AsiaLIFE

Ideal for the onset of hot season, recently-revamped Sarika Pool & Pizza offers a swimming pool and plenty of places to sit in the shade. Heidi Fuller-Love finds out there’s even more appeal to the restaurant than the al fresco setting.

---

Unless you live on the Boeung Kak Lake side of town, getting to Sarika Pool & Pizza can be a bit of a trek—but worth the effort.

At the entrance, white-shirted waiters take customers in hand and will wait patiently while you find the perfect table. The variety of seating areas allows for a profusion of choice. Lovers seeking a private spot to canoodle will be drawn to the small, shaded patio with its fish-filled pond, whilst families with kids will want to sit near the all-too-tempting, newly opened swimming pool.

As a pair of friends on a lunch date, we chose a table in the centre, surrounded by healthy-looking potted plants and comfortably cool beneath the low timber ceilinged verandah fitted with fans.

Once seated it occurred to me that the garden at Sarika recalls a courtyard of a Spanish hacienda, with Latin music piping at a non-intrusive level, wrought iron seating with plump red cushions and terracotta floor tiles.

To be honest, the menu—a ubiquitous mish-mash of Asian and Aussie food—doesn’t seem much to offer much at a glance. Yet you’ll find yourself mentioning Sarika to friends anyway because the restaurant does fusion fodder well.

Starters and salads, priced from US$3.20 to US$4.90, include calamari in a sweet plum sauce and spicy papaya salad. Seeking something soothing, I chose mushroom soup. Served in a small china tureen, the soup was thick and creamy with a rich, garlicky flavour that hit the spot.

Main courses include pizzas starting from US$5.50, Australian rib eye steak with all the trimmings for US$13.50 and chilli seafood Pad Kee Moa for US$6.50. There’s also a kids menu with dishes like peas and pasta that will leave you with change from a $5 bill.

As there were a couple of Khmer dishes offered, I ordered the Fish Amok  (US$4.90). This local signature dish made with river fish steamed in a chilli and coconut sauce, served in a banana leaf can sometimes be a bit bland, but the piping hot variation I was served, brimming with chunks of tender fish and garnished with grated cabbage, hit the tongue with a whiplash of nutty, spicy flavour.

Less adventurous, my meat-loving lunch friend opted for barbecued pork in a honey sauce (US$7). Served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, the pork was slightly chewy, but the sauce was subtly sweet and made the meat go down a treat.

After a sinfully rich US$3.20 chocolate brownie dessert drizzled with whipped cream, we were ready to leave Sarika’s shaded garden, fortified by our lunch at a restaurant whose food is same same, but different.

Sarika Pool & Pizza Bar, 69 Street 566, Tel: 023 882 329, Open 10am to 11pm.

Red Apron< Prev		Next >Hua Nam