Cuckoo for Chicken Wings

Phnom Penh
Vietnamese-Cambodian Cuisine
244 Georgia Street East
Vancouver, BC
V6A 1Z7 Canada
ph: (604) 734-8898

Venturing out to the bowels of Chinatown at night without a car is an ordeal. Being in a dark alley with shady people lurking in the shadows, you don't know if it's instinct or paranoia that drives you to walk at a speed of light. You're just hoping to get to the place of redemption: the bus stop, but once you're there, you find yourself cursing under your breath hoping to see that bright yellow "15 Downtown" light -- this is what you have to go through for a plate of Phnom Pehn chicken wings. Is it worth it? Every bite.

Phnom Pehn is a Vietnamese-Cambodian restaurant with a menu so long it reminded me of a karaoke song book where there is a numerical equivalent for every dish, "I will have #35, please, thank you". The service is fast but if you come at the restaurant's peak hours then you might be one of those unlucky ones waiting in line for a table watching people eagerly clean up their plates. Thankfully, they accept reservations but if you don't feel like calling, consider going for an early dinner preferably before 7 pm. The restaurant is clean and straight-to-the-point without any fancy shmancy interiors. It has four white walls, tables and chairs, a kitchen plus staff and it's good to go. You go there for the food, not for the ambiance. It's not exactly a date place unless your idea of a romantic dinner is watching your date accumulate chicken grease on her fingers. The price is a little more than the usual Vietnamese restaurant but it makes up for the serving.

If you have a more exotic palate and love carpaccio, I highly recommend the butter beef. It's a dish of thinly sliced half-cooked strips of beef swimming in a vinegar-garlic-cilantro concoction so good that I didn't mind the pinkness and the texture. Of course you can never skip the chicken wings if you visit this place, unless you are a vegetarian. It is by far one of the crunchiest and tastiest chicken wings I have ever put in my mouth. You just find yourself savouring it, wing after wing even without dipping it in the tangy lemon-pepper sauce. There are a lot of other interesting dishes on the menu from the more popular Vietnamese dishes like the lemon grass chicken and spring rolls which is also good but not exemptionally the best compared to the hundreds of other amazing Vietnemese hole-in-the-wall restaurants but Phnom Penh also have unusual dishes of deep fried frog legs which the other restaurants don't offer. Remember, you have a whole lot of variety in this menu to explore, go crazy!

* picture stolen from The Daily Kimchi -Korea Blog