I was going to spend a day at the National Museum of Cambodia, so I went scouting around the area nearby for a power breakfast that will fuel me through two thousand years of Cambodian history.
Combing the old Doun Penh section, I finally stumbled upon a restaurant that caught my fancy. Located at the intersection of streets 110 and 13, it was busy and the bowls of noodles that people were slurping up looked loaded with leow (ingredients).
I am not sure what the restaurant was serving, much less what was the name of the dish. So, I pointed at another customer's bowl of noodles and said "I want the same thing" in English.
I caused some confusion 😂
Had I just pointed at the noodles and smiled, my message would have been clearer 😝 Anyway, we got it sorted out quickly and I got my bowl of noodles. It was full of leow - but of what? I am going to find out.
There was a mound of crinkly flat noodles that look like mee pok (Teochew style flat yellow noodle). On top, there were thin slices of pork kidney and slices of meat (what it is, I will soon find out).
Ah so, this was pork noodle soup lah, Cambodian style.
The pork soup tasted robustly savoury with underlying porcine flavour but it was mainly savoury. The generous amounts of aromatics (fried garlic and fresh raw spring onion, chives) lent their flavours to the soup. I love it already.
The thin pork kidney was uber fresh, well cleaned and cooked through, there was no off taste whatsoever - just subtle porcine sweetness in the light soft-crunch. Love it.
Then, the restaurant's signature. It was soft-spongy and tasted savoury with gentle porcine sweetness. Ah.... it was actually "flat pork ball" - by that I mean, it is finely minced pork that is rolled into thin sheets and cooked by blanching in stock before serving. Very nice smooth soft texture and taste 😋
The slurpy mee pok noodles wet with savoury pork soup were nice too, though they were done a little soft (probably because QQ crunchy noodles ain't a thing in Cambodia?).
Everyone have their own preferred way of eating this pork noodle. Many locals like it with savoury mildly spicy chili sauce with a dash of tangy black vinegar and a couple of pickled bird's eye chili for the kick. Cambodians also like their sugar and fresh lime.
Me, I prefer to blow my mind, spiking every savoury mouthful with a fire cracker.
Price Riel 14,000 (about USD3.50) which is relatively premium by local street food standards. Going by how busy the restaurant is, many locals feel it is worth it.
Written by Tony Boey on 15 July 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments submitted with genuine identities are published