There’s nothing quite like it when mum makes you a bowl of her homemade chicken noodle soup for whatever ailment with which you’ve come down – broken heart or burning fever. It doesn’t have to be the best soup – although you’ll fight to the death if anyone says otherwise – it just has to be there. The reliable comfort is the main ingredient.
Magnolia Wrap & Roll is Phnom Penh’s version of mumma’s love in a bowl. It’s not the best Vietnamese food you’ll ever eat, but it’s good. Always. And it has that feeling of home, where your sister is in charge of setting the table and your brother gets everyone’s drinks. The white linen tablecloths make it a bit like you’re having company for dinner, needing to be on better behaviour, but it’s more like a family party than formal dining. Children are definitely welcome.
Pick a table out in the garden and relax into the plush cushions as you flip through the extensive menu. With a Southern Vietnamese perspective, you’ll find the selections of pho, their internationally famous noodle soup, in the breakfast section, as opposed to the Northern any-time-goes approach. They cater to your soup craving all day, though, and have the standard meat choices – chicken, beef, pork, and a few other specialty options. If it hasn’t already, pho can easily replace Western-style chicken noodle as a feel-better remedy. With healing ingredients like ginger and cinnamon and doctoring it up with Hoisin sauce, bean sprouts, fresh herbs, and a hit of chilli, it’ll clear you right up.
Another must when doing Vietnamese is the bánh xèo, a once-folded, turmeric-coloured crepe, gently stuffed with a variety of ingredients. Again, leaning more toward the Southern style, Magnolia prefers the oversized pancake recipe to the smaller, Northern version. As for the stuffing, it’s almost better to close your eyes and point when deciding, since indecision can run rampant with all the options. Taking a break from meat, the enoki mushroom is more interesting than appetising, with a textural equivalent of a squeaky, angel hair pasta. Weird, but still recommended. The flavour is more of the same, making dipping the properly lettuce-wrapped pancake into the sweet and sour sauce a must.
Venturing out of the comfort zone is easy, since soup selections and entrees abound. To add more fire to your palate and finish singeing what taste buds you have left, the innocent-sounding pork and cashews should do the trick. Its third, but unmentioned main ingredient, chilli, will have you running to your tea. The wait staff seem to be on standby for this and they’ll keep your glass topped up. It’s this attentiveness that makes Magnolia more about the experience anyway. There is always a smiling greeter at the open-aired entrance, nearly intuitive abilities when you want to order, and impressive speediness when you’re ready to ket loy yourself out of there. Grab whoever you consider family in this town and order one of everything to share, enjoying good company and food for your soul.
Magnolia Wrap & Roll
#253, St. 63, BKK1. 097 552 99 77