phnom penh: those chicken wings though...

if you havent heard of phnom penh and their chicken wings yet...you must not look up vancouver restaurants much. they are extremely popular and i think are now a BIT overrate but regardless, they are some dang good chicken wings. 

phnom penh serves pretty good cambodian and vietnamese cuisine although we all come here for one thing. this restaurant is busy all day, all week, all year. dont expect to come around lunch or dinner without a wait and located in chinatown, there isnt much you can do to pass the time. NOW onto the food..

vietnamese spring rolls ($9.95) - thought they were a bit pricey, they were decent. filled with meat and some noodles (from what i remember..). i actually prefer the spring rolls where the wrapping is more...flakey? these ones taste less greasy that the flaky ones but were still quite oily.

3.5/5

closeup of the spring rolls filling

phnom penh dry rice noodles ($6.95):  - a really good price for a bowl of noodles with a mish mash of toppings including pork parts that i dont even want to know and some shrimp. they definitely dont skimp out on the meat BUT i felt like it could have had more sauce. even when mixing it lots of times, it was a bit bland but since i love noodles, it was alright. 

3.95/5

phnom penh deep fried chicken wings (large - $12.95) - this is what you go all the way to china town for. they have 2 sizes being medium and large (although i remember when i was young, large was WAYYYY larger.) these wings are scrumptious with a garlicky, peppery, salty (msg) flavour and the deep fry is what makes them special. it is super crispy and not like the chinese kind of chicken wings. the batter is much lighter and yes, it is oily but hey, its DEEP FRIED chicken...

4.75/5 (i have personal issues with oily foods) but otherwise 5/5

phnom penh stew beef in hot pot ($12.50) - our last dish was a pot full of beef and some veggies in a spicy broth. i THINK we ordered bread to go with it because you need something to dip into the broth. this was really oily as well (you can see it floating) but the flavour was pretty good although a bit one dimensional

3.75/5

overall: the food is pretty good but i would not trek all the way here if not for the chicken wings. all the other food is good but not BLOW ME AWAY amazing. prices are not high for a lot of the noodles/rice but the special dishes are not cheap either. definitely a must try if you visit vancouver but a person can only eat so many deep fried chicken wings