Siem Reap, Cambodia, 8/6/11
I am an absolute champion at sharing food. If collaborating on consuming dishes at a restaurant was a company, I would be CEO. I am someone who does not like to force a decision between sweet and savory at brunch; I must have both. Whether or not you actually want to share. I can think of nothing more boring than dining out and spending the entire meal consuming one single dish, palette so fatigued by the end you can't tell if you ordered fish or chicken pot pie. I feel sharing dishes is such an important part of dining that I secretly judge people who insist on hogging plates to themselves.
Angkor Palm restaurant in Siem Reap caters to my deepest food sharing fantasies. In front of Amit
and I is a shallow hand woven bamboo basket filled with six petite
bowls fashioned out of banana leaves, almost as if they were origami.
Each is filled with a Khmer specialty. This is Angkor Palm's signature
platter ($7/person) and is a food sharing enthusiast's wet dream. First
up are fresh (not fried) spring rolls filled with cucumber, lettuce,
carrots, bean sprouts, and noodles, and dipped into a sweet vinegar
sauce. Second course is a salad of julienned mango and green papaya with
smoked fish. The dish is made with vinegar and lime juice and is quite
tart, almost like the famous Som
Tom, green papaya salad in Thailand, except missing all the spice. Next
are fork tender spare ribs, made from locally raised pork. The ribs are
roasted with honey, created a crunchy outer crust protecting tender,
spicy meat inside. They're similar to the classic Chinese takeout dish,
except packed with flavor and not at all dry. Forget Buffalo wings,
these sweet and spicy niblets should be the go-to tailgate food.
Amit and I tried
Amok the previous night. It's one of the most famous Cambodian dishes, a cousin of Thai green curry. Amok is traditionally made with catfish (Amok Trei), although pork, chicken, shrimp, beef, lobster, or snails can be substituted. The meat is combined with coconut milk, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, caramelized onions, turmeric, paprika, sugar, egg, kaffir lime, chilis, fish sauce and gently steamed in a banana leaf. It's traditionally garnished with a small dollop of coconut cream, as thick as Greek yogurt, and eaten with rice. Amok Trei is traditionally eaten during Cambodia's Water Festival, a celebration of the beauty and biodiversity of the Tonle Sap River. Our first Amok experience was on the Mekong River in Phnom Penh. It was pleasant, albeit more like a watery soup than a curry. In Siem Reap, as the fourth course, it's a revelation. The catfish is fresh and silken, broken up into large fish filets. The bearded fish floats in a thick curry that is herbaceous, slightly spicy and sweet, with strong notes of onion and garlic. As the catfish is extraordinarily fresh and thickly cut, it is not overpowered by the complex curry sauce. The dish is hands down one of top two curries of the trip to date, maybe even the best. It's even better considering the pleasant surroundings of Angkor Palm Restaurant, a cream-colored restaurant, flooded with light, and staffed by a team of professional, genial servers. Amit and I sit in the spacious patio on comfortable padded wicker chairs, reclining as we try to come up with new laudatory adjectives to describe the restaurant's fish Amok.
The following courses are expertly prepared as well but certainly not the miracle of Angkor Palm's Amok Trei. Fifth course is a spicy traditional green curry with chicken, eggplant, long bean, potato and bell pepper. The final savory course is Cha Trorkuon, stir fried
morning glory with oyster sauce. It's funny, when I was studying abroad in Australia, the leaders of our residence hall hazed new recruits by making them consume gratuitous amounts of oyster sauce until nausea was induced. So I always have bitter memories when I see the sauce listed on menus. That said, I love oysters in all forms and the concentrated sauce can really elevate an Asian dish if used with a deft hand. In addition to being the name to one of my
favorite albums of the 1990s, morning glory is also the nickname of a native Chinese water spinach popular throughout Asia. Unlike traditional spinach, where the stems are typically removed, morning glory has narrow stems and is sauteed and eaten whole. With the oyster sauce and chilis, it's a richly savory dish with hints of spice.
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| Chinese water spinach, "Morning Glory" |
Final course is a cloyingly sweet bowl of roasted bananas resting in a soup of coconut milk and tapioca. It could have been a soup full of razor blades, after that Amok Trei, we could care less.
***
Siem Reap is known as the gateway city to the Temples of Angkor. Prior to arriving, most other travelers derided the city as a bit of a dump. However, I enamored with the city the second I arrive. Siem Reap literally means "Defeat of Siam" referring to the centuries old conflict between Cambodia and Siam (modern day Thailand). Today, the city has a low-key charm, with wide cobblestone streets and French and Chinese influenced architecture. Khmer restaurants with large patios pour onto the streets next to craft and fruit vendors. As Angkor Wat is one of the original Wonders of the World, the gateway city is not just backpackers. Rather, grand luxury hotels are found just down the street from the dorm rooms. One in particular is
an entire hotel with only one suite (maybe on my honeymoon).
Amit, Louise, Elaine and I are staying at
OK 1 Villas, five minutes outside of town. As with Hostel 88, this hotel is uncomfortably luxurious compared to most of my trip's dorms and sweltering bug-infested private rooms. Our spacious room has two king sized beds with silk sheets, gold throw pillows, a marble en suite bathroom, a desk, armoire, and large windows with velvet drapes ($24/night or $6/person). The penthouse of the hotel has a pool, picnic tables, and hammocks.
