Happy Australia Day 2007.
Australian expats in Cambodia celebrated in the traditional manner by getting their booze on at the complete expense of the Australian Embassy. I had originally planned a detailed review of the food on offer (lamingtons, Australian rib eye beef, sausage rolls, pho) but was too bewildered by the carved ice monsters […]
I was teaching classes at a local research institution. I arrogantly would always trot out the notion of the Angkor Empire in my examples. Angkor was, in my opinion then as now, a horrendous deformation of humanity, where slave labor and mass dehumanization resulted in the piling of rocks into beautiful monuments. The vast majority […]
Since imperial powers began extending their sovereignty abroad, Third World nations have been ripe for the picking as luxury travel destinations. What the colonial era lacked in wifi facilities and post-Orientalist irony, it made up for with linen suits and mahouts. Any colonising nation with the nous to build a hill station knew that […]
The results are in: the estimable Ms. Pim has drawn the Menu for Hope 2007 prizes. The winner of the Phnomenon prize goes to TOAST.
For Mr or Ms Toast, please either comment or land butter side down in this post to organise your pepper, meat tray, and dinner for two at Meric. Alternately, email me […]
To paraphrase Hannibal (Smith rather than Barca), I love it when a cliché comes together. Spotted at Psar Tuol Tom Poung (Russian Market) but typical of any Cambodian market.
Cambodia’s national fermented fish condiment, prahok, has just come into season with the annual explosion of riel fish numbers. To honour the occasion, AFP have published their insight (and a few top photos). The Ministry of Fish’s head honcho, Nao Thouk, sums up the situation with typically Khmer verve:
“Prahok is the taste of Cambodia. If […]
One of the few street food regrets that I have acquired is eating the above barbecued cake. I don’t know what it is named in Khmer and despite exuding the lush aroma of roasted banana and sesame seeds, it appears to be made of either papier-mâchĂ© or its even less edible substitute, taro. Taro is […]
Village Voice have just reviewed Kampuchea Noodle Bar, currently New York’s sole Cambodian restaurant. Their initial thoughts on the subtleties of the 17 dollar bowl of khtieav with filet mignon:
..it’s a bit dull, partly due to the prim slices of filet flung into its depths. Use fatty stew beef, dude, and cook the fuck out […]
Should I expect a cheese plate? Pho Bo(cuse)? French onion soup with noodles? These are questions that have weighed heavily on my mind in the two odd years that I have been passing by Nouveau Pho de Paris on Monivong boulevard, Phnom Penh. Both Cambodian and Vietnamese foods have successfully integrated their former colonial ruler’s […]
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