Midtown Lunch

I was in the mood for soup and the soups at New Phnom Penh were recommended by friends. I have had some great Cambodian meals in Philly so it seemed promising.

Inside, the small restaurant has a whole garden of plants lining the window and on our visit, There’s Something About Mary played on the television.

The menu has sections for soup, noodles, rice, and house special dishes. There were not as many Cambodian specialties as I would have liked. Especially not compared to a place like Angkor.

Crispy, deep fried spring rolls filled with pork and mushroom were excellent, though $4.50 for 3 small tubes is a little high.

Beef stew with noodles was a mixed bag, in the sense that I had no idea what kind of meat we were getting. There was some floaty tripe and other hunks of meat that looked like all tendon. The noodles and aromatic broth were more pleasing.

Special fried frogs in ginger sauce had potential. The delicate pieces of frog were covered up by a corn starchy batter and a corn starchy sauce.

So where did I go wrong guys? Is it just that New Phnom Penh is so legit they can’t cater to my preference for safe meat?

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Great spring rolls and broth

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• Scary meat
• Too much corn starch

New Phnom Penh,2301 S. 7th St, 215-389-2122