Kampuchea Catfish Sammich!...

I met up with the girls after an NYurban vball league game @ Karen's (when we had made beignets and apple tarte tartins) so I was STARVED and feeling portable foods. Claudz took me to Kampuchea on Rivington & Allen. She had raved about the sammiches particularly the Ginger-rubbed catfish.

I was torn between that, the Hoison Pork sammich, and The Kampuchea sammich (with headcheese terrine)...but something about the cleaner finish of fish and the prospect of honey/peppercorn/ginger just grabbed me. It was a pretty big friggin' sandwhich and they definitely weren't stingy with the catfish. The sauce and the way all the flavors came together was subtle, a little sweet with a little heat from the peppercorns but just overall quite quite pleasant. It was an unbutton ur pants kinda filling and satisfaction :)

What pissed me off a bit was that it was $12 bucks. REALLY?! with tax it came to be about $14. -.- The girls told me it used to be like 9 bucks when it just opened and then they ramped it up. Granted it's a nice restaurant and the portions are nice from what I saw of their noodle dishes as well. Everything's fresh and the quality of the food fares well but just...does not justify the price jacking.

So it's supposed to be Cambodian food but obvy very much like the Vietnamese sandwiches. I ate a Catfish sandwich with Dave @ Baoguette (a Vietnamese sandwich place that recently opened up on 25th and Lex) which was $7 and though the texture of the fish was subpar compared to Kampuchea's...flavor, fixin's, and overall experience is just as good though less exciting.

GIVEN the name, I couldn't help but think maybe it was a Michael Bao endeavor...AND IT WAS! :) I thought maybe it would've been a little more elevated like Bun (Grand & Crosby) but I'd be happy to have something closer to Chelsea with reasonable enough pricing and taste. I did enjoy Bun tho--i haven't had certain things in the city or a few places that had the same flavors as back in CA or the way my mom made it. The butterd frog legs were...effin' AWESOME. that's for another post...