Merivale’s busy year of relaunches and pop-ups continues with its collaboration with the team responsible for east Sydney eatery ACME; Kingdom of Rice will serve up Cambodian street food out of the former drive-thru at the Tennyson Hotel for a six-month spell.
Exploring the intricate flavours of Khmer cuisine, the menu will feature share dishes cooked over charcoal or tossed in a wok in a setting inspired by the Southeast Asian nation’s capital of Phnom Penh, all mismatched furniture and communal tables. We put five quick questions to head chef Lillia McCabe to get a cheat sheet on Cambodian street food.
Can you explain the differences between Khmer food and other SouthEast Asian cuisines?
Khmer cuisine is really fresh, approachable and vibrant, and similar to the cuisine in neighbouring Thailand, Vietnam and China. It uses traditional base flavours called Kroeung, freshly pounded spices and finely chopped ingredients that are turned into pastes using a mortar and pestle, and prahok, a crushed, salted and fermented fish paste.
Why do you think Cambodian food has been largely overlooked?
Unfortunately I think Cambodian food lost its identity in Cambodia itself because of the tragic and volatile history and conflict that the country endured for so long. Cambodia has only recently become a big tourist destination for people again, and there is a big focus and interest in exploring its authentic cuisine and street food.
What is your favourite dish on the menu?
It’s hard to pick a favourite but the bort long corn with dried shrimps and garlic chives is pretty damn good. We take the corn off the cob and wok fry it with garlic and shrimp paste and some whole dried shrimp. We then season it with salt, soy, sugar and toss it through with some garlic chives.
How did you all decide on the menu and feel for the pop-up?
Sophia Thach, Mitch Orr, Cam Fairbairn and I are great friends, and we have always been fascinated by Southeast Asia and wanted to further explore Cambodian cooking. Sophia has cooked so many incredible dishes over the years that really introduced us to Khmer cuisine, and we fell in love with a lot of dishes through our travels there. We were inspired by the flavours.
Tell us about your travels in Cambodia…
Sophia and I were last there about a month ago. I’ll never forget the hustle and bustle and smells of the Phnom Penh markets, eating lots of streetside food, getting massages every day, and spiking our sugarcane juices with gin.
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