March 18, 2012

Dolce Italia

Condiments at Dolce Italia

Condiments at Dolce Italia

There’s something about a wood fired pizza that gets me well, a bit fired up.  I think that it’s the crispy, yet chewy crust that only a stupidly hot wood oven can create. I also love the visual aspect of a pie with blistered, almost burned edges and taking that first bite, burning the roof of your mouth and not caring.

That’s why my wife and I ended up at  Dolce Italia: Pizza Napoletana Da Giorgio after a hearing from a friend about the pizzas. The menu is a mixture of antipastas, sandwiches, pastas and of course, wood fired pizzas. We ended up ordering a classic Pizza Fresca ($9.50) and the Ripieno Classico ($11.50).

Another great aspect of wood fired pizzas is that they take no time to cook so from the time we ordered to the time we got our pizza and calzone was under 10 minutes.

Pizza Fresca at Dolce Italia

Pizza Fresca at Dolce Italia

The Pizza Fresca is sheer simplicity; consisting of tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and  basil. It’s this simplicity that allows the high quality ingredients to shine.  The crust was superb with just enough charring to give it that taste only a wood fire can give.

Just enough char

Just enough char

We also ordered the Ripieno Classico or Calzone Napoletano which consisted of ricotta, shredded mozzarella, salame Napoli and basil.

Ripieno Classico at Dolce Italia

Ripieno Classico at Dolce Italia

The crust for the calzone wasn’t as crisp as the pizza but still managed to have that great wood-fired taste and there was ample amounts of goodness inside that made it gut-bustingly delicious.

There are about 10 pizzas on the menu which range from $6 – $15 which is very reasonable considering the size of the pies. Also, they do not deliver and only do pick up orders.

Vinh

Dolce Italia
#96 Sothearos Blvd
Tel: 012 562 892
Just across the street from the Vietnamese/Cambodian Friendship Monument

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March 13, 2012

Ngon 13 months later

Banh Xeo at Ngon

Banh Xeo at Ngon

It’s been over 13 months since the Ngon fiasco that left me (and others) with a such bad taste in my mouth that I have never gone back. I still think of it as my worst dining experience in Cambodia.

However, it is one of the most read posts on our blog and we still get comments regarding the service. Many people have commented to me that I should give Ngon another chance (one actually told me to lower my expectations as “this is Cambodia”).

So with much trepidation, I went to Ngon.

In Vietnam.

And what I got was a mixed bag.

We went off to the new location which is located An Phu in District 2 which has become a haven for expatriates and well to do Vietnamese. You can definitely see the development in the clean streets and the very suburban feel to several of the compounds located in the area.

Not a bad place to have a meal

Not a bad place to have a meal

The new Ngon is one of four restaurants in the Thao Dien Village which is located on a very picturesque riverbank located on the northern eastern part of the peninsula. We went for lunch and were lucky to grab a great spot right next to the river. The menu is a bit more expensive than the one in District 1 but with the mainly seafood options and the picturesque location, I had to give them a bit of leeway in terms of pricing.

We decided to order in a non-Nyam fashion and only order 3 dishes. We got a papaya salad with beef, Banh Xeo with seafood (no shrimps please) and deep fried squid. The first dish to arrive was the papaya salad.

Fresh papaya salad with beef

Fresh papaya salad with beef

Served in a hollowed out papaya, the flavors of the salad were fresh and light and a perfect start to the meal. There was an ample amount of sliced rare beef to give the dish a bit of heft and it was topped with peanuts and deep fried shallots gave the salad a nice crunchy texture. Up next was the fried calamari.

Muc Chien Don at Ngon

Muc Chien Gion at Ngon

They looked great when they were dropped off but then the cheap side of my brain kicked in and went “Holy crap, this dish was 180,000 dong??? Dude, that’s like a dollar a ring!“

Usually I dress any deep fried calamari with a dose of lime/lemon and dip them in the accompanied sauce. But I decided that these had better be the best deep fried calamari on Earth for that asking price and popped one in my mouth ungarnished and unsauced.

