Chef Luu Hong has been playing with the flavours of veal again to create a beautiful Chef’s Suggestions menu that puts this lean, delicate meat at its heart. Although not well-known in Cambodia, or Asia, you may be surprised to learn that veal’s features in fact make it a perfect foil for the sharp, salty flavours of many of Cambodia’s dishes, especially if prahok is involved.
Veal, the meat of young cows, is an important part of French and Italian cuisine, where it is not just served as the centrepiece of many much-loved dishes, it is also the unsung hero of a wide range of sauces, pâtés, soups and even a few sausages such as the love-it-or-hate-it andouillette. Indeed, in his massive 900-page book Ma Cuisine, Auguste Escoffier mentions veal twice as often as he does chicken and almost four times as often as pork. Only beef comes a near second.
Taking a different cooking style for each dish on the menu, Chef Luu has matched veal’s delicate versatility with the firm and fiery flavours of Kampot Pepper, the tangy, lemongrass-scented flavours of mchou ktis, and finally the earthy, salty sharpness of prahok sauce for a menu that really shows up how veal is a meat made for Cambodian cuisine. Come and try it to see for yourself.
Take a look here for the full Chef’s Suggestions Menu, which will be available until December.
