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Description
Kingdom of Rice, the latest pop-up restaurant to take over the drive-thru at Mascot’s Tennyson Hotel, is on schedule to open on Friday October 12.
A collaboration between hospitality group, Merivale, and the ACME team, made up of Mitch Orr, Cam Fairbairn, Lillia McCabe and Sophia Thach, Kingdom of Rice will be Cambodian-style street food over the next six months.
“We have always been fascinated by Southeast Asia and Sophia has cooked so many incredible dishes over the years that really introduced us to Khmer cuisine,” says Orr.
“The ingredients used ignite all the senses, not just taste.”
Divided into five sections, the Kingdom of Rice menu offers shared-style snacks, skewers, grill, wok, noodles and rice dishes.
On the snacks front, diners can enjoy prahok k’tis (a dip made with fermented fish paste, pork belly and kreung), svay kchey (green mango, chilli and salt) and ‘trey neet alek’ (dried fish and watermelon),
Amongst the skewers, there will be phsaet ung (shiitake mushroom), sach chrouk ung (caramelised pork) and sach gor ung (lemongrass beef), served with chlouh (pickled green papaya salad) and numpang (baguette).
The grill will feature such dishes as slab moan baoek ung (kreung stuffed chicken wings), trey ung (whole fish, lemongrass, coconut and herbs) and murk ung (calamari, pork fat and scallions)
Wok highlights include bort ling (corn, dried shrimps and scallions), cha dtrop (chicken, smoked eggplant and coriander) and cha le’a samot tdek meric (pippies, lime and kampot pepper).
For dessert, Orr, Fairbairn and head chef McCabe has turned to the fruits of South East Asia, offering jek ung (grilled banana, sticky rice and caramel), noum dorng karem (pandan coconut waffle and coconut sorbet) and bobor lapoav (roasted pumpkin, tapioca and coconut milk).
“We want to explore the fundamentals of Cambodian cooking, showcasing classic flavours across wok and grill dishes,” says McCabe.
“It is loud, colourful and a lot of fun, and we can’t wait for people to get stuck in.”
To complement the Kingdom of Rice menu, group bars manager Sam Egerton has crafted a series of cocktails filled with classic Cambodian flavours, like the fresh whole coconut rum, Pandan Piña Colada and Hennessy and Jasmine Tea.
Merivale’s group sommelier Franck Moreau, Mr Wong’s sssistant sommelier Fabio Pallottini and the ACME team have also add a selection of Asian beers and natural wines to the Tennyson’s self-serve bottle shop.
“Phnom Penh is a real sensory overload,” says Orr.
“There’s laughter and noise of people everywhere, the smell of food cooked over charcoal, colours of fresh tropical fruits and an amazing sense of community.
“That is really what we have wanted to capture at Kingdom of Rice.”
Read more at http://www.foodservicenews.com.au/latest/merivale-acme-kingdom-of-rice-pop-up-to-open-at-tennyson-hotel#gTkTLLqkQZLhVE9p.99 -
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