50 cents in my belly and 50 cents on my chopsticks

50 cents in my belly and 50 cents on my chopsticks

It was good but it wasn’t mind-blowingly great. I asked for some lime and tried it again garnished and sauced. Heaps better but still not worth the price. In the end, I waited for special moments like when a boat was passing by to have another ring so I could appreciate the price of the dish a bit more.

The last dish to arrive was the banh xeo which was pretty tasty and very filling.

Banh Xeo at Ngon

Banh Xeo at Ngon

One ingredient that I have not ever seen in Banh Xeo was the addition of mushrooms which gave the dish an earthy taste which cut the taste of the large amounts of onions in the dish.

Some shipping goes by

Some shipping goes by

The meal came to just under $40 USD and even though the location is great and I left full, I couldn’t stop thinking about that damn calamari.

Vinh

Ngon
Thao Dien Village
195 Nguyen Van Huong St.,
Thao Dien Ward, Disctrict 2, HCMC

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March 4, 2012

La Patate

La Patate

Mmmm.... Beer....

La Patate is one of the longest running restaurants on Street 5, a small side street that runs parallel to the riverside. It’s known by expats as the best place in town to get Belgian fries so we decided to stop on by to see if the reputation holds.

The interior is covered in Tin Tin posters which gives it a nice retro feel to the place. They serve all sorts of belgian beers there so if you were looking to try something a bit different than your typical Cambodian lagers, this is the place to go.

In typical Nyamming form, we ended up ordering way too much food which consisted of a couple bazooka’s, a jumbo order of Belgian fries, a slew of dipping sauces and an order of mussels.

bazooka burger

Encased in a crusty baguette, the Bazooka is definitely a meal that can be shared and in typical Nyam fashion, we ordered two. We ordered the burger and sausage bazookas which were very reasonably priced at $5.50. The sausage was a much better choice with the burger patties being a bit too mushy for my tastes. The sausage casing gave it just enough bite for texture and had just enough heat to perk up my taste buds.

The mussels were the highlight of the lunch. Mixed in with the herby lemon butter broth and large mussels were an ample amount of calamari and shrimp. It was so good that I threw caution to the wind and dipping the accompanied bread in the sauce until it was all gone (I am allergic to shrimp).

Mussels

I have had the fries before and they are definitely worth a visit. Fried twice in true Belgian fashion, the fries have an amazingly crisp exterior while retaining a light and fluffy potato texture on the inside. If having some of the best fries in Phnom Penh wasn’t enough, they have now added several dipping sauces to accompany the fries! You get Ketchup for free but an extra $0.50 gets you Mayonnaise, Aioli, Barbecue, Sriracha (hells ya!) or Samourai Hot. Definitely spend the extra loi and try some of the sauces.

All in all, the mussels are to die for here and you can never go wrong with an order of jumbo fries made better with some fun dipping sauces (get the Samourai Hot).

4 out of 5 Nyammies.
Vinh

papa fritz

While walking into La Patate we were greeted by a jolly Belgium who turned out to be the owner of the place. In addition to the Tin Tin posters everywhere, there are several photos of him with Matt Dillon and Gerard Depardieu from the City of Ghosts filming in Phnom Penh back in the day. So before even trying anything, you get the impression that if La Patate was good enough for Depardieu it’s probably pretty legit.

We ordered the signature fries with all of the dipping sauces, a couple of the bazooka’s and for some reason, everyone else wanted to try the mussels. The fries were pretty good but I’m not a big fan of places that don’t salt their fries. I assume this is so that customers can salt to their taste but in my opinion, if a restaurant named after a potato, they should have these things arriving at your table ready to go.

sausage bazooka

The dipping sauces were all pretty great. The bazooka sandwiches was served on sliced baguettes which was really nice for the spicy sausage but just didn’t really work for the burger. The bazooka burger was more of just a kind of weird beef sandwich than a burger. I’m not a big fan of mussels so I tried to avoid eating them but was forced to try the sauce towards the end of the meal and was surprised at how good it was. Mussels not being my thing, I probably wouldn’t order it again but I would recommend it to seafood lovers and would probably steal a few bites.

