Chef Nak’s Favorite Places to Eat in Phnom Penh

Look, what a beauty. [lively music]

[Chef Nak speaking in foreign language]

Everyone, I'm Chef Nak

Today I will be taking you to my favorite spot

to eat in Phnom Penh.

And this is Where the Chefs Eat.

Something amazing about food culture in Phnom Penh

is that it is a hub.

People from different part

of Cambodia urbanize and then make a living.

So when people come,

they bring their own traditions from where they grew up

and that make the whole thing quite diverse.

Everything is so vibrant, you can have access

to a very affordable street food

to very high-end restaurant.

And choice is yours.

[lively music]

[Chef Nak speaking in foreign language]

[lively music continues]

Welcome to Meatophum.

So this is one of my favorite restaurant

when I come to Phnom Penh.

Meatophum restaurant was founded about 10 years ago

by a woman to promote the cuisine of Cambodia.

This is also a place to show the diversity, the freshness,

and every characters of every day

and original dishes in a very beautiful, simple setting.

So we have two amazing dishes that I grew up eating.

This is one of the iconic salads in Cambodia.

Banana blossom is one of the flowers

that we eat in Cambodia.

We use it in so many different ways,

but today we are using it by chopping it up

and then make it into a salad.

And you also have fresh river shrimp.

You have shredded chicken, beautiful roasted peanuts

and the herbs and that give you all the balance

that also burst in your mouth too.

This is just a crispy fried fish.

The outside is so crispy,

but the inside is still super moist

and it comes with seasonal pickle.

So this is seasonal ripe tomatoes, not being charred,

but give us a beautiful caramelized but also smoky flavors.

And this is matured green mango. Just slice it, shred it.

And we have it with fish sauce.

That balance the whole thing to accompany the fish.

It just give you the burst of flavors in your mouth.

Oh.

You know what? Welcome to Cambodia.

When we have these beautiful dishes in front of us,

without this beautiful looking rice,

the whole thing wouldn't be considered as a meal.

So welcome. Let's dive in.

Let's have a piece of this beautiful, crunchy,

but very moist seasonal fish.

And then pickles.

[Chef Nak grunting]

Beautiful, crunchy, savory,

sour, gets melt in your mouth.

[lively music]

Hey, I'm very, very excited about this soup.

This is called lemongrass paste beef sour soup,

one of the soup that I grew up eating a lot.

We have the beef, the curry leaf. Sorry about this.

This is curry leaf. In Cambodian, we call it sluk ktrob.

One of the leaves that we use,

and specifically only in this soup.

This soup also highlight the heart

of Cambodian fundamental component in cooking,

which is the lemongrass paste

that not only give us the aroma

and balance on the deep flavors of our ingredients,

it's also been helping us to stay healthy

for thousands of years already.

Let's dive in.

Look at this.

Beautiful.

So here we go. Enjoy.

[lively music]

You know, when I travel, I often try to find places to eat

that only local goes

because the local have to approve it, right?

And this is it at Meatophum.

I'm surrounded by all the locals

and I can always expect the same result every single time.

[lively music]

[Chef Nak speaking in foreign language]

Look at this.

This is one of the excitement

that I had for coming here today

because here now in Cambodia, it's the mango season.

This is our steamed sticky rice with coconut

and ripe mango.

Here in Cambodia,

we have fresh ingredients every single day

and you can taste the freshness.

So clean, and here you go.

My gosh, this is one of the dish

that I could have it every single day.

Happy.

[lively music]

I am now at Pi Sa Old Market

and we are just right next door to the Old Market

or Phsar Chas in our local language.

Please come join me.

So welcome to Pi Sa Old Market. It's just newly open.

It also show a very deep respect to its root

by using the local

and seasonal ingredients, offering the diner a la carte

or the chef tasting menu.

So I am now getting ready for my amuse-bouche

and I'm very excited just to know what it is.

[lively music]

[Chef Nak grunting]

Are we ready for this?

I think this is supposed to be for one bite.

So let me do this all in together.

[lively music continues]

[Chef Nak grunting]

The fragrance is incredible.

The crunch is amazing,

but then the pops of the sweet corns give me the contrast

of the savory flavor from the fresh river shrimps.

First course, nine out of 10.

Look, what a beauty.

It's a form of salad.

So tenderloin seared and thinly sliced.

And there are some herbs

and the most important part,

which are the thinly sliced lemongrass stalk,

and kaffir lime leaves.

Moment of truth. [lively music]

This is amazing, right?

Edible flower, especially in the Western style,

they use it to uplift the look of the dish.

But here in Cambodia, when we think of edible flowers,

they're meant to be eaten.

It give you a beautiful look,

but also different texture and flavors to the dish.

[lively music]

When it comes to Mekong crayfish,

it's one of the luxurious ingredients

that we don't commonly have access every day.

So I'm very, very excited to dive in.

Oh look, the Mekong crayfish have been chopped

into small, small, small pieces.

