"Restaurant Pyongyang", Phom Penh, Cambodia
In addition to its other activities the North Korean government operates a chain of reasonably-priced family style restaurants. This Saturday, Santa Mastermind gave a group of friends and me the opportunity, nay, distinct pleasure and privilege to have a Christmas holiday dinner at "Restaurant Pyongyang", at #400 Monivong Blvd in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
We called ahead and made a reservation for about 15 people with no trouble; the dining area is a single large room which looked like it could seat about 100 people, with a small stage and video screen in one corner. No portraits of Dear Leader on the wall, although there were a few pictures which seemed to be previous waitstaffs.
We were greeted at the door by a North Korean woman dressed in a traditional-style light blue chiffon dress. The waitstaff were six attractive, early-twenties women from Pyongyang with identical blue chiffon outfits, haircuts, height, and body type. These five appeared to run the entire operation - taking orders, busing tables, and processing payments. One of our party thinks he might have seen "an elder figure" when we first came in but the rest of us aren't sure. At first they were polite but formal, not exactly friendly but they seemed to warm to us as the meal progressed. It was my impression that each of them specialized in a language - the English-speaking one took the lead at our table but passed my Japanese business card to another waitress for translation.
At the table we were presented with a "menu", actually a photo album with cover art reading "Great Things: Most of us will never do great things, but we can do small things in a great way." Each menu page featured four 3x5" glossy color prints per page, each marked in Korean, English, and Chinese. The entrees ranged from $4 for simple dishes like kim chi fried rice to $25 for "Boiled Dan Go Gi" which one of our party said was dog "country style beef" according to my Korean sister-in-law. The menu included some unusual items such as "Roasted cow inmost on a spit" ($16), "Mashed Pork Paw" ($8), and "Steamed Sundae" ($8) which was actually some kind of black sausage. As our menus were presented we were offered "Angnoesansam Liquor", an 80-proof liquor with ginseng root in the bottom. At $40 per bottle it was very pricey and, unless high-proof North Korean ginseng liquor is your thing. Smooth and with a little bite and pleasant ginseng overtones. We ordered kimchi, dumplings, beef skewers, spicy cold noodles, duck, fried fish, eggplant, and morning glory sprouts which were a lot like bok choi. Sort of a mix between the Korean barbecue that you can get in Koreatown LA and Chinese cooking.
After we were seated and dinner had been served the five waitresses began their performance. Ohhhhhh, the performance. The Dear Leader loves his all-singing all-dancing North Korean revue, and his waitresses are a shining credit to their nation. Come to Pyongyang Restaurant for the Angnoesansam, stay for the intricately choreographed, energetic, gracefully disturbing routines. They started things off with a Karaoke duet singing "Top of the World" in accented English with synchronized swaying and hand movements (video) then kicked things up a notch with one woman playing an electronic keyboard and singing a tune we didn't recognize while the remaining five did an elaborate synchronized dance (video). Three of the women did a singing/dancing number to a western song although I didn't recognize the tune (video). The final act was a "dueling banjos" style duet between keyboard and violin, with the violinist tearing through the piece with flawless ferocity (video). It was an evening of jaw-dropping, surreal entertainment like I have never seen before.
After the performance and as dinner was winding up we got the chance to talk to the women for a few minutes. They didn't seem at liberty to go out for drinks with us after closing up but they said in the time they'd spent in Cambodia they'd had the chance to see Ankgor Wat and get out of Phnom Penh for a while. I showed them some photos on my iPod Touch and showed them how to use the touch-sensitive interface which seemed to impress them. They said they hadn't arrived all six together, but at various times. One of our party said that they worked there without pay in exchange for advanced music and performance lessons, which seem to be paying off based on the performance we saw.
Without alcohol our dinner came to roughly $12 per person - expensive for Cambodia but well worth the money for westerners looking for an absolutely unique dining experience. Take new bills - for some reason they seemed especially concerned about accepting large-denomination bills which might be deteriorating or counterfeit.
