AsiaLIFE

Healthy, wholesome and remarkably flexible, you can’t go wrong with a good old-fashioned bowl of sour, can you? Nora Lindstrom explores the options in the kitchen for those who like to get their nutrients through a straw.

Java Café & Gallery
56 Sihanouk Boulevard
For diversity, decorative presentation and interesting flavours, look no further than the soups at Java Café. The daal soup with garlic-fried flatbread is hearty and full of spice, though perhaps an acquired taste. Back by popular demand, the carrot and pumpkin soup with chilli-cheese breadsticks is smooth and creamy – absolutely yummy. Very reasonably priced at US$2.75 for a small and US$3.75 for a large, the soups can also be ordered as part of soup & salad combo deal.

Café Yejj
170 Street 450
Fantastic on a chilly day during the rainy season, Café Yejj’s carrot and coriander soup is a big bowl full of goodness. Served with walnut bread, it is available in two sizes (US$2.45/US$3.45), of which the larger is big enough to fill even a grown man’s tummy. The soup is thick like purée, but not creamy, with bits of fresh coriander clearly visible. A garnish of fresh coriander would perfect this healthy eater’s option.

Metro
Cnr. Sisowath Quay & Street 148
A favourite among expats, the crab sweet corn soup (US$4.50) does not disappoint. Packed with crabmeat and pieces of sweet corn, the clear soup is full of flavour if a touch on the salty side. The fresh coriander complements the soup nicely. The green curry chicken (US$5.50) is not exactly a soup as it is served with rice, but comes recommended nonetheless. The big chunks of meat are tender, and the curry is smooth and not too spicy.

Café Living Room
9 Street 306
If you’ve only got one soup on the menu it had better be good. And at the Living Room it is. Their creamy pumpkin soup (US$4) comes beautifully presented in a big bowl with bell pepper shavings, croutons and cream sprinkled on top. On the side, two pieces of fresh bread are served. The soup itself is very smooth and has a mild, delectable flavour.

The Shop
39 Street 240
The Shop, one of the most consistently popular lunching spots in the Penh, offers four different soups. These include an interesting combination of pumpkin and spinach (US$3), as well a coconut, carrot and cumin soup (US$3). The thick mushroom puree soup (US$4) comes served with breadsticks and cheese. The cheese adds flavour to the otherwise slightly bland soup, but some real bread would be better than the dry breadstick for soaking up the last remains in the bowl.

K’NYAY
25K Suramarit Boulevard
Priding itself with serving clean, healthy and locally sourced foods, K’NYAY offers three kinds of soups – carrot and coriander, roast red pepper and tom yum soup. The latter (US$5/6) is served with wild rice, while the former two (US$3) come with a fresh baguette. The roast red pepper soup, made from sweet potato, onion, peppers and soy milk, is smooth and tasty, if slightly on the sweet side. All soups are vegan friendly, though the tom yum can also be had with prawns or fish.

Singapore Kitchen
110 Street 360
Singapore Kitchen is where to head for soups with distinctly Asian flavours. The Khmer and Vietnamese sour soups (around US$3.50) are tasty and well-balanced, while the tom yum (US$4.80) is fragrant and not too hot. The menu also features typically Singaporean Bee Hoon noodle soups. However, the real draw is the seafood laksa (US$3). Noodles, tofu, seafood, egg and bean sprouts all compete for space in the bowl. The soup base, a combination of coconut milk and curry, is positively delicious – a touch sweet, but with a nice tangy edge to it. The whole is simply fabulous.

Comme à la Maison
13 Street 57
If the fish soup (US$5) at Comme à la Maison does not taste exactly like it was home-made at a country house in Bretagne, it’s certainly not far off. Complemented with mozzarella, rouille sauce and croutons served on the side, the soup is essentially a bouillabaisse and a perfect starter before a fish or seafood main. Other soups include onion soup (US$4.50) and minestrone (US$4), as well as cold tomato gazpacho (US$4).

Elsewhere
2 Street 278
Chilling by the pool and eating hot soup seems an odd combination, and it’s therefore lucky that the menu at Elsewhere features cold soups too. Traditional gazpacho is yours for US$4, while cold watercress soup with mushroom ravioli on the side sets you back US$5. The latter is fresh and surprisingly full of taste, though too much ‘decorative’ cream made the soup taste like a bowl of plain cream towards the end of the meal. The ravioli is a nice touch, though quite how it is meant to be eaten with the soup remains unclear.

Green Vespa
95 Sisowath Quay
The menu at Green Vespa features a thick and creamy broccoli and cheese soup (US$4.50). Served in a pot with a lid and baguette on the side, it’s the kind of hearty stuff you’d expect at an Irish/British Pub. Look at the specials menu for others soups, such as borsch and celery and cauliflower. These come similarly served, and though the grey colour of the latter did not look particularly appetizing, the soup itself was flavoursome if a tad salty.