Amazing Cambodian Food at Elephant Walk in Boston's South End

My wife and I have been working on a project with our niece to have a meal from each country alphabetically. You can check out our progress on Instagram with the hashtag #a2zdinners. We usually cook the meals ourselves. Cambodian meals are characterized by having a variety of contrasting textures, flavors and temperatures. We decided that if we wanted the authentic experience we would do better to eat out for a change,so we went to lunch at Elephant Walk in Boston's South End. It was a highlight of the project so far, which is saying a lot, since we have made some outstanding meals.

Our niece is gluten free. You would think that would make the project difficult. For most countries it hasn't been a burden at all. In most countries their starch is based on rice, not wheat. This is also true for Cambodia. Elephant Walk was notably careful to label the menu with the items that were gluten free or could be made gluten free. There was good range of choice with more choices on the dinner menu.

The staff was very friendly. If you are a beer fan, they have an outstanding beer menu. We were surprised to see that there was only one other group in the whole place. We can't see why this place wouldn't be packed.

We started out with an appetizer called Nataing. It was ground pork simmered in a thin sauce of coconut milk, garlic, peanuts and probably fish sauce. The gluten free version was served with rice cakes for dipping. The flavor pallet was like a savory Thai iced tea.

There were three soups on the menu that all looked good, so we ordered one of each. Each was excellent, and we all preferred one of the three. There was B'baw Mouan, listed as "the essential Cambodian rice soup." It had a thick rice base, like a potato soup and had chicken, fried garlic, and lime. It also came with cilantro, so if you don't like that, ask them to leave it off. The second soup was Somlah Machou with big shrimp and tomato slices. It was like a Thai Tom Yum soup, but tangier. It was delicious, but even better with a dollop of the red hot sauce our waiter recommended. Finally was the Soupe Phnom-Penh "Kuy Tieu." Our waiter called it the healthiest of soups. It had a slice of pork cutlet, rice noodles and bean sprouts.

 

That might have been enough for lunch, but we had came for variety, so we got two entrees: A chicken dish with a lemon curry sauce called Poulet À La Citronnelle, and a beef dish called Loc Lac. The chicken was served with sautéed vegetables and the beef with a bed of greens. Both were amazing with meat that was melt-in-your-mouth tender. It's hard to imagine better dishes, but our waiter said the non-gluten free version of the Loc Lac was even better.

Since everything was so good, we splurged on dessert. We got a traditional coconut custard and a flourless chocolate cake. Both were rich and tasty. The chocolate tasted like fudge and we tore through it. The custard was notably not overpowered by coconut flavor like we prefer and also had the right silky texture that is so hard to get in restaurant custard.

Overall, Elephant Walk gets five stars from us for both the food and the friendly attentiveness they showed to our gluten free needs. It is a place that deserves to be busier.