Siem Reap : Is Cuisine Wat Damnak one of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants?

This year, St. Pellegrino recognised Cuisine Wat Damnak’s credentials by awarding it Asia’s 50th best restaurant.  Coming to Siem Reap, I knew I simply had to go. Cuisine Wat Damnak is located just minutes from my hotel the Royal Crown Hotel in Siem Reap which means I could walk to this little super star.   The 8 minute trek was short but not without its own excitement with the grounds unpaved and unchained stray dogs barking ferociously at us.  Lightning and thunder in the background did not help either.  But I guess its these little experiences that you bring home from holidays that spark good conversations.

Cuisine Wat Damnak is helmed by Joannes Riviere and re-creates the usual Khmer cuisine using locally sourced produce.  Every evening there are two menus; one of which incorporates a mixture of seafood and poultry or an all seafood affair.  It costs $24 for 4 courses and $28 for 5 courses. JH and I each decided to each try one of their 6 course tasting menu.  

Amuse Bouche - Wat Damnak’s squid ceviche.

Tender squid, mildly acidic and slightly sweet. It was a pretty good start but I tend to like my ceviche a little colder compared to the conventional serving temperature (i.e room temperature) as the chill helps keep the dish refreshing.

Menu 1, Course 1 - Caramelised palm sugar braised beef, pickled green papaya and rice noodles 

The flavours here are reminiscence of a Thai salad.  The core flavours are very similar to the Amuse Bouche but a much sweetened beef rillette made it yums!

Menu 2, Course 1 - Tamarind and chilli marinated fruit salad, boneless frog leg and herbs

A lovely stir-fry with tender frog flesh.  Decent flavours but I could  not really tell the jackfruit in the salad haha.  I think it was a younger type.

Menu 1, Course 2 - Prawn Ansam cake frilled in banana leaf, peanut sauce and cucumber salad

A unique dish that I truly enjoyed.  Plump juicy prawns wrapped in glutinous rice and grilled over fire on a banana leaf.  A mild fragrance swept across the plate as it arrived.  I was sold.  Sadly, the same cannot be said about the cucumber salad that was mildly bitter.  I would have preferred perhaps another form of salad or none at all on the side.

Menu 2, Course 2 - Steamed Maam with minced pork and egg, herbs, flower and local crudités

I liked this dish of JH’s but the presentation felt botchy and disconnected.  Served with a side of rice, I could not mix the dish up seamlessly as it should be.  Taste wise, it was creamy and all-round quite good.  But it was not a stellar dish.

Menu 1, Course 3 - Smoked fish and pork ribs soup, mushrooms, loofah and young taro roots

Smoked fish were super crispy and pork ribs were cooked till fall-off-the-bone tender.  Its soup base was potently salty which explains the presence of the rice to even the whole dish out.  Great textures of crisp fish and tender pork ribs paired well with the slightly springy mushrooms and tender taro roots.

Menu 2, Course 3 - Tonle Sap croaker fish sour soup with water lily stem an d cabbed leaves and pounded feroniella

The croaker fish soup is an instance where a simple fish is made outstanding.  The broth was slightly underwhelming as the flavours were not quite as pronounced as the curry I had later that evening.  It was OK over all.  Loved the way the fish carried a mild body of smokiness with it.

Menu 1, Course 4 - Sunday fish spicy curry with hot basil, pumpkin and dumpling.

The perfection of the slowly grilled crispy skin fish wins me over anything else.  My expectation of river fish is fishy but Cuisine Wat Damnak proved me wrong.  The fish was cooked so well it had mildly crisp skin with that whiff of smokiness just serenading my nostrils.  Spicy curry fish sauce was creamy and pleasant but not at all spicy.  Eat mouth were layers of flavours that were simply delicious.

Menu 2, Course 4 - Black sticky rice porridge with Mekong langoustine, glazed turnip, jasmine flower and sausage

The langoustine looked gracious sitting on a bed of slow cooked black rice porridge graced by sprinkling of little edible flowers and diced sausages.  The stock on which the langoustine’s sat on felt very French.  I do not have the correct words for it unfortunately!   It was an OK dish that lack a little flavour.  The porridge felt like a pairing too starchy for the final savoury course.  Even more so when rice was served at Courses 2 and 3.  A little too much rice!

Menu 1, Course 5 - Phnom Kulen vanilla panna cotta, cashew crumble, fresh mango and mango sorbet

This has got to be one of the best Panna Cotta I have ever had. It is simple but often made with imperfections.  Cuisine Wat Damnak did well with a silky smooth custard.  It brought it further by pairing the Panna Cotta with a cashew crumble which gave the dessert some nuttiness.  To finish, the fruity note of mango throughout the dessert resulted in a decadent dessert that leaves the palate refreshed.  I doubt anyone would have felt otherwise!

Menu 2, Course 5 - Steamed dark chocolate cake, rice praline and Pandan whipped cream.

The French and their love of rich chocolate desserts has been very well-documented in cook books and shows. But I never knew that steamed cake could be so decadently chocolatey and moist at the same time .  The cake here was soft and spongey with the little pieces of popped rice completing the dish with a crunch.  I unfortunately did not take a liking towards the fragrant Pandan whipped cream.  I wanted Pandan Ice Cream :)!  It would have been much better.  Just a personal preference though.

