Phnom Penh Restaurant (map, 244 E Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-682-5777) is one of Vancouver’s most praised restaurants by the (very active) local food blogging community.
The blog foodosophy has a really insightful discussion into the nature of the Cambodian/Vietnamese food that is featured at Phnom Penh:
…common to the cuisines is the general presentational philosophy of “fresh†balanced with “savoryâ€. Pho, as an example, will always be presented to the diner with a plateful of herbs and greens as a counterpoint the savoriness of the broth. To indulge the diner further – a wedge of lime of almost always provided to allow for adjustment the sour note. This philosophy lends an appealing “brightness†to the cuisine.
Most bloggers agree that the “must-order” signature dish at Phnom Penh is the chicken wings. So we ordered them! (See the photo below).
These chicken wings were amazing – remarkable, really – and the reason is that their flavors are multi dimensional. If you enjoy pub food you may find yourself eating piles of wings on certain nights of the week, with a choice of hot, teriyaki, or honey garlic sauce. If you’re used to these style of wings, you’ll soon realize that the wings at Phnom Penh are in a different category altogether.
Prolific food blogger KimHo describes them best on his blog (click here to read his post):
It had some pepper-y and garlic-y flavour at first but, after a moment, other layers of flavours I can’t described started to kick in. And I could stop eating them piece after piece! In the small bowl is a acidic/lemon-y dip which added yet another layer of flavour.
Another one of my favorite dishes to order at Phnom Penh is the traditional Vietnamese gá»i cuốn (Summer Roll), also known as a Salad Roll (also pictured below). I enjoy making these at home – the ingredients are so fresh and I love the combination of the rice paper wrapper with the seafood, vermicelli noodles, vegetables and herbs. Click here to check out a video I made of me and my friends making Vietnamese salad rolls at home.
I’m definitely going back to Phnom Penh to try more of their dishes sometime soon. Hope you enjoy it!
Garlic Chicken Wings from Phnom Penh Vietnamese / Cambodian restaurant in Vancouver BC Canada.
Vietnamese Salad Rolls from Phnom Penh Restaurant in Chinatown, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
14,106 views - Posted Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Last weekend I made another visit to Yamato Sushi (map, 616 Davie St, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-682-5494).
It’s a hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurant on the edge of Yaletown that is popular for take-out but also has a few tables for eating in.
I ordered a bunch of my favorite items including the miso soup, ebi sunomono salad, chopped scallop roll, nigiri sushi (tamago, inari and ikura), and an unagi cone. My friend ordered the vegetarian bento box and an avocado roll.
Everything was really good, but one note is that the rice on the chopped scallop roll seemed not quite as fluffy as I usually like. But in general I have been happy with the quality of food at Yamato and the prices are quite reasonable for the downtown area (my meal including tax and tip came to $19).
I live in the area and Yamato is a place where I often bring my friends, who are visiting from other parts of the Lower Mainland.
I made a video of our food (that’s pretty appetizing I think) and you can watch it on Youtube (or on Blip.tv) or use the player below. Until next time, hope you enjoy the many amazing restaurants in Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver / BC Lower Mainland area.
Ebi Sunomono Salad from Yamato Sushi Japanese restaurant on Davie Street in downtown Vancouver BC Canada.
Chopped Scallop roll and assorted sushi from Yamato Sushi Japanese restaurant on Davie Street in downtown Vancouver BC Canada.
Insadong Korean Restaurant (website, map, photos, 403 North Road, Coquitlam, BC, Canada, phone: 604-936-3778) is one of my new favorite places to go for Korean food in the Greater Vancouver area. It’s located just on the Coquitlam side of North Road, near Lougheed Mall in Burnaby. It’s within walking distance of the Lougheed skytrain station.
Love to be there. I have been in this restaurant a few time and every time I was there it was a pleasure for a spicy Korean style. The taste of the food was so impressive with a big portion of Kim chi and beef. Shabu hot pot beef was my favorite food there and big.. even it was a small size. The taste was rich with a healthy vegetable and tasty Kim Chi ingredients. The service was fast and excellent as well. Keep maintain the quality and services like this, I will be back again.
Prices for a full meal range between $10 and $20 per person depending on which dishes you order.
The spicy soft tofu soup (with seafood, pictured below) is $8.99 and comes with a side of rice and all the usual Korean accompaniment dishes like the kim-chee (traditional spicy cabbage), the candied cooked potatoes (my favorite), sprouts, and more. The soup and side dishes are a meal in themselves.
We also ordered some fancy salads such as the Smoked Salmon Salad ($7.99) and the Seafood Salad ($9.99) which were amazing “fusion” style dishes with great Korean influences but also making use of West Coast ingredients.