Overall, the atmosphere was cool, the spicy sausage bazooka was delicious and the fries pretty solid. The owner laughed as us when we were finishing and said if we ate 3 bazooka’s, the 4th one would be free. No way that was happening that day but I might take him up on the offer next time.

3.5 out of 5 nyamies
Bryse

La Patate – No. 14 street 5 between streets 110 and 118

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February 5, 2012

Oodles of noodles

oodles of noodles

oodles of noodles

The Chinese Noodle Shop on Monivong is something of an institution with the expatriate community in Phnom Penh. Most lunches, you will see members of the development, teaching and business community hunched over metal tables, eating some of the best value Chinese food in town.

Utensils at the Chinese Noodle Shop

Chopsticks ready to go

The interior of the Chinese Noodle Shop is very sparse but in all honesty, you come here for the food. The menu is pretty simple with just over 15 different items to choose from. We decided on all non-soup lunch items this time around.

Condiments at the Chinese Noodle Shop

Condiments at the Chinese Noodle Shop

We ordered some mapo tofu, green beans sauteed with mushrooms, fried dumplings and fried noodles with beef.

Green beans with mushrooms

Green beans with mushrooms

The side dish of green beans stole the show with the copious amounts of garlic and a fantastic sauce I doused my steamed rice in. I didn’t really care too much for the rather flavorless mapo tofu (I’d rather have my tofu unhealthily deep fried) and the dumplings had too much onion and not enough pork for my tastes. However, the fried hand pulled noodles were great and there was lots of it. The noodle to garnish ratio was right on the money and there was seasoned enough for me to abstain from my usual dousing of soy and chili.

Lots of onion

Lots of onion

I have to mention that most of the people that come to the Noodle House come for the soup. After lunch, I ended up sticking around as the Funger came just late enough for everyone to head back to work and ordered some soup. A half hour later, another friend came around and he ordered some soup. So that was excuse enough for me to at least mention the soup along with take this photo:

What everyone else comes for

What everyone else comes for

Not a gem of a find as this place is pretty popular with expatriates and locals alike but if you are in the area and need some cheap but tasty eats, you could fare much worse.

3 out of 5 nyamies
Vinh

hand cut fried noodles

hand pulled fried noodles

We’ve been coming to Chinese Noodle for the past few years and they definitely have some of the best stir fried noodles in town. A bit on the greasy side but lots of veggies, eggs and a tiny bit of meat. When we were checking out all of the Chinese places close to the Central Market, this was the kind of dish I had in mind but we never found this dish on the menu. I’m sure that doesn’t mean those spots don’t have it, we just didn’t find this one at those spots.

Green beans with mushrooms

Green beans with mushrooms

The green beans and mushrooms are delicious but if you add that much garlic and msg to cardboard, it would probably be pretty good.

ma tofu

mapo tofu

This trip was the first time I tried the mapo tofu and it was disappointing. Not sure if it’s all non-Chinese clientele that frequent this spot or if it is just the restaurants style but this dish wasn’t even a little spicy.

Fried dumplings

Fried dumplings

The noodles and green beans are really tasty, but the measuring stick of any Chinese restaurant, the dumplings, are just not done well. We tried the deep fried but both the deep fried and steamed are just way too much dough, not enough stuffing and the stuffing is way too heavy on the veggies.

Dipping the dumpling

Dipping the dumpling

The prices are super cheap, the location is convenient and they have some of the best pull noodles out of all the dive Chinese places I’ve tried in town. Definitely worth a try if you haven’t been yet.

3 out of 5 nyamies
Bryse

Chinese Noodle Restaurant

Chinese Noodle Restaurant

You can find the Chinese Noodle Restaurant on Monivong just south of Sihanouk Boulevard.

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January 29, 2012

Lunch at T-Bone Steakhouse

Bacon Cheeseburger at T-Bone Steakhouse

Bacon Cheeseburger at T-Bone Steakhouse

I had a chance to meet up with a friend for lunch  at T-Bone Steakhouse which located on the corner of Streets 360 and Monivong. I’ve been there for a couple of occasions and had a great steak both times but in all honesty, I haven’t been too impressed with the place. Then about a couple months go, I ran into Dene from SEA Globe at a party and told me to check out their burger.