Cuisine Wat Damnak has literally came from nowhere and made a name for itself on the food Atlas.  From an even bigger picture perspective, it probably helped Siem Reap standout on the world map too.  For a country that lives on a mere $1-2 a day, this $30 meal is by no means a cheap affair.  But was it good?  It definitely was.  The flavours throughout the meal was very crisp.  The finish was clean and there were not lingering/overpowering flavours from the usual suspects of fine dining such as foie gras, sea urchin, and other fatty meats.  Progression was apparent as I went from start to end which is a nice thing to have. But to complement absolute perfection is a claim too farfetched. Execution at Cuisine Wat Damnak was a bit of a hit and a miss depending on which set menu you got.  Whilst I was absolutely satisfied with the poultry and seafood set (Menu 1), the same cannot be said for JH who found the all-seafood menu (Menu 2) a little mundane.  In saying that, it was not all doom and gloom but could definitely have been better.  Do I think Cuisine Wat Damnak deserves a ranking in Asia?  Definitely so!  Room for improvements?  Plenty.  That is what rank 1-49 is for!

WenY

Bites: Balinese Breakfast @ Gooseberries Cafe, Kensington

After about 4 brunches in a week, I thought it was time to up the game and to have something different.  Instagram is an awesome platform for discoveries though pictures are typically deceiving and from there, I found the Gooseberries Cafe in Kensington which is a short 5 minute drive from my place.  Viola~! 

The cafe is situated near the school making weekday parking a breeze.  The converted home has several dining areas but I took a sit in the dining area which felt very nice and airy.  To start, a citrusy lemon curd tart.  

Pint in size but packs a zesty punch.  The curd was a little stiff but nothing unexpected considering it came right out of the fridge.  In saying that, the flavours were spot on.

My choice of brunch today was the Balinese breakfast. Tender grilled chicken skewer, and a fried egg on a bowl of fried rice.  On the side were condiments to pair consisting of some kecap manis, pickled chilli and the obligatory sambal.  

But did it really meet the mark?  In terms of putting the staple rice in a bowl with chicken and rice I think it did pretty well.  A little too much carrot for my liking but the rice was fried well.  

The same cannot be said about the condiments.  On the outside they are the different but with they did not meet my requirements.  The kicap manis out of the bottle was fine by all means but the pickled chilli lacked acidity.  But most disappointing was the sambal.  It lacked the ripeness from the long sautéing which usually results in a robust chilli puree with the hints of tamarind, and prawn paste. It was a little sweet too which means all three condiments was on the sweet side. 

In a nut shell, I did not walk out of Gooseberry Cafe as pumped as when I walked in.  Nonetheless, it served a solid breakfast and I was satisfied.  A few tweaks here and there will probably allow the dish to reach higher marks but it is definitely a very good try.  

WenY

Bites: Quality Japanese @ Kiri, Shenton Park

Kiri has been on my wish list for awhile now.  From the pictures of luscious tempura aubergine topped with miso to their Teriyaki splendours, I was sold very early on but was held back by a time constraint.  Eventually I would pay a visit and that finally happened last week.   In the day, Kiri serves a delicious take away from the cafe side and at night it serves customers fine Japanese cuisine from both the restaurant and cafe side.  

To start, we ordered the Creamy Prawn Croquettes.

These golden brown lovelies were beyond the normal croquettes. For me, the creamy prawns encapsulated in a thin and crisp potato case were a highlight from usual croquettes filled with nothing but carbs!  Little lashings of chilli mayonnaise completed the course.

The mountain of Kara-age.

A honest and humble favourite is preserved in its classic form. Deep fried to perfection, it came out burning hot before being served on a smear of tonkatsu sauce with a wedge of lemon and ponzu.

Crispy squid salad.

A surprise favourite and a definite crowd pleaser.  The tempura battered squid were light and crisp. But it was the amazing pairing with a refreshing salad dressed in sesame sauce that made this dish a hit. 

Dengaku Miso or Aubergine topped with miso.

One advice.  Do not bite straight into these little morsels the moment it hits the table!  Its 100 degree centre is likely to burn your palate and that dollop of Miso with a salty hit is not going to help either.  The famous Kiri dish is a little over-hyped IMHO.  Bland by itself but overly salty with the Miso, I did not really like it.  I think there ought to be better balance and refinement in the miso.  Also, I’m thinking of grilled aubergines instead of fried.  Might just be me though :P!

To share among the table we called a serve of Teriyaki Salmon and Teriyaki Chicken with two rice to share.

Teriyaki Salmon

Teriyaki Chicken

The Teriyaki dishes at Kiri are one of the best in town.  The sweetness is balanced well with the saltiness of the soy and you can tell that the chefs in the kitchen did not come out of YouTube academy like some other places in town.  The chicken was tossed in the sauce well and its crisp edges tell the story of a good frying, but perhaps a tad more reduction in the sauce would allow for a better coat.  All in all, a faultless Teriyaki.  But then comes the price tag.  At $25 for Chicken Teriyaki, the serving size was OK but it did not come with rice which was another $3.50.  The Salmon on the other hand was another well-cooked dish but my pocket felt a little reluctant for $32 without rice again. 

Seated in the cafe side (by will) due to the low availability of seat in the main dining room also means being shrouded in cooking fumes at no less a dining cost.  One tip, having the door open is a quick fix!  The food here was really quite nice but the bill, not so much.  Its delicious Teriyaki is comparable to my favourite one in Kanta but at a much higher price tag.  A Chicken Teriyaki is $14 w/ rice in Kanta whilst in Kiri it was $30.  But considering the demographics of high income earners in the leafy suburb of Shenton Park, it is no surprise that the food in Kiri is priced that way.  However, for the same price one will definitely be tempted to go for the Omakase in Bonsai or Halu/Satsuki and maybe even for a 3 course at Nine Fine Food.  In saying that if prices are not of the essence, you will find yourself pleased with the basic yet necessary offerings that Kiri serves up with decent quality and great authenticity!

WenY