Guesthouse food is the dirty little secret of every self-respecting expatriate.
Barely a step up from street food (but without any of the excitement), guesthouse restaurants cater to backpackers, the wandering jobless and other price-sensitive classes. That clientele often earns eateries a double-barreled blast of bad reputation: not just cheap, but worse – full of tourists.
For years Boeung Kak Lake served as the local outpost for value-conscious travellers and like-minded long-termers. But most of the businesses there disappeared along with the water as developers filled the lake with sand and thuggishly chiselled apart the community.
As a hedge, the #11 Happy Guesthouse, a lakeside mainstay, opened two new places closer into town, including their newly remodelled location on Street 258. They have expanded the front patio, added two metres to the bar, built an air-conditioned movie room and, as of August 15, completely rebranded.
The old #11 is now the new Flicks 3. Gone is the name, but the staff, menu and atmosphere are still the same. And on a street that has veered hard toward flashpacker, the new movie house still saunters with the same summertime attitude that once made the lakeside a haven for holidaymakers.
And the food is still a bargain.
The menu runs to 15 pages, with about half that dedicated to drinks. Food sections include breakfast and burgers, pastas and paninis, Indian and Asian. But just like the old lakeside, knowing where to venture – and where not – can make all the difference.
Western food includes such standards as the cheeseburger ($3.50), cordon bleu ($5) and assorted sandwiches, pastas and pizzas. Some dishes are better than others. The chicken sandwich ($4.50), for example, comes plated with skinny fries and served as a triple-decker with pan-fried cuts of chicken breast and lettuce, tomato and cucumber all stacked between three pieces of lightly toasted bread. There’s plenty of food and you’re unlikely to leave hungry. But there’s also a tendency to over-mayonnaise, and despite the fresh ingredients the sandwich comes out a bit oily, as do the fries.
Conversely, the kitchen nails it with the chicken strips ($4): five thick strips of chicken breast heavily crumbed and pan-fried. The batter comes out golden, rough and crunchy with hints of pepper; the chicken unspiced, moist and tender. The dish screams for a sausage-cream gravy compliment (hint, hint). Instead it’s served with mayonnaise, ketchup and sweet chili sauce, which, all things considered, works just fine at this price range.
The sweet spot of the menu is in the back, where the local dishes are found. Workhorses like fried rice ($3) and fried noodles ($3) are all served in generous portions. The gem of the menu is Khmer chicken curry soup ($3.50), a local adaptation of the more well-known Thai massaman. Flicks 3 serves it with carrots, potatoes, green beans, onion and just enough chili to make breathing easy without watering the eyes. If you’re not starving, the dish might feed two.
Crowds are thin at lunchtime, the service typically quick. At night the place tends to fill with travellers and the 32-seat movie room will only increase the numbers.
If the dregs of lakeside moved into Golden Sorya, the sober ones moved onto Street 258, where a mid-town flashpacker strip has long been growing roots. The newly dolled-up Flicks 3 fits right in. Sure, it’s a far cry from the creaky papasan chairs, foul-smelling waters and blood-hungry mosquitoes of Boeung Kak yore. But that’s a good thing, right?
Cue up John Malkovich and pass the buttered popcorn.