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Phnom Penh - Chinatown

Cuisine: Cambodian / Vietnamese
The Down Low: Just for the food, I give Phnom Penh top marks in Vancouver. Can it be dethroned?
Favorite Dish: No one I have talked to about Phnom Penh knows anything about the menu aside from the butter beef and the chicken wings. But when you have found perfection, why take a risk with anything else.
Music Pairing: Another one of my Anjunabeats' favorites, Oliver Smith at ABGT250. He just released a new track called Lovingly which is featured in the set.

Vietnamese? Cambodian? Chinese? A bit of an identity crisis

Cambodia and Vietnam are in my opinion two of the world's great countries, with food contributing highly to that ranking. While working in Southeast Asia for six months last year, I had the opportunity to visit Siem Reap and Phnom Penh with my family. Unfortunately the only time I ever got sick was while visiting Angkor Wat, and it definitely was caused by something I ate the morning of.

Although puking before running into the temple and then immediately after leaving was not a great way to experience one of the world's wonders, I am not going to let that one bad experience tarnish my love for Cambodian food.  Definitely made it memorable though. And at Irasshaimase, I am all about making restaurant's memorable.

My memorable day at Angkor Wat

While Vietnamese restaurants are more prolific than basic girls wearing jean jackets in Vancouver, Cambodian restaurants are harder to find. When a friend suggested the spot, I was keen to confront my demons from Angkor. I was told to prepare myself, not only for the wait, but more so for the taste. And neither did disappoint. Fortunately there are good bars nearby to kill the time while you wait impatiently for a table.

I was so focused on the food, I barely noticed what was going on around us

My friend works within the Vancouver restaurant industry and dabbles with food reviews himself. So as you can imagine we looked like a couple of millennials embarrassingly snapping pictures of our food. We may represent everything that is wrong with the young generations, but at least we have confidence and class while doing it.

If you knew how good the butter beef is, you would also want to scroll through old pictures of you two together.

The best chicken wings I've ever had. A crispy, lightly-battered approach to a Western classic.

The wall of a champion


Between the high praise for butter beef and chicken wings, I've just lost all my vegan readers. If they knew what they were missing, they would join me for another visit and have a cheat day. I promise not to tell the vegan thought police who undoubtedly patrol the streets of Vancouver.

Tasty dreams,

JB

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