Kampuchea Noodle Bar

[Yajna Patni]

Just a comment on the lack of chilies. I have not been to kampuchea so i am just taking a shot in the dark. I have been to cambodia and their food is not nearly as hot and spicy as thai food. quite diffrent really. anyway. just a thought.

[Nathan]

ate at Kampuchea on Saturday evening.

pork belly was succulent enough but a little overcooked. grilled freshwater prawns with pickles were terrific. the pickles had little bits of chiles interspersed....nice touch.

a service plus was the wet naps brought after this course.

did a tasting of various sandwhiches. these were fine....but frankly, as with the bahn mi at Momofuku Ssam....I don't find these especially more enjoyable than the $3.25 bahn mi available at several different holes in the wall...(I'm sure the ingredients are better but.....)

cold vermicelli with chinese sausages and pork was quite good. on par with the noodle dishes at Fatty Crab.

washed it all down with a good, if a little off-dry, Gewurztraminer.

overall, what we had was more than good enough for me to return. I thought the level of execution was close to that of Fatty Crab...but the highs I've had at Fatty Crab were higher...but obviously we didn't sample most of the Kampuchea menu.

[Domestic Goddess]

Kampuchea has a small, occasional supply of embryonic duck eggs – in other words, duck eggs that are almost but not quite hatched. In one of the most extreme eating experiences of my life, I ate one tonight. It was an alarming, disorienting, wonderful, delicious, disgusting, awe-inspiring, remorseful, celebratory moment. The egg was poached, the top cut off and a little lime and vinegar dressing added. I won’t go into an exact description of the taste, texture and appearance – part of the joy and horror of this experience is the surprise of it all.

Fat Guy,

What you had was their version of the Filipino balut. Balut is always eaten with rock salt and a little vinegar. I've craved this when I was pregnant with our youngest and would eat 2-3 eggs every night.

Aaaah the joys of eating a hot balut. Cracking the large end of the egg where the air bubble is. Sprinkling a litte rock salt into the small opening and then sucking the tasty broth mixed with the salt. The peeling the egg carefully until you expose the yellow yolk with the tiny embryo nestled on top. You then slurp the embryo off and eat the yolk slowly, savoring the creamy goodness until you come to the hard white rubbery part of the egg. If you're lucky, the white rubbery part is soft enough to nibble on.

[Fat Guy]

I was down at Kampuchea (which has dropped the "Noodle Bar" appellation) doing a follow-up interview for my book, and a fringe benefit was that Ratha gifted me lots and lots of snacks while we talked. I was able to try several new menu items, all of which I thought were excellent. The restaurant seems to be thriving: it was well populated during the peak lunch hour today, and Ratha said they did almost 300 covers last night.

Quail egg salad. Halves of hard-boiled quail eggs arranged around a salad of tiny crispy dried anchovies (dried in house), watercress, green mango, shredded carrots and a chili-lime dressing. A great palate-awakener.

Lemongrass smoked duck breast, smoked in a contraption of Ratha's own design, seared rare and served in a bowl of butternut squash puree with a green mango and herb salad. It's under the cold plates heading on the menu but it's a warm (not hot, though) dish.

Pork meatballs. The meatballs themselves are ground Berkshire pork with rice and a little hoisin sauce. They're served in a sauce of stewed tomatoes, with shaved salted egg on top (which looks like parmesan). A strong comfort-food dish (the previous two dishes were more in the foodie-unusual category).

Not new, but I was glad to have it, was the ginger-rubbed catfish sandwich with honey, shallots and peppercorns. This is served on Kampuchea's very good toasted sandwich baguette with pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro and chili mayonnaise. This alone would make a nice lunch.

I also tried a bowl of the chicken curry noodle soup. They actually fabricate the curry base to order with each bowl of soup. It's apparent in the end product, which has really vibrant spicing. The soup is packed full of stuff but it integrates well. In the intense curry-lemongrass-chicken broth are thin noodles (wheat not rice), chunks of sweet potato and Chinese eggplant, green beans, sprouts and various herbs. That's all topped with several spicy chicken wings.

Sunday late lunch is the time to be at Kampuchea. You get the daylight, and the atmosphere is relaxed. If you go around 2-3pm (earlier is busier, as I noted above) you can spread out and hang for a couple of hours. They only serve lunch Friday through Sunday, same menu as dinner.

[Fat Guy]

Incidentally, Kampuchea was included in this year's Michelin guide.

[Ce'nedra]

Great photos Fat Guy. I'm not sure how authentic that is because I've never tried Cambodian cuisine but it looks a hell lot like Vietnamse from your post.

