We have finally done it! As some of you are aware, we have been making a lot of changes around here in the past year or so – some more noticeable than others. For example, we pulled out all the “high-top” seating from our smaller dining room this summer and replaced it with our newly “branded” tabletops at normal table height. This opened up the room and made it more flexible for rearranging tables to accommodate larger groups, not that exciting to you maybe, but it has made things much nicer for us. And it also addressed the complaints many guests lodged who really don’t like bar-height seating.

More recently we overhauled our menus. We had received many complaints that our menus had too much information and therefore the print was too small to be read easily. We knew this was an issue, but we felt (and still do feel) strongly that our cuisine requires longer descriptions as many of our guests have no idea what to expect from Cambodian food. I know I didn’t prior to my first visit. We were also troubled by the number of menus we were handing to our guests as they were seated: dinner menu, wine list, drink list, prix-fixe menu, specials… the Iliad and the Odyssey… you get the point.

We knew the solution was to somehow combine all the menus together into one, but that that, too, could be cumbersome. So, in the end, we essentially made a “booklet” and presented it on recycled aluminum clipboards. And, knowing that could be a lot to ask our guests “to navigate”, we added a Table of Contents.

So far the new format has been well received. We have overheard some comments such as “hey honey, I’m thinking about a bottle of red, flip to chapter 24 and take a look at this pinot noir” and “ if I had known there was going to be an exam, I would have studied before coming in for dinner.” All joking aside we think the new format is an improvement and hope you will find it to be so, please tell us what you think the next time you are in.

Lastly, and the real reason for this post: we have simplified our wine list. All wines on our list are now either French or American. Why do that, you might ask? Several reasons: First, we are in America – hence the American wine. We’re are also a partially French restaurant – thus the French wine. Plus, Cambodia is not known for wine! But if you’re looking for a “Cambodian” libation, we encourage you to try the Ginger-Lemon martini – made with our own house-made lemongrass syrup! – or the Mekhong Mojito. And we’ll continue to explore Southeast Asian flavors via our cocktails as time goes by.

Second, it is our belief that there are enough great wines being made in France and the United States, so we decided to focus on them instead of spreading our list all over the map (pun intended). In a restaurant of our size, it’s impossible to fairly represent all the great wine-making regions of the world. – We know that there are those among you who really like big Italian reds or perky German rieslings, but we hope you will come in and check out our list. Please tell us what it is you love about your favorite wines, and let us find something from our list that is comparable and maybe even turn you onto a new region or varietal you’ve maybe overlooked in the past.

This isn’t a decision we just arrived at, in fact it has taken nearly a year to allow our inventory of wines from other countries to diminish while simultaneously adding the right mix of French appellations and American varietals to compliment our cuisine and our personality, which we already knew was a little different. I hope that we will see you here soon, and that you’ll feel free to offer your constructive criticism and suggestions on how else we can continue to make improvements. We love feedback.