AsiaLIFE

Simon Jacy discovers the name of this new café is a not-so-subtle hint that diners are not likely to come away unsatisfied.

Australian cuisine (an oxymoron according to some critics), has now hit the Penh in the form of XL Aussie Café. The relaxed interior – cool AC, comfortable padded leather chairs and clean tablecloths – is pleasingly reminiscent of an upscale canteen or a well-appointed railway carriage.

Initial signs are promising – the polite waitress presents a laminated card with photos to ensure that a rare steak is indeed rare, and presumably to warn the squeamish what their choice actually entails. All seems to be in order when the food arrives; a crisp, fresh salad, piping hot chips adeptly fried in clean veg oil and a large golden-brown beef Wellington. But the first cut betrays an all-too-common problem. Far from the dark reddish purple pointed at by the waitress, the meat is distinctly grey at the edges, fading to a very light pink in the middle. Certainly nobody’s idea of a rare cut and not improved by gravy that smells suspiciously like store-bought granules.

The pastry, the curse of most substandard Wellingtons and fiendishly difficult to get right in a tropical climate, is surprisingly good – flaky with just the right amount of resistance. Unfortunately, in a move that would make the Iron Duke spin in his grave, the usual method of making Beef Wellington seems to have been willfully ignored. There is no sign of any paté and the Duxelles, the finely chopped mixture of mushrooms, mushroom stems, onions, shallots and herbs sautéed in butter that insulates the meat from the pasty, seemed to be a simplified version with just strings of onion and sliced mushrooms: A far cry from the rich paste that makes a good Wellington so satisfying. Unfortunately this slightly lumpy, overcooked version is like a cross between the Duke’s favorite dish and his most famous invention – Welly boots. Dessert, a heap of heavy chocolate mouse piled into a glass and topped with whipped cream (US$3), is a much better effort – simply delicious.

Some slight preparation issues aside, this is a solid restaurant, worth a look for ravenous gluttons, most of whom will care little about the nitpicking punctiliousness of a whingeing pom.

Aussie XL Café, 128 Sothearos Blvd.