Reathrey Sekong

[Wilbur]

One of our favorite places to eat Cambodian food is right here in the Valley, Reathrey Sekong at 1312 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85014, sharing a parking space with the old "Ed the Hotdogger" food court across from Longview Park. We have had some short-lived Lao and Cambodian places open up in Central Scottsdale within this young century, and even a Burmese place very briefly, but they never had the trendiness or the uniqueness sufficient to go the distance or to separate themselves from the Thai-government subsidized Thai places that are everywhere.

Reathrey Sekong is on another plane of existence from all of those. It is definitely a mom-and-pop place, and mom is the Head Chef. On various occasions we have arrived to press our noses on the door right at the opening bell, and she has let us in and chatted briefly with us. This is a waste of her valuable time, because almost every time we eat there, one of the dishes is an epiphany to me. Each time as we leave, I tell my wife that we need to get down there more often, and then I forget how good it was.

The menu https://places.singleplatform.com/reath ... ref=google is clear, although the print is tiny on the ones in the store. The hard copies also contain many more dishes than the online version (whose prices seem wrong to boot), and include helpful notes on where it comes from, how it is prepared, etc. Just bring your reading glasses for the tiny fonts.

Today we enjoyed Bai Morn and Lo Lak Beef.

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Bain Morn is described by my better half as a kind of "deconstructed, distant cousin of Hainanese Chicken". It is tasty, unique to the Valley, and I would order it again without hesitation. The rice cooked in chicken broth could serve as a successful foundation for just about anything, and the shreds of chicken breast are right on the button. Gentle applications of the light fish sauce soon turned into liberal doses as we warmed to our task on this plate.

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But today's revelatory dish was the Lo Lak Beef. To have this available here in Arizona is amazing.

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Served with Jasmine rice, these succulent, slightly greasy beef cubes are offered on a bed of greens that are in a ginger and vinegar sauce. In my mind, this hot-thing-on-a-cold-thing is a flawed concept that has not impressed me in various other instances of French cooking, and only my wife's insistence on ordering something new every time allowed it to appear before me. To my surprise, this Lo Lak Beef at Reathrey Sekong is one of the top ten dishes I have ever eaten anywhere in my life.

The cold greens and the fresh ginger sauce are great, and they absolutely work with the marinated, grilled beef cubes and hot rice. The beef is glossy and tender yet toothsome, and the marinade is slightly peppery, certainly has some soy and perhaps includes fish sauce? Anyway, I would have happily torn through three or four more servings of it by myself, then licked the serving plates if time and social propriety permitted.

Mom's cooking here at Reathrey Sekong is just devastatingly different from almost every Indochinese (Thai, Vietnamese) restaurant we have enjoyed here in the Phoenix area. Unique, subtle, and always leaving me wanting more.

[tukeefoodie]

Great review. Can’t believe I’ve never been but going to rectify that soon