Amok
I was planning an alcohol-free day today, and damn well almost made it. But I started reading my new Melbourne Foodie book and stumbled on a place on Chapel Street in Windsor called Amok which appealed for many reasons:
It's Cambodian, a country I plan to spend a couple of weeks in over Christmas
It opens in 10 minutes, coincidentally the amount of time it will take me to walk there
Fate, right? Absolutely! And how can I visit a new restaurant without having a little tipple? Well, I couldn't of course. Sayonara AFD... I started with a cocktail called Song Sa Island - tequila and lychee liqueur, watermelon water and fresh lemon juice. Very refreshing!
The menu's not huge but extensive enough to offer a good selection of entrees - including four vego sides - a choice of 10 share plates based on prawn, calamari, wagyu beef, popcorn fish and chicken and pork ribs, and there's even a few local sweets to finish.
They have a tasting menu of 8 dishes for $54 but unfortunately it's for a minimum of two people, so I created my own little dego. To start I had a couple of fresh oysters served with mango boba (little fruit beads like the ones you sprinkle on your Yo Chi yoghurt), black pepper (all the way from the Cambodian province of Kampot), and truffle oil. Really good. I was expecting the mango to make it sweet, but the pepper and the truffle oil cut this back to create a lovely, complex savory flavour with just the faintest hint of sugar.
This was followed by one of the chef's signature dishes: crispy king prawn on a brioche with chocolate bacon, gherkin and smoky paprika mayo. This consisted of a large king prawn fried in its shell with wafer thin slices of gherkin - just enough to add some zest without overpowering everything else in the soft roll - and some cress to add a little green. Another winner.
I finished with another of the restaurant's signature dishes: grilled squid stuffed with pork lemongrass and wild mushrooms with an orange watercress salad on the side. So good. The squid tube was a good size and filled with a spicy paste that was offset by the tart citrus of the salad. The tentacles were fried and served as a side. Gorgeous.
Amok is a great find and I'm kicking myself for walking past it about a million times and not stopping in until now. The decor is simple (bamboo strip lampshades, wooden tables with inlaid metal tiles at either end, a little bar in the middle, and a big mural of Angkor Wat covering most of the wall opposite the entrance. The service is fast and friendly, the prices reasonable (my meal which included two $16 cocktails and a bottle of Angkor beer - free for Father's Day! - came to a little under $70), and most importantly, the food is great. Definitely coming back here to sample some more tastes of Cambodia - just hope the local food is this good. read more