I am impressed now.

The decor in the place is very clean in a sedate, clinical kind of way. After ordering drinks, we were given a bread basket with a watery marinara dipping sauce. It was pretty tasty but I wished it had a bit more body to it.

The bread basket

The bread basket

We ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger ($7.00) and their daily lunch time special ($9.90). We got the burger cooked medium rare but opted against ordering the burger with 2 patties which will run you an extra $2. It also comes with a nice side salad to start.

The daily special includes their salad bar and a changing meat dish. Today’s was grilled beef skewers with a BBQ sauce. The salad bar is pretty decent with about 4 salads to choose from. I had a great caesar salad and a tomato salad that had a fantastic basil balsamic vinagrette dressing that was great to dip the bread into.

A little salad before the main course

A little salad before the main course

After 15 minutes or so, we got our main dishes. Since we were sharing the meal, we cut the burger in half and took a look.

Mmmmm... medium rare......

Mmmmm... medium rare......

Cooked to a bit above medium rare, it was the best burger patty I have had in Cambodia, hands down. It was beefy, juicy, seasoned perfectly and had the perfect meat to bun ratio that I like in my burgers. The menu didn’t advertise the size of it, but I estimate the patty to be a 1/3 pounder. It had the typical lettuce, onion and tomato garnish along with a nice slice of american cheese and a rather chewy slice of bacon on top. The fries were nice and crispy and the sauce that came with it was a ketchup/mayonnaise mix that went great on the burger. The only complaint I would have is that I wished the bacon was a bit crispier (for texture) and the bun was a bit sweet.

The beef skewers

The beef skewers

The beef skewers were huge! I tried to pick one up just using one hand and the skewer almost snapped in two from the weight of it. The BBQ sauce was a nice tangy concoction and was a great dipping sauce for the beef. The beef was cooked medium which is just a bit more than I would have liked it but it still managed to stay juicy inside. Also, I kinda wished I had the option to choose the temperature of the meat.
All in all, T-Bone delivers the goods (meat!!!) as a steakhouse does. Though it is a bit expensive, the burger is a winner and is definitely worth a return trip for.

- Vinh

Here is a little take of the place from my lunch buddy:

While it seems counter intuitive to order a burger at a steakhouse, I was game for the opportunity.  Vinh and I met at T-Bone for lunch to try out a burger and the lunch special.  We ordered the bacon cheeseburger and the beef kabobs for lunch.

The burger was cooked well (we ordered it medium).  It was a good sized piece of meat and it came with onions, lettuce, and tomatoes.  It tasted great and I ate it quickly.  The bun wasn’t as spongy as I would have liked and it fell apart a little when we cut it in half, but overall the burger was very tasty.  Unfortunately it did not come with many condiments, but since it tasted good on it’s own, the burger did not need much accompaniment.  The burger was served with fries and was preceded by a small salad.  Definitely worth ordering again.

The beef kebab as the lunch special was also really good.  There were three chunks of beef interspersed with grilled vegetables on each skewer.  The kebab was also served with fries and it came with a small bowl of barbecue sauce.  The meat was cooked very well and the sauce added a nice touch.

Between the two, I think I’d be more likely to order the kebab first, but the burger was very nice.  Definitely worth coming back to T-Bone again, not sure why I haven’t for so long.

- Prateek

While I wasn’t able to make it for the lunch with Vinh, I did get a chance to try the T-Bone burger recently and I felt to compelled to throw my 2-cents in when the ‘best burger patty in Cambodia’ title was throw out. The T-Bone burger was fine but I wouldn’t call it the best in Phnom Penh let alone Cambodia. I would list Alley Cat, Garage and Mike’s ahead of T-Bone (yes, I’ve tried Freebird).  And I still haven’t had a burger in Phnom Penh that can hold a candle to the american burger at Cafe De La Paix in Siem Reap.

- Bryse

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January 24, 2012

Botanico

Set of appetizers at Botanico

Set of appetizers at Botanico

We were lucky enough to be part of a select few to the soft launch of Botanico, a new gastrobar in Phnom Penh that is co-run by the crew that brought us Tepui.

