AsiaLIFE

After March’s trip down under, this month Coral Glennie takes on Cambodian food London-style. Words by Coral Glennie

Conveniently placed close to Camden Road Station, Lemongrass is the only Cambodian restaurant listed in London. Clean and functional, but with few traces of Khmer heritage, this 26-seat, canteen-style eatery may lack the cultural impact of London’s Vietnamese canteens, but is a good value-for-money option for those wanting a reminder of Phnom Penh.

We started with soup. The Cambodian prawn soup (£6) was slightly spicy with large prawns in abundance and had a great tamarind taste. The Lemongrass tom yum (£6), although very filling and containing huge mussels, was not so much to our taste. There were also ten other pre-dinner treats on the menu (£3.30 to £8.80) ranging from prawn toasts to crispy aromatic duck (£8.80), none of which sounded particularly Cambodian! Having said this, the lok lok (£7.90 ) was excellent – better than most served up in Phnom Penh. With very tender cubes of steak, you could taste the chargrilled meat. The pad choy ginger (£5.70) was well-flavoured, light and crispy and the Phnom Penh chicken (£6.30) also was full of authentic spices. These excellent dishes brought back the feel of Cambodia even if the snow outside seemed less authentic! Luckily we did not have to take our shoes off.

Owner and chef Thomas recommended his speciality dish of the house – garlic lemon mushrooms. More magical than magic, these definitely should not be missed, although they did not appear to be on the menu. Just mention your time in Cambodia, ask Thomas nicely and I’m sure he’ll oblige. We finished with bananas flambé (£4.90, without the alcohol £3.90), which made for a most satisfactory conclusion. To accompany our meal we ordered a refreshing bottle of the ubiquitous Tiger at £3.40 and a very decent and, for London, reasonably-priced bottle of Chilean Merlot (£13.80).

The décor is minimalist with pastel-coloured walls, grey tiles and large mirrors. A few tokenistic Buddha’s and a picture of an elephant are dotted about the room, but James Last music predominates and the staff, apart from Thomas, are from central Europe. Service was slow but friendly and although busy cooking, Thomas took time out to talk to us during the course of the meal.

Chatting to Thomas afterwards, we commented on the fact that there was no amok or prahok on the menu. He explained that these dishes would not be so popular as there was a very small Cambodian community in London. A good selection of vegetables and vegetarian dishes are available from £4.60 to £5.70. There are also three set menus, one being vegetarian. These cost £12 (for two people), £18 (for three) and £24 (for four), and include a four-course menu including all the above-mentioned dishes and more.

To be recommended but don’t expect a typical Cambodian atmosphere and choose your dishes carefully!

Lemongrass, 243 Royal College Street, London NW1 9LT, Tel: 020 7284 1116. Open Monday to Saturdays from 5.30pm to 11pm.