244 E. Georgia St, Vancouver
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A Special Phnom Penh Eating Extravaganza « Ethnic Eats - Sampling the World’s Cuisine Without Leaving Town // January 2, 2009 at 10:21 PM |
[...] 2, 2009 · No Comments I’ve raved about Phnom Pehn in the past so I won’t review it again, but I couldn’t help sharing these photos from an incredible [...]