By Peter Olszewski
Cambodian chefs are beginning to make their mark in the local hospitality industry, and in Siem Reap they are emerging as masters of both Khmer and Western cuisine.
A typical example in Ving San, executive chef at Angkor Palace Resort & Spa. A veteran of upscale hotel kitchens, Ving San has worked in two of Phnom Penh’s premier hostelries: the former Hotel Sofitel Cambodiana, from 1992 until 1997, and then at Raffles Hotel Le Royal until 2003.
He moved to Siem Reap for a brief stint at Sofitel Royal Angkor, and joined Angkor Palace Resort & Spa in November 2003, where, as well as currently being a dab hand at international cuisine, he also lovingly creates Cambodian food in all its former glory.
“Many people don’t really know what Khmer food is,” Ving San lamented. “So I create dishes today in the hope that my own country’s food will become world renowned”.
He has taken his first steps toward achieving this with his culinary tour de force dubbed Royal Khmer Cuisine. A special introductory taste of gourmet Cambodian food, it is a request only feast, available at the Angkor Palace Resort’s Soriya Restaurant for USD 42 per person.
This superb sampler menu kicks off with a mise en bouche of fish amok, before moving on to a combination salad comprising mango, scallops and crispy purses, and rounding off part one of the experience with a Cambodian pumpkin soup.
Next comes a pair of main fare tasters, starting with a visually dramatic, grilled Tonle Sap prawn dish served with sticky ice, kale, and black bean sauce. This is followed by a grilled beef on lemongrass skewer served with delectable Cambodian pickles. Dessert is dubbed ”Pumpkin Custard” but is actually sweet banana and coconut milk in sago.
Many degustation-style menus are big on taste and miserly in quantity, but the Royal Khmer Cuisine fare borders on an endurance test as servings are generous and, with six courses on offer, the food keeps on a-coming.
This special menu was also devised following Hun Sen’s relatively recent decree the Khmer food must replace French cuisine at state and government functions, which prompted chefs to further explore the gourmet qualities of Khmer cuisine.
One of the standouts on Ving San’s Royal Khmer Cuisine menu is the fist amok. Many gustatory crimes are committed on a daily basis in Siem Reap in the name of amok, which is often rendered as a cheap bog-backpacker variant of a vegetable stew laced with sad smidgeons of seemingly boiled fish or chicken.
But Ving San’s fish amok is an art form in itself; a delicious, creamy taste-bomb that literally melts in the mouth. Ving San wryly comments, “Everywhere in Siem Reap they have amok, but our amok is not the same as they do it in Pub Street.
“Here we use many special ingredients, such as Khmer herbs. We make the amok as a delicacy, and that is what makes it different form outside. On the street here they make it with many vegetables, but we do only the fist.”
Ving San’s fish amok has the consistency of a piscatorial crème caramel, and he beams when the texture is complimented.
“Yes, we do it every creamy,” he acknowledges. “We simply add coconut cream.”
Text obtained from 7Days The Phnom Penh Post Newspaper
Issue no. 16, Nov 13 to 19, 2009. Page: 13
