IMAGES: DAVID HAGERMAN; LUCY GILLMORE
EAT
A TASTE OF Cambodia
Chef Luu Meng prepares samlor prahal, a classic Cambodian soup RIGHT: Grilled sanday fish in wild betel leaf, served with pickled green papaya salad at Cuisine Wat Damnak
No Cambodian meal would be complete without a light, sour soup like this. “Cambodia’s cuisine has absorbed
influences from its neighbours, but there are subtle differences,” says Luu, as he chops ingredients. “It’s not as hot or as sweet as Thai; our food is only mildly spicy and we use less fish sauce than in Vietnam. We use spices, but fresh not powdered like in India. In Khmer cuisine, everything is fresh.” Another important maxim of Cambodian
cuisine is that things can’t be rushed; the soup takes three to four hours to make and the key ingredient is kroeung, the fresh herb and spice paste that’s the bedrock of so many Cambodian dishes, and the inspiration behind the restaurant — and its name. “It’s all about slow cooking,” says Luu. We pound fresh turmeric, garlic, ginger,
galangal, chillis, shallots and young lemongrass in a bowl, then add the paste to the broth. Luu adds to the soup a handful of winter melon — a soſt, courgette-like vegetable — along with a splash of fish sauce and chunks of river fish, handing me a spoon to taste. It’s refreshingly light and aromatic. “In Cambodia, the focus is on local
specialities,” he says. “Everyone knows that the best chicken comes from Siem Reap, the best rice from Battambang, the best coconut from Kampot.” The country’s regional cuisine is
something Luu has a firm handle on. Aſter working as a chef in Thailand, Malaysia
and Singapore, Meng returned home to Cambodia and hit the road. For six months, he travelled around the country, unearthing forgotten Khmer dishes that were lost during the Khmer Rouge genocide and researching local specialities. He then refined the recipes to create a new sort of Cambodian cuisine, geared towards modern palates. In a similar vein to Luu’s travels, I head
south to Kampot, an estuary town known for its numerous old, French colonial buildings. It’s home to a culinary success story of its own: its eponymous pepper, which was awarded PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status in 2016, putting it in the same category as Champagne and the Cornish pasty. It’s a product with remarkable heritage, having been grown here for more than seven centuries; the climate between the mountains and the coast producing a distinctively aromatic pepper. In the early 20th century, no chef worth their salt would use anything but Kampot pepper, but then came the Khmer Rouge. The regime had little interest in Kampot
pepper, and forced people from the cities to work the land, particularly to grow rice. As a result, the plantations were abandoned, with some farmers fleeing the country. It wasn’t until the regime’s last fighters came down from the mountains in the late 1970s and put down their weapons that the plantations were gradually re-established, allowing the tradition to continue.
CUISINE WAT DAMNAK PHNOM PENH Siem Reap’s Cuisine Wat Damnak closed during lockdown, but fans of French chef Joannès Rivière’s groundbreaking take on new Cambodian cuisine needn’t worry, as he’s decamped to Phnom Penh. The new venue offers an a la carte or set three-course lunch menu for $16 (£11.60). The latter includes dishes such as caramelised shrimp paste and tamarind, marinated green jackfruit salad with seared prawn and herbs, alongside barbecued pork ribs marinated with fermented soy beans and pickled green papaya. In the evening, there are two seven-course tasting menus — one plant based — from $38 (£28) and $34 (£25) respectively.
cuisinewatdamnak.com
MALIS Luu Meng’s Phnom Penh restaurant is the showcase for his ‘living Cambodian cuisine’, a reinvention of traditional Khmer dishes. The setting is elegant, the menus innovative and dishes delicious. Choose between four- and seven-course tasting menus and a la carte, with dishes such as kaffir lime-flavoured rice cooked in fresh crab juice then wok-fried with fresh crab. For dessert? Kampot pepper brûlée. Four-course tasting menus from $30 (£22), seven-course tasting menu $60 (£44).
malis-restaurant.com
SOMBOK RESTAURANT This Khmer fine dining restaurant on the Phnom Penh riverfront opened during the pandemic and is the latest venture from the two female chefs (Kimsan Pol and Kimsan Sok) behind Siem Reap’s renowned Embassy restaurant. Showcasing modern Khmer cuisine, the three-course set menu features dishes such as long bean and smoked fish salad with roasted shallot, dried shrimp and garlic, and stir-fried beef with red ant sauce. From $19.50 (£14.20).
facebook.com/sombokrestaurant
embassy-restaurant.com
November 2021 55
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