Phnom Penh Restaurant: Vietnamese-Cambodian takeout in Vancouver

Phnom Penmh is a Vietnamese and Cambodian restaurant located in Chinatown, Vancouver. They are a very popular family-run restaurant with long wait-times for in-dining before covid. They have also won many awards over the years and for best Vietnamese, best Cambodian and other categories. During covid, they only offer take-out services so this review is based on a takeout experience.

Food

I ordered what many people consider to be their “holy trinity” – a selection of 3 of their most popular dishes.

Marinated butter beef ($18)

This dish features mostly raw beef. Think of it like an Asian style beef carpaccio! The cut of beef are thicker than the ones found in carpaccio, and it is soaked in a delicious marinade of soy vinaigrette and topped with cilantro and garlic. For a “meaty” dish, it is quite refreshing and does not taste overly heavy or greasy. The beef melts in your mouth like butter.

This is a must try dish unless you do not like raw meats.

Phnom Penh deep fried chicken wings ($12-17)

These are Phnom Penh’s signature fried chicken wings and they are a MUST ORDER no matter what is wrong with you. A small order costs $12 and a large order costs $17 (Psst… always get a large).

The chicken wings are seasoned with butter, salt, lemon, garlic and pepper and are very crispy even after the takeout process. I love the addition of the lemon because it gives it a little zing and still doesn’t make the outside soggy. They have this version for prawns as well but I prefer the chicken wings.

Filet beef luc lac on rice ($13)

This dish is the best bang for your buck because it comes with slices of beef filet drenched in a rich beurre rouge sauce, rice, some veggies and a fried egg. This is perfect to share for 2 people if you want to have room in your belly for other dishes. Otherwise, it’s good as an entree for one as well.

Trieu chau fried rice ($13)

We add on this fried rice to give it a try. It has Chinese sausages, carrots, egg and green onion. Overall, it’s fried well and very fragnant, but after awhile it becomes a pretty standard fried rice dish – there is nothing overly special about it. Big portions, though!

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am a big fan of Phnom Penh and I was happy to see the dishes we got did not lose their quality during the takeout process. Side note: because of this, I usually avoid ordering wet noodle dishes for takeout.

Out of all 4 dishes, I would rank the chicken wings as #1 and the butter beef as #2. I would never go to Phnom Penh without ordering these 2 dishes. They are THE BOMB. I wish they had a combo with just these 2 items lol.

The beef luc lac was good too but I just prefer the other 2 dishes. Everything else tasted the same as when I dined in previously. Portion sizes were still big and reasonable for the prices.

During this time of covid, I encourage you all to order takeout directly and pick it up yourselves instead of using a 3rd party delivery app. Most restaurants make little to no profit for being on the apps and we must support our local family-run businesses!

Sincerely, Loewe