🇰🇭 CAMBODIA
🅿️ Limited parking behind restaurant.🥤 Beer available.
For as long as most Long Beach residents can remember, the business at this location was named Bamboo Island and was always known as a late night haunt for the older generations of Cambodia Town to come drink, eat, and most importantly sing karaoke. At some point in 2018 or 2019, the ownership changed hands, as did the name, albeit subtly. Koh Ruessei is the transliterated name of Bamboo Island in the Khmer language and still speaks of the same place.
Formerly used only by the Cambodian navy, the island was eventually given over to the demands of tourism and has become one of many beach paradises sought out by foreigners in the Gulf of Thailand. The changes at the namesake restaurant in Long Beach have not been so drastic, as a mainly older crowd still comes for long, casual lunches and singing well after midnight on weekends.
If you are here only to eat, that is fine too, and a brilliant way to begin your lunches is with a bowl of Phnom Penh dry noodles ($10.95, above). The "dryness" here is a simple separation of the broth to another bowl to be dispensed as desired, with a huge pork bone plopped in it. You can spoon in a small amount of broth and enjoy the noodles mainly dry, or combine the whole thing.
Either way the dish is fantastic, full of different meats and fresh greens. A spritz of lime juice and the use of the spicy and sour condiments on each table makes each bowl exactly the way any eater wants. There may be no better way to experience the small and large differences between Cambodian food and that of its neighbors Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam than by enjoying this type of noodle dish.
Digging deeper into the cuisine, an order of the nombanh chouk samlor Khmer ($11.95, above) is especially satisfying. This has the ability to be the star of most meals here and reflects the skill of the kitchen best. The dish is always easy to screw up, make too fishy or too coconut-y, but the perfect balance is achieved here at Koh Ruessei.
For a bowl of complete comfort, the lort cha ($11.95, above) is always the way to go. Named beef fried short rice noodles in English on the menu, the star of this dish are those short rice noodles, sometimes called teardrop or pin noodles. Fat and chewy, these are unlike most rice noodles you will ever have and get you thinking maybe you should substitute your favorite pasta at home (Don't, rice noodles need to be stir-fried).
Once again this is not full of the robust flavors of Thai noodle dishes, but that is not the intent and the fish sauce served on the side and table condiments are again ready for you. If you prefer shrimp, the "student noodle" is a similar dish using that instead of beef.
Round out the meal with a chicken soup unlike any other with an order of sngaor chrok sach maon ($15.95, above), full of tougher pieces of bone-in chicken and whole mushrooms. The dish is more sour than savory but still comforting while pungent flavors of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf hit your nose even before tasting.
By the time you stuff yourself, the karaoke machine might seem close to being fired up, so you might as well stick around, order some beers, and join in the fun. You may not speak or understand Khmer, but the language of bad singing is universal.
Thank you!
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