I regret that Yelp.com does not allow the posting of foreign businesses, because I would without hesitation give it five stars. A must-see dining experience for anyone visiting Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
We called ahead and made a reservation for about 15 people with no trouble; the dining area is a single large room which looked like it could seat about 100 people, with a small stage and video screen in one corner. No portraits of Dear Leader on the wall, although there were a few pictures which seemed to be previous waitstaffs.
We were greeted at the door by a North Korean woman dressed in a traditional-style light blue chiffon dress. The waitstaff were six attractive, early-twenties women from Pyongyang with identical blue chiffon outfits, haircuts, height, and body type. These five appeared to run the entire operation - taking orders, busing tables, and processing payments. One of our party thinks he might have seen "an elder figure" when we first came in but the rest of us aren't sure. At first they were polite but formal, not exactly friendly but they seemed to warm to us as the meal progressed. It was my impression that each of them specialized in a language - the English-speaking one took the lead at our table but passed my Japanese business card to another waitress for translation.
At the table we were presented with a "menu", actually a photo album with cover art reading "Great Things: Most of us will never do great things, but we can do small things in a great way." Each menu page featured four 3x5" glossy color prints per page, each marked in Korean, English, and Chinese. The entrees ranged from $4 for simple dishes like kim chi fried rice to $25 for "Boiled Dan Go Gi" which one of our party said was dog "country style beef" according to my Korean sister-in-law. The menu included some unusual items such as "Roasted cow inmost on a spit" ($16), "Mashed Pork Paw" ($8), and "Steamed Sundae" ($8) which was actually some kind of black sausage. As our menus were presented we were offered "Angnoesansam Liquor", an 80-proof liquor with ginseng root in the bottom. At $40 per bottle it was very pricey and, unless high-proof North Korean ginseng liquor is your thing. Smooth and with a little bite and pleasant ginseng overtones. We ordered kimchi, dumplings, beef skewers, spicy cold noodles, duck, fried fish, eggplant, and morning glory sprouts which were a lot like bok choi. Sort of a mix between the Korean barbecue that you can get in Koreatown LA and Chinese cooking.
After we were seated and dinner had been served the five waitresses began their performance. Ohhhhhh, the performance. The Dear Leader loves his all-singing all-dancing North Korean revue, and his waitresses are a shining credit to their nation. Come to Pyongyang Restaurant for the Angnoesansam, stay for the intricately choreographed, energetic, gracefully disturbing routines. They started things off with a Karaoke duet singing "Top of the World" in accented English with synchronized swaying and hand movements (video) then kicked things up a notch with one woman playing an electronic keyboard and singing a tune we didn't recognize while the remaining five did an elaborate synchronized dance (video). Three of the women did a singing/dancing number to a western song although I didn't recognize the tune (video). The final act was a "dueling banjos" style duet between keyboard and violin, with the violinist tearing through the piece with flawless ferocity (video). It was an evening of jaw-dropping, surreal entertainment like I have never seen before.
After the performance and as dinner was winding up we got the chance to talk to the women for a few minutes. They didn't seem at liberty to go out for drinks with us after closing up but they said in the time they'd spent in Cambodia they'd had the chance to see Ankgor Wat and get out of Phnom Penh for a while. I showed them some photos on my iPod Touch and showed them how to use the touch-sensitive interface which seemed to impress them. They said they hadn't arrived all six together, but at various times. One of our party said that they worked there without pay in exchange for advanced music and performance lessons, which seem to be paying off based on the performance we saw.
Without alcohol our dinner came to roughly $12 per person - expensive for Cambodia but well worth the money for westerners looking for an absolutely unique dining experience. Take new bills - for some reason they seemed especially concerned about accepting large-denomination bills which might be deteriorating or counterfeit.
I regret that Yelp.com does not allow the posting of foreign businesses, because I would without hesitation give it five stars. A must-see dining experience for anyone visiting Phnom Penh, Cambodia.