St. 63 Restaurant is one of those places that are all-too-easy to miss. I did precisely that for far too long before colleagues finally invited me out for after-work drinks. Turns out that although the building itself is easily overlooked, the food most certainly is not. St. 63 is busy every night, with an awesome atmosphere. Décor is minimalist: no art on the walls; wooden tables, chairs, stools and benches donned with clean white pillows. Talk to patrons, Cambodian or Western, and you’ll hear the same thing: the food is delicious and the price is right. General Manager and Chairman Geert Caboor and his chef, Chan Ry, created the menu together. Both have experience at an international five-star hotel and it shows. The drinks menu includes shakes, juices, cocktails, beer and wine. A jug of Cambodia is $2.50; cocktails are between $3 and $4. The airavata ($3.50) is a delicious banana liquor and rum affair (ask for tik tik sugar syrup if you want it less tooth-achingly sweet). Need to detox? Have a fresh juice, perhaps the apple cooler: a mix of cucumber, apple, fresh mint and ginger. If neither tickles your fancy, you’re in luck: there are 29 other cocktails and 25 other non-alcoholic tipples to choose from. The food menu offers snacks, salads, appetisers, sandwiches, burgers, soups, cuts of beef, chicken, pork, pork ribs, oxtail, fish, pasta and pizza – and that’s just the Western part. The Khmer includes salads, soups, curries and stir fries, all in ample portions. Caboor’s personal favourites include the stir-fried pork with ginger ($3.50): a plate piled with pork tenderloin, ginger, garlic and onion, stir-fried and topped with spring onion. Another favourite of his is the stir-fried roasted eggplant with minced pork, topped with spring onion ($3.50). The banana blossom salad ($3) is one of my own favourites: banana blossom, grilled chicken-breast, garlic, shallot, onion, basil and roasted peanuts; this salad is light but filling. The Khmer and pumpkin curries ($3.50) arrive in a mortar-like bowl with a plate of steamed white rice, the ratio of curry to rice ideal. Both are sweet curries and have almost the same ingredients, but with one difference: Khmer curry has sweet potato; pumpkin curry has – wait for it – pumpkin. Restaurant St. 63 successfully pulls off great food and friendly service at an unbeatable price. What this translates to is it being hard to find a table after 5pm, so get there early, but most importantly get there (closed Sundays). St. 63 Restaurant, #179 Street 63.
