David's Noodles

On an insatiably hot day there are few things that sound as counter-intuative as a hot bowl of noodles. However, in some bizarre way, it does quell the serpents tongue.

My tuk tuk expertly wove its way in and out of Phnom Penh's traffic on the way to Davids. A small roadside restaurant famous for their hand-pulled noodles, which the cook proudly makes outside in full view of the road. I sat anxiously reading my book as he flipped and stretched the noodles meters away. The bowl was placed down, the soup looked rather thin and insipid. I decided to proceed with an open mind, and realised very quickly that I was right. The soup lacked any real depth and had been disguised from it's potential by adding a copious amount of cinnamon or star anise (or both) to "elevate" the rather mediocre broth. It took a lot of chili oil and soy sauce to make it palatable.

The main sin here were the noodles. If you're going to spend that much time making noodles from scratch, then don't overcook them. They were soggy and without any texture.

Duck breast was tasty, pok choi was also decent. Nothing else shone unfortunately...

5/10