Are the two cuisines really similar? Does anyone know?

[Fat Guy]

Cambodia and Vietnam are neighbors, and their food cultures are closely related -- especially if you focus on the southern region of Vietnam, which borders Cambodia and, I believe, used to be ruled by Angkor long ago. Many if not most Cambodian dishes have Vietnamese analogs and vice-versa. Cambodian cuisine, however, tends to be more rustic than Vietnamese. Cambodians particularly love sour flavors. And when Cambodian dishes are spicy they’re seriously spicy.

[Ce'nedra]

Hmm I never knew it was so similar. I'm very familiar with Vietnamese cuisine and I'd expect some influences vice versa considering they're neighbours but I always thought of Vietnamese as having more Chinese influence than Cambodian.

The large use of fresh herbs and raw vegetables, along with local produce, is what I considered to have made it distinct from Chinese cuisine. Otherwise, the Vietnamese eat alot of food that the Chinese would also eat.

I've seen a Cambodian restaurant menu before and to me, it looked like alot of the food was 'borrowed' from the Vietnamese but nothing particularly unique to the Cambodians. I hear they like alot of pungent food.

[Fat Guy]

One big distinguishing factor between Chinese and Vietnamese/Cambodian food is the French influence. Thus, you'll find sandwiches on French-style baguettes, coffee as a beverage, etc. Also, as I indicated before, Vietnamese cuisine is not monolithic. There are various regions, some of which display stronger Chinese culinary influence than others.

[Ce'nedra]

Yep yep although my parents were born in the south of Vietnam and yet all my contact with Vietnamese cuisine/culture is still heavily influenced by Chinese cuisne. For eg the seafood egg noodle soup, duck noodle soup, etc etc.

Although that could also be because my parents are ethnic Chinese.

Still, the food I eat even out is very much Chinese-inspired, if not of Chinese origin.

I really wonder which dishes are exclusively Cambodian in origin/influenced.

Btw, the Chinese had much more influence on the Vietnamese than the French did (well, compare 1000 yrs of domination compared to 100 yrs...wait, is it 100 yrs? I'm not too clear on Vietnamese history).

[Nathan]

I'm talking way out of my league here...but my understanding is that the Chinese culinary influence on Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and (especially) Thailand is primarily very recent...i.e. noodles didn't really make it into any of these countries from China until the 19th century, ditto for chopsticks (to the extent that they made it at all...see Thailand where they pretty much aren't used)

[Ce'nedra]

That may be true for laos, Cambodia and Thailand. But keep in mind that Vietnam is very distinct from its SE Asian neighbours in that it is very much Sinicized. Culture wise, Vietnam is more East Asian than South East Asian. It just so happens that Vietnam is located in SE Asia. The Vietnamese use chopsticks on a daily basis for pretty much every meal (unless it's something like say, summer rolls of course).

And yeah, Thais only use chopsticks when eating noodles (from what I've been told anyway).

Noodles were incorporated into the Vietnamese diet for a very long time now, I don't think it's a recent thing.

In terms of influence, China pretty much left a dent on almost all (if not all) Asian countries many years ago. I'm not too sure about the 'when' and 'how' of the Chinese culinary influence on Laos, Thailand and Cambodia though.

[LPShanet]

And yeah, Thais only use chopsticks when eating noodles (from what I've been told anyway).

←

You were told right. Apart from noodles, Thais use a spoon (in the right or dominant hand) as the main tool, and a fork in the other hand as a pusher. Almost everything is eaten this way, with the spoon being the utensil that goes to the mouth.

[Ce'nedra]

And yeah, Thais only use chopsticks when eating noodles (from what I've been told anyway).

←

You were told right. Apart from noodles, Thais use a spoon (in the right or dominant hand) as the main tool, and a fork in the other hand as a pusher. Almost everything is eaten this way, with the spoon being the utensil that goes to the mouth.

←

Do you know what they used before the introduction of the spoon and fork? I know the fork is a Western invention (or so I've always assumed). Not sure about spoons though, it seems the utlisation of spoons is practiced in almost every single culture.

[Fat Guy]

Side note on Cambodian Cuisine, the construction is not finished. The proprietor was feeling kind of down about it, because he had been promised a January completion, then a February completion, etc., and now he thinks it could be another month or more. I'll keep an eye on it, since I live on East 93rd a few blocks over.

←

Miracle of miracles: almost a year behind schedule now, but the plywood is down, there are windows, there's definitely most of a restaurant in there now, and there's a sign that says "Cambodian Cuisine Opening Soon." I think it's going to happen.

