AsiaLIFE

Simple food cooked well makes Armand’s a rare and tempting prospect, discovers Simon Jacy.

A single shop front on the crowded Street 108 sandwiched between bars and internet cafés, Armand’s can be easy to miss. But a single meal there is enough to put the place firmly on your repeat list, as the elbow-room-only dining room attests.

Offering a true bistro experience, the three tables and bar stools are constantly occupied by chattering patrons from the time the kitchen opens at 5pm until the restaurant closes at midnight. The welcoming trilingual proprietor is quick to make diners feel at home, his attentiveness ensuring a level of service rarely seen elsewhere. But the cosy wood-panelled space is above all informal, a haven of good food away from the pretensions of the more starch-collar, high dining options elsewhere in the capital.

The pepper steak flambéed in brandy (US$17) is as much theatre as food, the yellow Courvoisier-fed flames leaping from the pan with a flourish, much to the delight of gasping customers. But the dish is also a practical belly-filler – heaped piles of tender steak, crushed sautéed potatoes and buttery long beans. The chef’s tendency to cook the steak without asking how rare it should be can be an alarming surprise, at least until you cleave the soft meat and add its flavoursome pink juices to the peppery sauce. The hot tingle of Kampot pepper is unmistakable, and the careful balance of ingredients means it doesn’t overpower the other flavours, most notably the complex taste of the beef, so often lost in the meld of alcohol, spice and cream.

Other bistro fare is very much in evidence, including rillettes de canard (duck pate – US$5.50), mixed charcuterie (US$6), and imported goodies like Tasmanian smoked salmon (US$11). Wines run from the high roller’s Tattinger (US$59 a bottle) down to the serviceable house red (US$3 per glass). The well-stocked bar offers vintage brandy, single malt scotch and other tipples, and Cuban cigars (US$7 and up).

Puddings change daily (US$5) but diners will be lucky if they draw the chocolate mousse – layers of springy sponge, airy chocolate mousse, and a cream centre that leaves a subtle banana aftertaste. The sail-like slab of white chocolate is the perfect accompaniment to a rocket fuel espresso (US$3) to round off a hearty meal.

Armand’s, Street 108