Friends the Restaurant

Friends is one of the most famous and popular restaurants in Phnom Penh. It is also started by Mith Samlanh and is a training restaurant for Phnom Penh's marginalized youth, similar to Romdeng. It is rated #2 of restaurants in Phnom Phnom by Tripadvisor so I clearly had a certain level of expectation for the. As much as I wanted to support this restaurant due to its good cause the food was simply a huge disappointment. I understand that the food is not cooked by famous chefs but it was just not enjoyable! The atmosphere was cute and was filled to the brim with tourists and expats, the service was also friendly. You could tell that there was a lot of effort put into the plating and the servers were also very sweet, but the food just did not taste good which was a shame.

Crispy Zucchini and Cheddar Fritters
This was a good start to the meal. The fritters were hearty and well flavored. The outside was nice and crispy. Unfortunately the rest of the dishes did not fare as well.

Sun-dried Tomato Hummus with Crispy Wonton Wrappers
I did not try this as K who is vegetarian was very hungry and we did not want to eat her food :)

Honey Garlic Pork and Beef Meatballs on Pandan Noodles
This was probably the worst dish of the night, and sadly one of the dishes that I was most looking forward to. The meatballs were heavily glazed with this sickeningly sweet and gloopey sauce and the pandan noodles were soft and tasteless. The flavors just did not work and it was a major disappointment.

Romdeng's Yummy Stir-fried Red Tree Ants with Beef Filet and Holy Basil
J and I decided to be adventurous and try the tree ants! It is my first time eating ants and it was quite interesting. The ants were rather large as you may be able to see in the picture below. After we got over the initial thrill of eating ants... we were then forced to try and eat the rest of this pile of food. The amount of beef was actually quite shocking and the amount of herbs was also overwhelming. This may be a personal preference but I really didn't enjoy the flavor profile of this dish and could only take a few bites of it. The beef was also very lean (quite typical of Cambodian beef).

Creepy crawliessss 

Taro and Sweet Potato Fries with Tom Yum Mayonnaise
Ugh, once again something that I was looking forward to but which totally disappointed me. You all know I love fries to death, and these were horrible. They were not crispy at all and the insides were in this awkward state of half cooked/powdery. Meh.

Sandan's Grilled Fish Filet with Green Mango and Red Onion Salad
This dish was decent. The fish was nice and tender and the mango and onion salad was refreshing. Nothing to rave about though. 

Overall, Friends was a big disappointment. I really admire the charitable work that the restaurant is doing, but unfortunately the food just did not live up to expectations. If someone REALLY wanted to come back, I would probably be hesitant but I could try other dishes. But if it were up to me I would not come again. 

Friends Restaurant

#215 

Street 13

Phnom Penh

Cambodia