Entrance of Botanico

Entrance of Botanico

An unassuming double door with a metal sign is the only indication of the gastrobar within. Quite a departure from the dark wood and sophisticated dining experience of Tepui, Botanico is set in a lush garden setting with potted plants, chirping birds and a very cute but rowdy kitten.

Botanico gastropub setting

Botanico gastropub setting

There was a limited menu offered but I was happy to see that a burger that we sampled in a previous post was on the menu! The menu features tapas and lighter bites along with a breakfast menu!

The italiano beef burger

The italiano beef burger

We sampled a few items from the menu including coconut milk and lemongrass skewered shrimp, pork wontons with a mango chutney, red snapper ceviche and the awesomely awesome italiano beef burger.

Gisella presents the italiano beef burger

Gisella presents the italiano beef burger

It is set to open this week and if you are in the neighborhood, pop in and check it out!

Botanico
Open 7 Days 8:00am – 9:30pm
House #9b, Street 29 (near Sihanouk Blvd. and street 294).

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January 22, 2012

Spring Vale

Spring Vale

Spring Vale

Tucked around the corner from Russian Market, I had heard of Spring Vale from a couple of friends that live around the corner. After reading Lina’s review of the place, we knew that this had to be the next place to try out.

We were greeted by one of the owners upon walking in and were offered a table outside. Not one to turn down al fresco dining in December, we grabbed the nearest table and were given menus. It’s one of those laminated jobs which doesn’t mess around. All the dishes range from $3 – $6 which is very reasonable for it’s proximity to Russian Market.

Okonomiyaki at Spring Vale

Okonomiyaki at Spring Vale

The Okonimyaki was very tasty and didn’t have an excessive amount of the okonomiyaki sauce which can sometimes overpower the rest of the ingredients.

The gyoza were quite ordinary but what I really loved (and was probably the least appealing looking) was the chicken and egg on steamed rice, otherwise known as oyakodon (thanks Nathan!). I could imagine this meal being something your mother served to you after you scraped your leg while playing in the street. The egg was runny enough to imbue it’s taste onto the rice and was seasoned perfectly.

Fried Tofu

Fried Tofu

The fried tofu was a also a hit for me. The tofu had a nice crisp crust to it and had a great melt in your mouth texture once you bit into it.

The fried pork came with rice and a pretty good side of coleslaw. I thought the pork was a bit overfried and needed the sauce to keep the dish from being too dry. I am generally a fan of anything fried and pork but this one kinda fell flat for me. Maybe I dug the chicken a bit too much.

As Lina put in her blog post and I mentioned before, Spring Vale isn’t a fancy shmancy restaurant serving avante-garde fare. It serves items you would probably find in a home or casual eatery. And sometimes that’s all you need.

3 out of 5 nyamies.

Vinh

Gyoza

Gyoza

Whenever dumplings are on the menu at a restaurant we order some and use them as a yard stick for the food. Unfortunately, the gyoza at Spring Vale was disappointing. Not that they were bad, we have definitely had way worse chinese style dumplings close to Central Market, but gyoza is usually really great so it was surprising when these were a miss.

Chicken and eggs on steamed rice

Chicken and eggs on steamed rice

Most of the other items were pretty nice. I could see having the chicken and eggs on steamed rice for breakfast. Nothing special, just a solid bowl of good food.

The okonimyaki was also really tasty. It is served fully cooked and it’s always more fun to see it fried on a table in front of you (while the cook is flipping pieces of food into your mouth Benihana style).

Pork cutlets

Tonkatsu - Pork cutlets

A friend had just been talking about homemade tonkatsu so I was really excited to order some when I saw it on the menu. The breading and sauce was pretty fine but the breading to pork ratio was too far in the breads favor. Not much meat in those things.

The folks serving the food were very nice and none of the plates we tried were bad. If I lived close or am in the neighborhood, I would probably check out Spring Vale again but I’m not going to drive down just for this place.

2.5 out of 5 nyamies.

Bryse

Spring Vale
House 27, Street 450,
Toul Tom Pong I, 27 450,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

089343597

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