Sept. 14, 2011
The Arizona Republic
Back in 2000, just a few years removed from its meat-and-potatoes days, the Valley probably wasn't ready for Cambodian food. That's when Angkor Asian Restaurant gave this town's few ethnic-restaurant thrill-seekers a very short-lived taste of home-country cooking.
Sekong by Night
When: Lunch and dinner, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays.
Where: 1312 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix.
Details: 480-238-0238, sekongbynight.com.
Cuisine: Cambodian, Asian.
Rating: 3 half stars
Price: Less than $20
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But these days, our town's global-savvy diners are much more open to unfamiliar fare.
Sekong by Night draws inspiration from its heavyweight culinary neighbors, China, Thailand and Vietnam.
But despite the similarities among the region's dishes, Cambodia's soups, salads, noodles, crepes and grilled meats still come off as distinctive. That may be due to the skill of Lakhana In, an immigrant who worked at Intel for 15 years before she abandoned microchips for pots and pans.
Intel's loss, our gain.
By far the strongest parts of her repertoire are the soups, salads and rice-paper spring rolls.
In dishes out five traditional katheaw noodle soups, a cousin of Vietnamese pho. In Cambodia, though, the broth is fashioned from pork and chicken, not beef, and it's not nearly as heavily scented. Try it with seafood ($7) or make like a native and get the Phnom Penh model ($6), stocked with ground pork, shrimp, liver, heart and pork intestine.
The katheaw soups also come with two jaquai: big, bready, deep-fried breadsticks. I like to think I possess a certain amount of dinner-table will power, but I gave up all thoughts of moderation after one bite.
Don't overlook the curry soup ($10), brimming with chicken, potato, carrots, baby corn, winter melon and eggplant, set in a red-curry broth that's fragrant but not at all spicy.
Still, the clear winner is the chicken-pineapple soup ($10), whose zingy sweet and sour flavors get an offbeat boost from crunchy lotus root.
The three salads also make a vivid impression.
The green-papaya salad tossed with tomato and salted crab ($7) is a knockout: salty, sweet and tangy, with a mildly spicy finish. It hits every button, including the nutritious, good-for-you one.
You'll also stand up and cheer for the warm beef salad ($9), coated with a vinegary lemon fish sauce and teamed with greens, carrot, cabbage and shrimp; and the combo chicken-shrimp salad with cabbage, carrots and cucumber ($8).
The salads are ample to share among three or four, but be aware that some members of your trio or quartet may resent making do with a diminished portion.
Then there are those spring rolls (two for $2), rice-paper wraps tightly packed with shrimp, chicken, noodles and greenery. They're terrific, fresh, light and brightly flavored.
It's easy to make a deliciously filling meal without bothering with the main dishes. And that may not be a bad idea. For the most part, while perfectly adequate, they aren't quite as invigorating - with two exceptions.
One is the bai saikroko ($8), four squat, juice-spurting homemade beef sausages exotically seasoned with galangal, lemon grass and bits of roasted rice. The other is baiynchaiv ($8), a crispy rice-flour crepe, similar to Vietnam's banh xeo, filled with pork, shrimp, sprouts and coconut.
Otherwise, though, the lok lak beef ($7) is too chewy to shine, and the shrimp ling ($8) is dulled by an unremarkable "golden brown sauce."
Stir-fried-noodle dishes also seem ordinary, like the loat cha ($7), tossed with bean sprouts, egg and more of that chewy beef; and katheaw cha ($9), a mix similar to chow fun whose ingredient list of noodles, beef, Chinese broccoli and shrimp reads better than it tastes.
Prolong your evening with a couple of unusual desserts ($3). Tempura-fried sweet potatoes and corn on the cob rubbed with oil, grilled and brushed with a sweet and salty syrup will reward adventurous spirits.
Along with tasty, budget-priced fare, Sekong by Night has other things going for it. The restaurant is way nicer inside than you might imagine on this somewhat forlorn stretch of Indian School Road.
The colorful room is decorated with Cambodian crafts and musical instruments. The tables are covered with black linen and sport Cambodian art books, guides and English-Khmer dictionaries.
You may even find yourself unconsciously humming along to the piped-in Khmer-language music. That's because you'll be hearing Cambodian covers of everything from "Hang on Sloopy" to the Bee Gees' greatest hits.
Another plus: Lakhana In's American-born son Yutheana, a gracious young man who is a one-man gang taking care of the front of the house.
Sekong by Night has no liquor license, so you're limited to soda pop and bizarre native beverages like basil-seed drink ($2) and grass jelly drink ($2). The restaurant also lacks state-of-the art air-conditioning, so it may be a little steamy when it's hot and humid outside.
It makes it even easier to pretend you're in Cambodia.
Reach Seftel at howard.seftel@arizonarepublic.com, or 602-444-8533.
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