Does it demonstrate a lack of culture to claim that Cambodian python tastes like chicken? Is my palette juvenile or untrained if I think the Southeast Asian reptile tastes identical to the ubiquitous poultry?
I don't care what critics say, the resemblance is uncanny.
Amit, Louise, Elaine and I meet Chris and Jen at the directly named "Cambodia BBQ," which surprisingly offers, well, Cambodian barbeque. A wooden black-and-white sign outside the restaurant proclaims it to be "the best BBQ in Siem Reap." This is a lofty claim considering it's located in the heart of Siem Reap's downtown Psar Chaa district in a small alley filled with neighboring barbequed restaurants. The small narrow alley is simply named, well, "The Alley." Also on the sign is a young crocodile who resembles a 1990s teenager dressed in a backwards hat and baggy Jenco jeans. The rebellious reptile sports a toothy grin and coyly rests his elbow on a tree stump with a sign reading the Lewis Carroll-y "Taste Me." The headline reads: "Will you dare try Khmer BBQ: Crocodile, snake, kangaroo, ostrich, goat." Forget dares, I would gladly try all of those animals. In fact, before arriving at the restaurant, I already had.
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| From website |
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| From website |
It's raining outside so we seek shelter in the restaurant and are seated at a long rectangular black table. We each split up into duos and order three sets of their degustation for two (pricey for SEA at $7.75/pp) plus plenty of cold Angkor Beer drafts. Duos choose five varieties of meat from a selection of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, fish, squid, ostrich, goat, frog legs, kangaroo, crocodile and snake. The tasting menu comes with unlimited fresh vegetables, egg noodles, and steamed jasmine rice. We share our appetizers family style: a bright mango salad with carrots and roasted chicken, pork and vegetable spring rolls with peanut sauce. For our main course, Amit and I choose fish, ostrich, kangaroo, snake (Cambodian python), and crocodile. The meat comes in a bamboo basket with segmented ceramic dishes that fit like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Each meat is marked with a small cartoon of the animal from which it came. While the other animals smile, the ostrich drawing has head resting well below his body as if he is longing to die. What is with these suicidal ostriches in Southeast Asia? Someone needs to organize a support group. In the center of the basket is a small ramekin of canary yellow beaten egg in case you wish to batter your meats prior to grilling.
The waiters bring three metal Khmer barbeques ("Phnom Phleurng's") to the center of the table, one for each duo. Like Mongolian and Laotian barbeque, the Khmer variety features larges pyramidal metal grills situated over white hot charcoal briquettes. Upon setting the grills on the table the waiter lubricates the whole surface area with a hockey puck size chunk of chicken fat. (Note to self: Steal said chicken fat and lubricate some of the broken zippers on my traveler's backpack). The meats, poultry and fish are rested on the cone of the pyramid, where small slits allow the hot steam to rise. Below the metal cone is a moat filled with broiling both, in which the egg noodles and fresh vegetables are placed.
I'm not sure of the exact fish they are serving, but the aquatic creature is brilliantly fresh with transparent yellow flesh flecked with streaks of pink. Ostrich, the lean red mean which I've had on numerous occasions, is juicy and cooked in a quick flash so it's still perfectly rare on the inside. The small white meat strands of Cambodian python are terrific. I've had rattlesnake before in Brooklyn (prior to being killed, he enjoyed wearing skinny jeans, dark framed lens-free glasses, tweed vests and drinking PBR), but it was hard to distinguish due to small pieces of meat and an overpowering sauce. The python reminds me of a very delicious grilled chicken. Or maybe the taste is more reminiscent of frog's legs, which come to think of it, also taste like chicken. Either way, the grilled python pieces are moist, fresh and should eternally replace McNuggets as the white meat snack of choice. Although the snake is a close second, the best part of the degustation is the kangaroo. The marsupial is similar to ostrich - a red meat phenomenally low in cholesterol and fat (due to all its hopping and boxing). Thus, it's crucial that it is cooked no higher than medium, preferably rare, as the lack of fat quickly turns the meat into a leaden mess. The grilled kangaroo filets have a distinctly gamey flavor and soft, tender flesh that melts in my mouth like butter.
The only let down is the crocodile. Maybe it's the butchering, but the white flesh is beyond chewy, almost like a rubber band. It takes roughly a baker's dozen chews to get through, each bite laden with reptile grizzle. I think back to my experience first trying the croc in Melbourne's Victoria Market and actually remember it being similarly hard to eat. Maybe as the last descendents of the dinosaurs, crocodiles were never meant to be eaten.
Post-meal, we explore the Psar Chaa night market for crafts and visit the rooftop sports bar "X Bar" to hear the live house band butcher Stones' standards. We continue a pub crawl through town, visiting the infamous street full of pubs named, uh, Pub St. As we maneuver from one bar to the next, we stop as a large crowd gathers beside three small children selling souvenirs from colorful plastic baskets and dancing the YMCA. The leader is a small boy in a white and blue paisley shirt with a backwards baseball cap. As he stands in front of he two female dance mates, deadly serious as he raises his arms to form a "Y", he reminds me slightly of Cambodia BBQ's crocodile mascot who wears the exact same getup and facial expression.
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| It's fun to stay at the YMCA |
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