Kampuchea Restaurant in Manhattan

Nice windows that open to the street. Great on a beautiful spring day.
Man , this ain't nothin' but some pho for $15.00 a bowl ! Damn.

One of the great things about dining in New York are the fold in windows at the restaurants which allow the restaurants to be simply open air restaurants when the weather is nice. Kampuchea is a Cambodian restaurant on the lower east side that takes advantage of this great atmospheric detail (www.kampucheanyc.com 80 Rivington Street). However, the restaurant, though interesting, does not rise above the level of simple pho as may be found in typical Vietnamese restaurants but the prices charged are close to twice what one can usually pay for pho, even in Manhattan. Kampuchea does offer an interesting mussel dish in a coconut broth similar to that used for Tom Kha, the Thai soup. And the dessert was interesting, a chocolate mousse bathing in a cold soup of papaya puree. Certainly a nice atmosphere and a nice effort but to make it in the world of pho, the word is value, at least in my book.