After that simple Mohinga and Curry Noodle Soup lunch in the New Mitzie’s Restaurant, we thought we have some room for some desserts. There was nothing much in terms of desserts in Mitzie’s. We thought of going over to New Town just down the street which we did. Although we ended buying something there, we had it to go for the following day’s breakfast.
The moment I suggested to Suanne, “how about the sticky rice durian in Phnom Penh?”. She immediately said “Yes, let’s go”.
We had been to Phnom Penh before. We blogged about it 2.5 years ago in this post here.
Phnom Penh has to be the one of the most blogged about restaurant in the whole of Vancouver, if not the most. Just check the list of blog posts on Urbanspoon here. Guess how many blog posts were recorded there … 51! And with this post, that makes 52.
The reason is simple. They had won countless awards over the years. Some of their dishes are legendary.
Not only the awards they won. They had visits from some of the top celebrities in the foodie world. Yeah, the celebrities left their mark on their take out menu which they pin up on the notice board by the entrance and waiting area.
Take a real close look at who the best foodie celebrities are. If you can’t read it, click on the picture above and it will show larger in the next page. The top celebrities are ranked in terms of importance from left to right, with the left being the the most famous of all.
Kekeke … “Ah Ben” and “Ah Suanne”. I thought that was funny.
The original signed copies were in laminates and just pinned on the board in the open. I asked Suanne to remove Anthony Bourdain’s copy and stick chowtimes’ in its place, she refused.
I then asked Suanne to pin chowtimes OVER Anthony Bourdain’s, she also refused. She is chicken because the people at the waiting area was wondering what we were doing. We scrambled out just as the waitress was coming over to see what the matter was going on. (The picture above was taken after our meal).
Hey you gotta give me credit. I had to ask the waitress for a take out menu which they do not put out in the open.
This place is so popular that there is often a wait for tables at all hours of the day. Yeah, we had to wait 5 minutes even at 3:00 in the afternoon.
You can click on the menu pages above to show it larger. Their better dishes is on the left most page where the Kitchen Suggestions are listed.
I wanted so much to order the beef carpaccio which I kept reading of in other blogs but Suanne kiboshed the whole idea. She doesn’t want any raw meat. What am I gonna do to make her change her mind, huh? It is because of Auntie Suanne that you don’t see a lot of Japanese restaurant blog posts on chowtimes.
One other favourite dish that people order is the dry noodles. We saw a lady seated next to our table sprinkled sugar on one of the dry noodles — not once but twice. That was the first time we saw people doing that. We did not order the noodles as it is too heavy after just having had the soup noodles at Mitzie’s. But next time we are here again, we will try to sprinkle sugar into the dry noodles.
Have any of you ever tried with sugar before, or seen people doing it?
Suanne was “pai seh” (Fujian for “embarassed” or something like that) that we were going to order just snacks. I thought it was OK. Nothing to “pai seh” about.
However, the waitress remarked “Is that all you want?”.
“Yes, thank you” I said.
“Are you sure you don’t want to order more?” she asked again.
“Yeah. We are not hungry”.
The Chicken Wings from Phnom Penh is made of legendary stuff. Yes, many people swears that they make the best deep fried chicken wings in town and I agree totally.
A lot of the tables order this. Scanning quickly the tables around us, more than half of the tables ordered this dish.
When we order this, the waitress asked us if we want half or full order. When asked, she advised us that the half order has about 8 to 9 pieces of wings. It was a lot of wings. The half order is $8.00 while the full order is $12.50. They also have deep fried prawns and spareribs which is equally just as great. The items are on the third page of the menu above.
The wings were served with a peppery vinegar dipping sauce. We did not really need that dip and enjoyed it just as it came.
We can detect a taste of sweetness on the coating like there are sugar in it. There are hardly any batter in this.
The tidbits of chopped onions/shallot and green onions are good. Great with rice but since we did not get rice, we top it on the wings as we ate it.
The Durian with Sticky Rice was $4.85.
There were sheets of durian and topped with sweetened coconut milk which makes it really creamy and rich. It was served slightly warm. It wasn’t as good as we remembered the first time we had it. It is just a few small spoonful and it was all gone in no time. Wished that there were more of it.
BTW, Phnom Penh accepts credit cards but you have to go to the counter to pay.
Yeah, Phnom Penh is certainly one of the restaurants I would recommend visitors to our city. The prices are cheap and the food is really good. The problem is you want to order everything which is impossible.
How many of you have NEVER been to Phnom Penh? Show of hands?
If you have not, you MUST include Phnom Penh on your bucket list. After all, famous foodie celebrities have dined there before.
BUSINESS HOUR
7 days a week
Monday to Thursday: 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Friday to Sunday: 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Me, me!
I’ve had their takeout but haven’t eaten in the restaurant.
We absolutely LOVE Phnom Pehn. Their butter beef is the best, and so are the chicken wings. I always get #35, the luc lac beef on rice with egg!
That’s actually lime juice and pepper for the chicken wings, not vinegar. 🙂
I am definitely going to try that dessert next time! 😉
Chiu chau food has vinegar and sugar that you add to your noodles.
Hi Eugene: Off topic … but wanted to say I enjoyed reading your site. Ben
LOL, just yesterday I was thinking of having the chicken wing to take home. Now that you brought it up, I know where to drop by after work!
😉 im leaving for phonm penh in a few hours. This is awesome i know what im going to order when i get there for sure now.
i enjoyed their chicken wings but it had a lot of msg.
totally. i love their wings. and also the durian dessert (although i’m sure using fresh durian would be better). the wings is like msg marinated and then dipped in more msg before eating … very good though!
Ben, if you have not tried the butter beef (luc lac), then you MUST! My 12 yr old son alone can eat the whole plate…lol!! It is that good. Their dry noodle is also good, but have not tried with sugar before. I know that at “ta-lang” (midnite snack time) in Hk, the chiu-chau restaurants do have plain crispy fried noodles which you eat with vinegar and sugar.
Sugar & Chilli?
In Thailand it’s normal to sprinkle sugar at the same time as you add those wonderful toasted Thai chilli flakes to your food. I’ve watched people in Bangkok add sugar spoon for spoon with the chilli flakes & it really balances the heat of the chilli, allowing you to enjoy more good chilli flavour.
Typically you add this combo to fried rice & dry noodle dishes but you also dress up Khow Soi (curry noodles Burmese style)with this combo. I bet this practice not uncommon.
The tables in the street around Thai hawker stalls will feature, at a minimum, dishes of sugar, chilli flakes and chillis in vinegar so everyone can adjust sweet, sour and hot to their liking.
Also, fruit vendors will sell pineapple and pomello with a sugar/salt/chilli powder mix so you can enhance your experience of the ripe fruit.
Salt/chilli powder/lime juice mix great with tropical fruits such as mango, paineapple or papaya.
Another place to think of for a raw beef dish is Hai Phong. There was a chowdown there recently which I sadly missed but it got raves from the attendees. I’d love to try it.
my my. about time somebody said this!
song huong is alright too.
i personally am a big fan of their hot and sour soup with shrimp. its a great palette cleanser to start a great meal. also a lot of people swear by the oyster omlette, but i personally find it too greasY for my tastes.
Seems a bit out of the way for me so I’ve never tried :p
You should also try the Beef Loc Loc (I think that is what it is called). Beef on rice; very popular, also very tasty! :o)
Hey, i went there this past Saturday – how do you eat the dry noodle?
I ordered the dry noodle with the broth on the side – do you just dump the broth in and eat it like pho?