More than a year after that incident, K was able to drag a reluctant me to Kampuchea with a group of maybe six or so folks, and the subsequent experience saved me from gustatory disaster. This time we only ordered above the fold, ordered a lot, and shared. Everything was delicious. Here I had written off the restaurant, when little did I know that they had the best sandwiches and excellent, spicy pickles.
This time, I came older and wiser, and warned J and P several times that they had better not order any soupy noodles, I don't care how much they might want to. I had my own priorities, drinks, lots of drinks. Kampuchea makes yummy, strong cocktails. Over the the course of dinner, I had three: coconut mojito, blackberry margarita, and some sort of sangria.
The coconut mojito was the best. A nice drink to have when one is denial that she has somehow missed summer, and it's no longer the season to drink mojitos. I guess this means I've got to stop with the orders for sparkling chilled rose as well.
The blackberry margarita has a nice color, but it's actually a waste of time. It tastes like spiced punch, a better version of that nasty Merlot I had in the liberal elite coffee table picnic. I tipped it back towards the gullet just fine, it just wasn't exceptional in any way.
I'd order the sangria again if I wasn't feeling adventurous. It just tastes like sangria, but it ends with a notable finish of ginger.
Corn. J polished this away in no time flat, and cleanly too. My competitve spirit had some issues with the fact that my own mandibles had mangled my ear of corn, and at a sorry pace on top of it. The corn is good, but not quite as good as Cafe Habana's.Pickle platter. I love the cabbage and watermelon best. Their rather spicy and have a nice crunch to them.
Tamarind Baby Back Ribs. Duroc Pig, Cilantro & Lime Dip. Yup. It is good. Though now that I have pulled the menu description, I didn't notice the tamarind, nor very strong flavors of either cilantro or lime in the dip. Maybe the tamarind helped tenderize the meat. And the sauce, maybe I didn't notice against the spiceness of the pickles.
Sweet Pulled Oxtail sandwich with spicy tamarind basil sauce. Now what could possibly be bad about spicy tamarind basil sauce?
Finally, Ginger Rubbed Catfish with honey, shallots and peppercorn. Now granted, it does make a dish more interesting to add shallots and peppercorn to the description, but when I think about it, it really seems nonsensical. Shallots and peppercorn are so basic. It's like ordering soup and mentioning that it has chicken stock in it. Unless that is there for the benefit of the food-phobes, it's really sad that we diners are so easily swayed that we can be drawn to a dish simply because it has an ingredient that if we had any good sense, we should know should be in it.Well, back to the fish, oddly enough, the honey really is a nice accompaniment to the catfish and helps bring the sandwich together.
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2 comments:
That catfish banh mi looks delicious. I love bottom feeders! What Cambodian dishes do you recommend? I'll be going there in a week, and I have no idea what Cambodian food is. I do know there is a fried spider delicacy, but I doesn't look very appealing to me.
Honestly, if you just order above the fold on the menu, you will be very safe indeed. For my purposes, all I need to know about Cambodian food is that it is delicious, with judgment being held on whether or not their noodle soups are worth a wannabe snob's time of day. For fantastic noodle soups, head to Chinatown and pop into one of the Vietnamese restaurants. But in all seriousness, New York doesn't do Vietnamese like the Bay Area. I have yet to hit up San Jose to try their legendary Vietnamese fare, but perhaps you have?
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