[Fat Guy]

I visited Kampuchea tonight with a group of friends as part of a multi-restaurant tour of the city. We sandwiched it between the wine bar at Adour and Momofuku Noodle Bar. Held up against two of the best kitchens in town, Kampuchea fared exceptionally well. Two of the four members of our group (all with experienced-enough palates to have an opinion worth considering) felt Kampuchea was the best of the three.

For example we were able to do a same-day comparison of the Kampuchea pickle plate and the Momofuku Noodle Bar pickle plate. Kampuchea's pickle plate is more interesting, assertive and generous. Particularly noteworthy are the new lime pickles: thin slices of lime pickled with hot chilies.

We tried a few dishes we hadn't tasted before. There's now an amazing blue-crab preparation. The crabs are bisected and sauteed with rum, which reduces to create a deeply caramelized, sticky sauce. They're messy eating, but rewarding. The monkfish liver is superb, served with macerated spicy pears. And the house-cured duck breast, thinly sliced, is paired with a green papaya salad that's unlike anything I've seen in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants: the papaya is shaved into wide, thin ribbons (rather than shredded).

We also had some old favorites, like the tamarind baby back ribs, the spicy and sour mussels with okra and tomatillos, and the num pang (sandwich) tasting plate.

I've been to Kampuchea enough times now to be able to say with confidence that the restaurant is serving many dishes that are on par with what the Momofukus are offering. Yet, Kampuchea still has never been reviewed in the New York Times.

[Daniel]

You dont find the food to be expensive? I had the sandwich tasting ($18) and was really unimpressed.. I also think they use different rolls for the sampler then they do for the whole sandwich..

I agree the pickle plate is really good.. But didnt like a lot of the offerings.. Glad to see they dropped that single grilled quail dish for 13 bucks and that there are new offerings.. Blue crab sounds great.

How much was dinner for the four of you?

[Fat Guy]

It was $159 plus tax and tip for a larger meal than most people would order. That included several fruit juices and cocktails. It may or may not have also included a comped dish or two but I didn't take a careful inventory of the itemized bill.

I think Kampuchea only seems expensive if you hold it up to cheap Chinatown Southeast Asian places for comparison. If you make your frame of reference the Momofukus then no, it's not expensive at all. (I think many of the dishes are a bit less expensive than loosely comparable Momofuku dishes, while the soups are more expensive but also more significant.) And I believe the latter is the appropriate frame of reference, because of the quality of ingredients and the proficiency of the kitchen.

[Nathan]

Kampuchea isn't expensive....but I was a little underwhelmed. I really should give it another try.

[Fat Guy]

I think that, as with the Momofukus, you sort of need to acquire a little experience before you can consistently crack the Kampuchea code. Because the restaurant serves different functions for different customers, and there are definitely more and less foodie-oriented dishes being served up.

It's like when you hear that somebody went into Ssam Bar, had a Ssam, and was underwhelmed, or somebody went into Noodle Bar, had a soup, and thought "eh." At Kampuchea, as at the Momofukus, if you want a high-level foodie experience you only want to get the supposedly core dishes if they're part of a more diverse spread. Which is not to say I remember (if I ever knew) what you ordered, Nathan. I'm just speaking in general.

Right now I'd say the most impressive dishes from a foodie perspective are the pickle plate, duck breast, sweetbreads, monkfish liver, crabs, pork belly and mussels. If you have enough people to order more than that, then it's time to round out the meal with a shared soup, some crepes and maybe a sandwich tasting. That's if you want the kind of haute-rustic experience that the Momofukus offer. Of course if you're just in the mood for a really good bowl of soup, you can just go in and have that. But it's a totally different experience.

[Nathan]

fair point.

[weinoo]

I don't know, I've eaten here 4 or 5 times, and have never had the kind of meal that I get regularly at Noodle Bar or Ssam. Must just be my bad luck.

[Nathan]

well, Kampuchea reminded me a lot of Fatty Crab....which I enjoy plenty (although nothing I had at Kampuchea was as as good as the pork and watermelon salad or the fatty duck....but I can certainly believe that there could be dishes that good).

the difference is that I live two blocks from Fatty Crab.

[GITA]

Also on the foodie list might be the Kampuchea Num Pang (Sandwich): Homemade Pork Pate & Headcheese Terrine - delish.

FYI- Ratha Chau is chef/owner and the other little white guy in the kitchen, Scott Burnett, is his partner and co-executive chef.

[Fat Guy]

I was in the neighborhood so I stopped in yesterday afternoon just before opening to sample the liver pate and head-cheese terrine sandwich. A very fine charcuterie specimen.