AsiaLIFE

Even though it’s still rainy season, it’s always sunny at Le Pistou, a restaurant with cuisine and décor inspired by southern France. Lindsay Muscato speaks with Marseille-born chef Christelle Helf. Photos by James Grant.

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Christelle Helf, chef and owner of Le Pistou, has never eaten dinner at any other restaurant in Phnom Penh. She just doesn’t have time. Since opening her business eight months ago, she's spent every evening cooking. "This is home for me," she says.

Guests will come to feel like it's home for them too. A cosy spot adjacent to the National Museum, Le Pistou radiates a welcoming feeling, with butteryellow walls, light-filled windows and a cheery sunflower theme. Our interview feels like a chat in an old friend's kitchen—except my friends don't casually offer a cup of coffee and then serve exquisite espresso with to-die-for chocolate mousse.

Le Pistou may exude relaxation, but Helf's standards for the cuisine are anything but. Fresh fish arrives twice daily from Sihanoukville, basil comes from her personal mini-garden and all produce is organic. It's a French thing. "We don't buy fast food," she says. "Even poor people, they eat cheese, they eat fruit and bread. We enjoy. If lunch time is 1pm, when we get up from the table, it's five."

Though her ideal meals may unfold slowly, there's another side to Helf. "I'm impulsive," she says with a smile. Her decision to move to Phnom Penh crystallized quickly, after she fell in love with the city during a whirlwind visit last fall. Based in China at the time, she packed and shipped all of her belongings in two weeks. Then she set up everything, from the stove to the silverware, in just 45 days.

Helf’s culinary passion surfaced early. Influenced from an early age by her parents and grandparents in the food business, Helf and her brother often made miniature versions of whatever their mother was preparing. While working as a waitress in her late teens, her supervisors found her impossible to keep track of—until they realised she was always in the kitchen, checking up on the cooks. "And so I became a chef like that," she says.

At Le Pistou, the menu reflects her French and Spanish familial roots. "I got the onion pie and the courgette fritter from my grandmother on my mum's side," she says. While steeped in Mediterranean flavours, the ingredients are decidedly local and fresh—which is both practical and delicious. "I have no space [in the kitchen], so I like when I work with fresh food. You can shop every day here," she says.

All dishes range from US$5 to US$15, with most around $US8. The selection changes often, based on Helf’s inspiration at the time. "I want to focus on what we don't find [in Phnom Penh]," she says. The simple wine list also offers a handful of good inexpensive options.

This fall she may launch a lunch buffet, but for now the restaurant is open for dinner only. And although she's missed evenings at other Phnom Penh restaurants for the past six months, Helf is happy to be cooking. "I am really missing Marseille," she says. "So, in here it feels like the south of France."

Le Pistou, 186 Street 13, corner of 178 near the National Museum, Tel: 078 788 384, Open daily from 5pm.

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