I also have seen some of the mushroom as well.

So buon appetito. [lively music]

[Chef Nak grunting]

So rich, so creamy, yet light.

The balance of the coconut water

and the richness of the Mekong crayfish is so beautiful

and it's just so clever that they decided

to make the foam almost like cappuccino style.

Beautiful. [lively music]

Oh my God, the pork belly is just so soft

and this is so beautiful.

Dining close to where I came from,

the local market brought me so much to the childhood memory

where food was a way to survive.

But looking at something like this,

very close to where I came from,

give me the hope of the future of this cuisine.

I've been to Pi Sa Old Market a lot of times.

Every single time I still have the same feeling,

which is very proud.

I also would love to invite you when you come

to Phnom Penh, explore a Pi Sa.

It delivers all the time.

And this is the reason why Pi Sa is part

of the Condé Nast Traveler's Hot List.

[lively music]

[Chef Nak grunting]

It reminds me of a woman

on her bicycle every single morning in my village

having a part of this just behind her bicycle.

And she announced, at-pae-, at-pae, right?

And this is it.

But, you know, it looks completely different.

So this is the mousse from the coconut

and this is the black sticky rice

and it's been fermented.

It's beautiful, well balanced,

not too sweet, very coconut-y.

But then you got the crunch and the sour

and the fermented flavors from the sticky rice.

That is so beautiful.

[lively music]

Here we are at our final spot of today.

This is 123 Grilled Seafood.

I love coming back here

because it is a very communal, relaxing setting,

but focused on a very high-quality ingredients.

[lively music continues]

Ooh, there's salmon fins.

There are also some snails

and we're gonna be grabbing some

of the dishes from the grill.

But a few more from their inside kitchen as well.

[lively music]

You know, you come here, you expect

that you're gonna have a very beautiful,

fresh, straightforward food.

By the way, you know what?

I have company and this happen to be my CEO/husband.

[Chef Nak laughing]

Hey, babe. Hello.

Yeah, this is my husband Sarin.

Is it okay? Yeah.

Are you comfy?

I can't wait to taste it.

Good. Me too. [Chef Nak laughing]

[lively music]

The two fundamentals for this place

and almost to all the kind

of dishes here is one of them,

this combo of sea salt and kampot pepper.

This combo with lots of lime juice

will create an amazing dipping sauce

that fits with everything.

And this is something that I as a chef travel with.

And another sauce is the sweet, sour, salty sauce.

So it's very like garlic-y and also very refreshing as well.

So these two will be the lead

for all the dishes we are having tonight.

This is steamed glass noodle with crabs.

The crab has been hidden at the bottom,

looking so beautiful and colorful.

Sometimes I would just come here, have a set of this,

and that would be my protein and my carb

and a bit of the vegetable.

That would be it.

So ceviche here in Cambodia, we use lime juice

to cook the shrimps,

but the shrimp has to be super, super fresh.

And now they have also have different herbs

that also balance the shrimp we taste

and also the dressing as well.

You know, at home we rarely have crab.

So coming outside, this is where we would enjoy the seafood

and this is our seafood place.

And crap with glass noodle is my favorite.

And every time we come here, this is what we have.

That's our favorite, not just yours.

Yeah, well, you know, we order a few things,

but this will be my most favorite dish.

All right, yeah, correct. I approve that.

Oh, oh, woo hoo, all right.

One more is coming. Let's see what is this.

Look at this. Look at this.

Ah, beautiful. Very fresh grilled shrimps.

Oh my God, it smells so garlic-y.

Woo.

It's so beautiful, aromatic and so fresh too.

Can't wait.

You want some of this? Sure.

But I think I will be enjoying the noodle first if I can.

Oh wow. Have it.

Very long. [Chef Nak laughing]

So let's have a bite.

I smell the garlic, I smell the ginger, the soy sauce.

As expected, good as always.

The noodle is so soft, so elastic.

And it has all the flavors that come from the crabs

and also other aromatics.

Yeah, it's just so beautiful.

Eating seafood is an experience, right?

You take your time, you enjoy the hand movement,

the picking, the licking.

How could you enjoy having seafood without using your hand?

[lively music]

It's very important to come to these kinds

of communal sharing places.

And this is how we eat. We serve it in a family style.

Everyone share and take part of this.

In our family, we have a rule,

if anyone wanna take the last piece,

they would have to go through anyone and say.

You want this? Do you want this.

[Chef Nak laughing]

If you want it, I still have it.

[Chef Nak laughing]

One of the things that you might pick out

when you spend a lot of time in Cambodia

is that Cambodians love snacking.

We snack all day.

So even in a very busy restaurant like this,

there are numbers of food vendors

who would come offering different things from sour fruits

to peanuts, which you love.

And I always get peanuts.

And sometimes the crickets

and many other things.

And, you know, we have this

and then we still enjoy those that they are offering.

Oh and yes, now he is having his peanut.

Enjoy. [Chef Nak laughing]

[lively music ending]