By Ellen Bhang
|
Globe Correspondent
May 16, 2012
Jonathan Wiggs/Globe staff
Bunsreng Sok at the stove at Thmor Da.
Weary palates crave surprises. So when vibrantly flavored dishes of a
long-overlooked cuisine arrive on the table, even the most jaded eaters
take notice.
Cambodian fare has long stood in the shadow of its popular Thai and Vietnamese neighbors. It is cuisine you may have never met.
A cozy restaurant just blocks from Revere Beach is happily making
introductions. Thmor Da occupies the storefront once filled by the
Cambodian eatery Floating Rock. The sign above the door has lost much of
its paint, a casualty of New England weather. Potted plants and
Buddhist statues crowd the window. Inside, the cheerful dining area is
full of Cambodian families from the neighborhood. Bunsreng Sok, who
opened the restaurant in January 2011 with his wife, Seak Ly Kong, and
mother-in-law, Tann Hour Kong, explains that Thmor Da means “a rock that
can grow into a mountain.” It is also the name of a famous restaurant
in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital and the location of an uncle’s
restaurant where Sok apprenticed.
THMOR DA
On
the night we visit, a smiling young server greets us as she ferries
plates to tables. We begin with tiger tear with spicy sauce ($9.99),
which is grilled beef atop sliced green and red bell peppers, red onion,
fresh mint, and whole basil leaves. The salad is the epitome of
freshness, with a tangy marinade of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and a
touch of chili. Fine grains of toasted lemongrass lend aroma and
texture. Thai-inspired green papaya salad ($7.50) is similarly dressed.
Long shreds of the crunchy fruit arrive in a saucy tangle with chunks of
not-quite-ripe tomato and crushed peanuts.
Special rice noodle soup ($6.50) calls to mind Vietnamese pho, but
this pork and chicken stock is flavored with fried shallots. The soup
noodles — topped with mini meatballs, sliced fish cake, and green onions
— are popular with the early morning crowd that arrives when the
restaurant opens.
Jonathan Wiggs/Globe staff
Tiger tear with spicy sauce.
If you’re tired of what often passes for pad Thai in this town, the
Cambodian version ($7.50) will tempt you back. Thin rice noodles are
quickly fried with sweet soy sauce and ground dried shrimp, garnished
with sliced hard-cooked egg and cucumber.
Appetizer-size fried quail ($7.99) arrives as five dainty halves of
poultry, each drumstick painstakingly frenched. The lean meat benefits
from a simple dipping sauce of lemon juice and a heaping teaspoon of
black pepper. My dining companion thinks it is the most unusual
condiment on the table. Lemon juice also features prominently in
Cambodian farmer’s fish sour soup ($9.99), in which tender chunks of
tilapia and generous handfuls of Chinese watercress float in pork stock
enriched with prahok (Cambodia’s fermented fish paste).
Prahok is also a key ingredient in curried pickled fish with coconut
milk ($9.99), a silky dish made with ground pork and slivered bell
peppers. We scoop the warm curry with cool crudites of raw cabbage and
miniature green eggplant before spooning it over rice.
While the rice (like the tea) could be hotter, we’re grateful for
those starchy grains as we tuck into spicy chili chicken ($9.99), finely
minced meat studded with red Thai bird chilies. My companion takes one
bite and her eyes water. For a few minutes she cannot speak through the
searing heat. But she keeps serving herself more, gesturing that it’s so
good.
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