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The Elephant Walk offers both Cambodian and French food. Thus, one may dine on Coquelet rôti aux abricots et au Grand Marnier ($17.50), a roasted, herbed half chicken with a jus of apricots and orange-flavored brandy, accompanied by whipped potatoes (incorporating a bit of turnip) and chard sautéed in truffle oil. Or, for something altogether different--from the other side of the menu and, presumably, the kitchen--one may try the spicy, custard-like Amok Royale ($14.50), a mix of crab, scallops, catfish, and shrimp steamed in a cleverly constructed banana- leaf cup with coconut milk and numerous seasonings, and garnished with cilantro.
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THE ELEPHANT WALK 2067 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. (617) 492-6900 Open for dinner daily, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. (11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday). Lunch, daily except Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Free parking is available in a lot behind the restaurant. |
On a recent outing, three of us consumed one French and two Cambodian meals. The two best dishes, which were very good, were a French leek-and-potato soup ($4.95) and Trey Ang K'nyei ($13.95), a catfish fillet sauced with ginger, salted soy beans, and coconut milk. Nataing ($6.95) was also good, an appetizer of ground pork and coconut milk that one conveys to one's mouth on crisp hunks of jasmine rice. I'd avoid the grilled giant squid ($6.95), fairly tasteless rubber bands and plain ugly, and the cold poached salmon salad ($7.75) --too fishy and too much salt on top of capers and lemon.
Cambodians "appreciate sweetness in the form of palm and cane sugar, and we especially like it in desserts mixed with thick, rich coconut milk. We are particularly fond of saltiness, even in our fruits, and use lots of fish sauce," writes Longteine De Monteiro in a handsome celebration of Cambodian cuisine, The Elephant Walk Cookbook (Houghton Mifflin, $35). She and her diplomat husband fled when the Khmer Rouge took over, moving to France and then here. She founded the restaurant in Somerville in 1991 and a Boston branch in 1994; the original place moved to Cambridge last October. The chef is Gérard Lopez, a Frenchman married to a De Monteiro daughter.
Along with double-barreled cuisine, Elephant Walk delivers a blast of sound. Except for some hilarious moments in school, I have never eaten in as noisy a place as the downstairs dining room of the Cambridge restaurant. The Zagat Survey, which reflects the views of a multitude of restaurant-goers, consistently ranks Elephant Walk (making no distinction between the two of them) as one of the five most popular restaurants in Greater Boston, this year just after Rialto. Yet, for its food alone, the 1999 Zagat ranks it thirty-seventh out of the top 40, just above Matt Murphy's Pub. Since the décor, service, and prices at Elephant Walk are unremarkable, its popularity must reside in the sweet and salty unusualness of the food. Or are we gluttons for noise?
~ C.R.
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