This place has been on my list to try for quite some time, but I finally made it.
Service is through a small window with metal gate, but very friendly. I’ll probably call my order in next time, as suggested, but I wanted to check it out in person before ordering, and I harbored a hope that the fish amok I’d seen reports of on the web might be on some secret in person menu. No such luck on a rainy weekday, only sometimes, usually weekends. I ordered the beef skewers, eggrolls, and beef salaw machu kreung.
The filling on the eggrolls was a bit blah, but everything else was quite good, and a very good value these days.
The skewers were well seasoned with a savory-sweet glaze and nice grill flavor. A must order, particularly at 3/$5. Though the eggrolls were a bit bland in filling they were fried fresh to order and perfectly crisp. I do like to order fried things, so I’ll likely try the Mama wings next time.
I hadn’t had anything like the Salawmachukreung before. It is a soup with beef and tripe in it, along with water spinach and jalapenos. The rest is a bit of a mystery, but definitely lemongrass and fermented fish paste by taste (a google of recipes suggests tamarind is also essential). The broth was well-balanced and complex. The honeycomb tripe was clean tasting, but a bit chewier than I’ve had in Mexican preparations. I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the soup until I started eating it with a bite of rice in each spoonful. Somehow the jasmine rice elevated the combination to something I started to crave. I’ll be back to try more of the menu.
