Cambodian Dumplings at Kavei Express
While doing some Cambodian food exploring in South Philly, we came across Kavei Express, a month old Cambodian fast foodish restaurant. This should not be confused with the Kavei on Oregon Ave, also a Cambodian restaurant, which has closed.
Fruit smoothies dominated the menu, but more interesting were the combo platter options offering rice and an entree for $4, rice and 2 entrees for $5, etc, etc. A steam table displayed many of those entree possibilities, including fried fish, a pork curry, and other meat with vegetable preparations. Pictures of 4 different soups with no English explanations would have normally called out to me, but I had just finished an outdoor adventure involving a crazy Cambodian stew with unidentifiable meat products and pickled baby eggplant, so I needed to scale back on the adventurousness level. Among the few English words on the side dish section of the menu, Kavei Dumplings was the safe choice I was looking for.
Menu and Dumpling pictures, after the jump
10 fried bundles ($5) came out on a plate with a sweet and sour sauce. We were told they were filled with pork and shrimp, but there was no distinct pork or shrimp flavor, they could have told me it was chicken and I would have believed them. That being said, I really liked the dumplings, they tasted fresh and the way that they were fried was impressive- crispy on top, soft on the bottom.
Without a doubt, Kavei Express warrants a second trip to try out the rest of the menu.
Kavei Express, 2223-2225 S 7th St, 215 755 2151
Posted by Jamie at 12:27 pm, September 19th, 2011 under Cambodian, dumplings.
6 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
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6 Comments
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hahah no way, they have prahoc ?! I don’t know what tkis. I never like readying ‘english-khmer’
I would never think any place would serve prahoc because of the smell… I wonder what they did to it… it’s basically fermented fish paste. I think it’s probably the only thing that khmer food has that is truly unique.
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let me try to explain some of the menu.
The top left one is curry. I have no clue what meat they have. I like the beef version rather than the chicken.
The top right look like something with baby eggplants… it’s normally made with beef rib meat. Too much fat pieces for me. My mom made it with leaner beef but it doesn’t taste the same.
The bottom left look like pumkin. If it’s what I think it is.. I don’t like it that much…
The bottom right ..if the green are takorn… it’s should be really good. It might be a hot and sour type soup.
I would get the top left and bottom right.
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last one.
if you want something ‘interesting’ go for the sides.
The top there are fish base. The first one, I never had before. The 2nd and 3rd one are fried fish, I’m not sure what kind.
the 4th one is some sort of steam dessert…
Plea Sachko – You have to try this. It has some prohac in it, and every family has their own version. It’s really good, really strong though.
I”m not sure what they will serve it with…but if they don’t serve it with anything, I would eat it with rice. It’s basically beef cooked in lime juice. Some people make it sour, some make it very spicy, but all the different version I had,are all good. Try a VERY small piece to see how strong it is. -
@mbuu- thats awesome, thanks for the translations. so If I were not a fan of fish paste which would be the safe dishes for me?
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top left soup. it’s a meat and potatoes curry is probably the safest dish. I would get the Nhorm Sdoa just to see what it is. I”m sure it’s a dessert… that contain no fish paste. unless I”m readying it wrong and it’s some sort of salad…papaya salad…
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The fried-ness of those dumplings is gorgeous.