For years, the Cambodian restaurant Mittapheap, just blocks away from Lynn’s General Electric plant on Western Avenue, served as an oasis to Cambodian natives and adventurous Americans who wanted home-cooked Cambodian fare without driving to Boston.
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Enter Sokhoeun Chea, who lives a few blocks from the restaurant and was a regular at Mittapheap in between his management jobs at a department store and a night club. Chea, who is 48, survived the Killing Fields in Cambodia, and lived in refugee camps in Thailand and the Philippines before arriving in Revere. There, he persuaded school officials to allow him to go to high school - and despite being 20 and sitting in a classroom for the first time in his life, he learned how to read, write, and speak English.
“This is my second life in America. This is my heaven,’’ explained Chea on a chilly evening last week in Lynn. Chea purchased the restaurant property on Dec. 1, and since then he has tinkered with Mittapheap’s extensive, formerly 50-page menu - slimming down some of the repetitive offerings, such as meat-based soups - while sitting with customers and conducting his own research. He says his management experience has taught him that the customer comes first and is always right.
Chea, who changed the restaurant’s name to Apsara Angkor, sits down with diners after their meal and asks them to rank the food and overall experience on a scale of 1 to 10. He then relays the information back to his chef, and says they make adjustments as needed to further satisfy diners.
Chea’s philosophy of light fare - including simple ingredients such as curry, lemongrass, ginger, scallions, and cilantro in most dishes - has been working. Chea does not know why Wednesday nights have been the busiest, with patrons lining up outside waiting to be seated.
At first glance, not much has changed. The rectangular-shaped dining room still has tables that hug the walls, and round tables for larger groups dot the middle of the room. Cambodian pop plays from the TV in the storefront window; pastel-colored lights illuminate oil paintings of rural Cambodian villages.
Since the prices are only about half of what you’d pay in Boston, there are few frills here. There are no fancy tablecloths or fine china. But customers are greeted with hot tea and a smile, and the food comes out almost immediately.
First impressions proved that Chea has taken the former Mittapheap to a whole new level.
The vegetarian spring rolls (three for $3.35) were a nice alternative to the fried offerings available at most Asian restaurants. Wrapped in a transparent rice covering filled with white rice and mint, and dipped in peanut sauce, the offering was light, fresh, and a nice alternative to a salad. The spicy cabbage ($2) was a simple portion of sliced carrots, cabbage, and white radishes covered with hot chili sauce. It was delicious and seemed to be the perfect amount of food for an appetizer.
Mittapheap’s signature dish was a complete fish, deep-fried for about 10 to 12 minutes. The recipe is unchanged, and the dish is as good as ever. Depending on the night, the restaurant offers tilapia or flounder, with the option of chili sauce or sweet-and-sour. We chose the spicy tilapia ($17) and were overjoyed. The large, crispy fish was bigger than the plate it was placed on. Served on a bed of romaine and accompanied by thin slices of tomatoes and cucumbers, we carefully navigated past the bones to the warm, fluffy white fillet. It was fresh, perfectly fried, and properly spicy.
I will return often to Apsara Angkor, but it might take a while before I stop referring to it as Mittapheap. That makes sense, since Mittapheap is the Cambodian word for friendship.
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