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Friday, November 01, 2002

By Sarah Billingsley, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Bo Meng doesn't want the residents of the South Hills to have to cross a bridge for the sensuous flavors of Southeast Asia.

	Kim Hong and son Bo Meng apply their successful formula for Southeast Asian cuisine to Angkor, in the Noble Manor Shopping Center. (Tony Tye, Post-Gazette)

So, like the ancient Khmer kingdom centuries before him, he broadened his empire from Downtown into new territory: a storefront in a neon-bright strip of mini malls in nebulous Green Tree/Crafton.

Meng hopes to literally "spice up" the neighborhood. Also, the parking is free.

Bophanara "Bo" Meng and his mother, Kim Hong, emigrated to the United States from Cambodia in 1981, after losing nearly all of their immediate family to the "killing fields" of despot Pol Pot and his horrific Khmer Rouge regime.

In 1994, they established Phnom Penh, a curious side-street Downtown eatery that does a brisk lunch business. In 1997 they opened the larger and glossier Lemongrass on Seventh Avenue.

Angkor, which opened in July, is the most upscale and elegant of Meng's three ventures. The restaurant is painted in sensual rosy hues; its walls are bedecked with beautiful carved wood panels and archways, tooled silver statues and jewel boxes -- all purchased by Kim, an art lover, during her first return to Cambodia in more than 20 years.

Meng named his restaurant for the lost city of Angkor, the jungle-covered temples and palaces of the ancient Khmer civilization, where giant banyan trees now grow, cracking open the ancient ruins. Angkor is not a misnomer: You may feel lost in time in this dining room, as you wait to be noticed and seated.

You will have time to consider the lengthy menu. You listen to the soothing Asian music with its quavering tone and rhythmic beat. You observe the little silver pot of flowers on every table.

At Angkor, the waitresses disappear into the back, and your water glass stays empty. Dishes arrive at the table in slow succession. When the soup comes, it has stopped steaming; the crisply fried calamari has lost its spit and sizzle.

Meng wanted to establish a restaurant less hectic than his Downtown establishments and to do a more gradual service in a space where customers would be inclined to linger.

But during my second visit to Angkor, two tables left the restaurant in a huff because they were never waited on. And the slow service isn't limited to a time when the restaurant is packed: On an evening when we were one of only two tables, our meal lasted more than two hours.

If you are patient, you will be rewarded; the food, which retains the true flavors and modest prices of Meng's homeland, is quite good.

We tried a lively lemon grass soup ($2.95), full of curled white chicken, tomato chunks and slippery mushrooms, aromatic with citrus and briny nam pla (fish sauce). Shark fin soup ($4.95) had a richer, more viscous broth, and was thick with shredded bits of crab and shark, and strips of roast pork, black mushrooms, bamboo and cilantro.

Angkor's green papaya salad ($5.95) lacked the sweet searing heat it has at Thai restaurants, and the crunchiness of its tangled threads of carrot, papaya and fresh basil was interrupted by large bland chunks of chicken and shrimp. But fresh spring rolls were king-sized and bursting with juicy tofu and crinkly lettuce, and tingling with basil and mint.

Grilled pork balls ($5.95) were merely meaty and frank until you speared a forkful of the accompanying tangy pickled ginger, radish and carrot -- a lovely condiment that ennobled the flavor of the pork.

Fried rings and tentacles of baby calamari were served on a brittle bed of nutty noodles, with a peppery lemon sauce for dipping. The flavors were exciting, the calamari crunchy -- but it was served lukewarm.

Na-Taings ($4.95) are square rice crackers eaten smeared with a rich, coconutty mixture of ground pork and peanuts. We referred to them as "Cambodian Rice Krispie Treats" for their pleasing texture, crackle and pop.

For an entree, I chose to forgo my usual, Panang curry, for Nam Yaa ($11.95), a dish of papery rice noodles in a broth of coconut curry, with chunks of white fish, green beans and sprouts. The flavors were nice, especially the salty flair of peanuts, but the noodles were a big lump.

The vegetables in the Japanese eggplant entree ($7.95) were soggy, and its dark brown sauce neither complexly flavored nor spicy. But Moarn Chha Krueng (lemon grass sauce), ordered with chicken ($8.95) flickered with heat from tiny pepper seeds suspended in the jade-colored sauce. The vegetables were steamed to a perfect crunch, and supercrisp water chestnuts carried the sauce's clean heat.

On the menu, Mee Bompong ($10.95) is curiously described, but on the tongue it is masterful: sweet, savory and spicy at once, with an excellent play of crunchy vermicelli, chewy julienne pork and soft, crumbly tofu. The tamarind sweetness in the sauce was balanced by the bark of chive and mellowed by roasted garlic and shallots.

Best of all was the Ban Chhev ($8.95), a yellow crepe made from rice flour, egg and coconut milk, delicate but surprisingly sturdy, which enfolds a mixture of ground chicken, shrimp, sweet onion and coconut. It's optional to top the crepe with a salad of lettuce, Thai basil and bean sprouts and a simple chilie-vinegar dressing; I recommend doing so. The warm meat and vegetables leak their juices, which mingle with the dressing, forming a warm, unctuous gravy -- a true, rewarding marriage of simple flavors.

Bo Meng's ventures are all successful restaurants, comfortable in mood, where people talk to each other across tables and the food is reliably good. If Angkor incorporated the nimble service of Lemongrass and Phnom Penh with its own sumptuous charms, it would be a happier place to be lost, for a brief, blissful spell.

Angkor
2350 Noblestown Road
Green Tree/Crafton
412-928-8424

Hours: Mondays-Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Sundays 4 to 9:30 p.m. Limited menu offered at lunch.

The basics: Moderately priced traditional Thai and authentic Cambodian cuisine. 70 seats; all major credit cards accepted; no smoking; handicap accessible. BYOB; no corkage fee. Reservations accepted; recommended for parties of six or more. Appetizers $2.95-$4.95; soups $1.95-$4.95; salads $3.95-$6.95; entrees $7.95-$15.95.

Star System:
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(SUPERB).

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