The gatiev is good to the last drop at The Soup Spoon in Victor. Diners build their own soup profile by adding a variety of condiments, herbs, vegetables and spices as they wish. / KAREN MILTNER/Staff photographer
Written by
Karen Miltner
10 October 2012
Democrat and Chronicle Staff writer
The Soup Spoon
Address: 10 E. Main St., Suite 106 (Lower level of The Place In Victor Village, Victor.)Phone: (585) 869-5080.
Web: thesoupspoonroom.com.
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday.
Accessibilty: Wheelchair-accessible.
Good to know: Sandwiches $7 and less; Cambodian soups $8.50 and less; other appetizers are in $3.50 range.
Ethnic
restaurants sometimes let diners who are new to the cuisine figure it
out with little or no guidance. The DIY tour through the world of
Southeast Asia has its appeal, but if you want a little more
hand-holding, then consider The Soup Spoon, a casual Cambodian eatery
and coffeehouse that opened about six months ago in downtown Victor.
The
Soup Spoon takes a genuinely customer-friendly approach. With counter
and table signage and a patient, thorough owner who checks in every step
of the way, it is the easiest, least intimidating introduction to
gatiev (beef noodle soup that you may already know as pho through
Vietnamese restaurants), num pang (submarine style sandwiches with
roasted meats, pickled carrots, chili sauce and cilantro similar to
Vietnamese banh mi) and mee kola (a rice noodle salad with egg, pickled
veggies and peanuts) that you might get in these parts.
Owner
Chhaya En is thrilled to walk beginners through the interactive
Cambodian eating style, where adding your own condiments, herbs,
vegetables and spices is an integral part of the experience. He is just
as enthusiastic if you don’t need his tutelage, and might ask where you
first had Southeast Asian food. And he really doesn’t mind if you call
The Soup Spoon’s brothy mainstay pho (the word rhymes with duh but some
people pronounce it as foe) or gatiev (which has a silent v). He just
wants you to enjoy it.
It’s hardly a hardship. The broth, simmered for hours with bones from
a local beef farm, shimmers a light gold hue, but tastes browned, round
and sweet. An underwater mound of white rice noodles supports the
protein trio I selected (it’s on the menu as the combo pho for $8.50),
modest portions of shrimp, brisket and a few tender, homogenized
meatballs (though I would call them meat stumps). The large white bowl
arrives with pinches of mung bean sprouts, cilantro, lemon wedge and
scallions. The table is set with chili sauce, fried and dried garlic,
black pepper and sugar (even savory deserves a little sweet). Your
soup’s fine tuning is up to you. Don’t be shy.
The
restaurant also has French onion soup and good old American chili (both
$4.50) — not because customers are clamoring for them, but because
they are En’s other favorite recipes to eat from a spoon. A garden salad
and cupcakes are the only other concessions to Western cooking. The
rest of the menu is spring rolls (supple rice wrappers filled with salad
vegetables and sometimes shrimp), baked egg rolls with pork, skewered
marinated steak appetizers and those sandwiches mentioned above.
The
Soup Spoon has the vibe of a contemporary coffeehouse (leather chairs,
high-top tables, fireplace) with the clean, serene halo of a meditation
room, thanks to Cambodian photos, artwork and map). Like nirvana, it’s
in an unlikely location that is hard to find (the lower level of an
office complex), but not impossible.
No comments:
Post a Comment