Food Fridays: Malis, Phnom Penh

By Kaylene Hong 

The Wall Street Journal

August 24, 2012,

Kaylene Hong/The Wall Street Journal

A life-size Buddha is the stunning centerpiece of the Malis, greeting diners as they enter.

A life-size Buddha statue, looking serene and majestic, greets diners who step into the Cambodian restaurant Malis in Phnom Penh.

It’s an appropriate ode to a country that has been predominantly Buddhist since the 13th century – as is the food, which chef Luu Meng takes pride in keeping assuredly Khmer.

Mr. Meng, a local culinary star who grew up in a refugee camp and has cooked with superchef Gordon Ramsay, opened Malis in Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Phenh with a local partner in 2005. It became one of the first upscale restaurants in the country to showcase traditional Cambodian recipes.

Mr. Meng is also a partner in Topaz, a high-end French restaurant, as well as Chinese-Khmer restaurant Yi-Sang. He also owns the upscale boutique Almond Hotel in Phnom Penh.

While the flavors at Malis are robust, the cooking style is refined, so the restaurant is an ideal place to dip into dishes such as prahok ktis, or the “blue cheese” of Cambodia, a fermented fish paste that has a strong and distinct smell.

Many call it an acquired taste, but at Malis, that acquisition comes easy. The prahok ktis (US$7.50) during this reporter’s visit was masterfully prepared, with the paste made from fermented fresh river fish combined with minced pork and cooked in coconut milk, then blended with kroeung, a type of seasoning made with a variety of herbs including turmeric and lemongrass.

The result was richly savory and had a smoky tinge; we thought it rather salty too, until we ate the prahok with the mango slices served alongside it. The tart-yet-sweet fruit rounded out the saltiness – making it easily the best dish of our visit.

Kaylene Hong/The Wall Street Journal

A dish of baked goby served with a mango dip.

The other standout we tried was a baked goby served with a mango dip (US$11.80). People who prefer fish without bones only have to ask; the restaurant will use fillets instead. We chose the fillets and found them to be very fresh, with the sweetness of the fish accentuated by a savory butteriness and underlined with the fragrance of herbs.

But as with any restaurant where the chef has diversified interests and isn’t present all the time to supervise the food, there were a few let-downs. The fried clams with basil (US$5.50) featured tiny shellfish with the flesh sticking to the shell—a difficult dish to eat. The sauce coating the small clams was also overly sweet. Another dish of stuffed roast pork with Kampot pepper (US$8.00)—which uses pepper from the Cambodian riverside town of Kampot, largely regarded as one of the finest peppers in the world—was rather dry.

Dessert was a hit, though. Malis means jasmine, and the restaurant’s signature mousse (US$3.00) was aptly infused with hints of jasmine, plus ginger and Khmer honey. It was like eating a jasmine bud that had been magically transported into a wobbly piece of curd—all delicate, fragrant and elegant at the same time.

Malis is located at 136, Norodom Boulevard, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Open daily from 6:30 a.m.to 10 p.m., with dinner service starting at 6 p.m. For reservations, call +855 23 221 022 or visit their website http://www.malis-restaurant.com/.