My name is Nagai, and I work at the Suo-Oshima satellite office.
Here in Suo-Oshima, even though it's the rainy season, there isn't much rain, and it already feels like midsummer. Unlike urban areas, the ground isn't covered with asphalt, so there are days when it's cool enough in the mornings and evenings that you need long sleeves, but the sunlight during the day is incredibly strong! If you go outside without a hat, the back of your neck and your hands and feet will probably tingle... If you look up, the sunlight will make it difficult to keep your eyes open.
The men and women in the neighborhood work in the fields from 5am until 10am, and then stay home to avoid the heat until the evening, so in Chikamuro where I live, this is the season when the number of people I encounter during the day, which is already sparse, becomes even fewer.
In the summer, you want to eat something tasty to stimulate your appetite. So, following on from the last article on Setouchi Jam's Garden , I would like to introduce the Cambodian restaurant " O-KUN " as the second in my series on restaurants in Suo-Oshima.
I feel like eating it once a month.
It was my first time trying Cambodian food, and although it was spicy it was nostalgic.
If you hear Cambodian food and immediately think, "Oh, that's it," you're a real connoisseur. I myself had no idea what kind of food it was until last year. Even though it's also Southeast Asian, Cambodian food still leaves many people wondering about it compared to the already major Thai and Vietnamese cuisines, and the Indonesian cuisine that we hear about more and more now.
Now you can enjoy Cambodian cuisine in Suo-Oshima, known as the "Hawaii of the Setouchi"! This restaurant is run by a Cambodian chef from Cambodia. The name of the restaurant, "O-KUN," means "thank you" in Cambodian.
Now, let me introduce you to Okun's menu.
1. The first dish you should try is "Kuy Tieu"
First up, my favorite, Kuy Tieu.
At first glance, it is rice flour noodles in a mild soup reminiscent of the Vietnamese dish pho, but unlike pho, the stock seems to be made with pork. You can choose whether to have coriander or not, and adjust the spiciness by changing the amount of red spices on top, so you can finish it to your liking.
By the way, the kind young man who owns the shop will reply to an older woman who says, "I'd like some pho, please," with, "Pho, please!"
2. "Saimoan Donburi" - Easy for Japanese People to Eat
The next dish I would like to recommend is the "Simoan Bowl."
A generous amount of sweet and spicy stir-fried chicken and ginger on top of rice. If you omit the spicy spices, it may seem like "Japanese food?" at first glance, but it's a flavor that is familiar to Japanese people. The ginger is quite effective, and I often want to eat it in the winter.
3. New menu items: "Sai-chul Donburi" and "Soup Curry"
Finally, we would like to introduce this year's new menu items: "Saichuru Donburi" and "Soup Curry."
Sai chul bowl is a pork version of rice bowl, and the soup curry, although it is curry, is not too spicy and is mild because it contains coconut milk, and is the perfect accompaniment to sai moan bowl or sai chul bowl, just like the miso soup that comes with oyakodon or katsudon.
Among the Monosus staff who visited Suo-Oshima, there were even some who said, "This is my favorite dish I've had on Oshima!", beating out the many other specialty dishes of Oshima such as local fish sashimi and mandarin orange hotpot... This new menu item is already a big hit.
Cooking everyday Asian cuisine is
Rim-kun is a friendly and hardworking guy.
Cambodian cuisine has a mild flavor that is similar to Japanese food...huh? Is this no longer an introduction to ethnic cuisine? (laughs)
That's right, unlike Thai or Korean cuisine, Okun's Cambodian cuisine doesn't require you to go out of your way to say, "Okay, let's go eat this food!"; you can go and eat it whenever you think, "I haven't been to Okun recently, so I think I'll have kway teav for lunch today." It's authentic, yet somehow nostalgic even for Japanese people, a casual Asian cuisine that makes you want to eat it.
That's why, in addition to tourists who come to Suo-Oshima to try Yamaguchi's first Cambodian cuisine (according to Nagai), you can also see many locals casually stopping by for lunch during their breaks from work. Thinking back, I think I've been to most of the shops in the town in the roughly year since I moved to Suo-Oshima, but I think I've been to Okun the most.
That's right, a restaurant with lots of local regulars is bound to be a hit!
The owner of Okun is Lim Pisay (nicknamed Lim-kun), who came from Cambodia. When the shop first opened, Lim-kun spoke beautiful standard Japanese, but now he speaks in a completely Oshima (Yamaguchi) dialect. That's because he speaks a lot with the locals.
The owner, Rim-kun, is always cheerful and refreshing. When he gets home, he is a father of three children!
For diners, the few minutes they spend chatting with the friendly Rim-kun while their food is being prepared after ordering is one of the spices that makes this restaurant's food so delicious.
Lim's goal for the future is to open his own restaurant, which has a spacious kitchen and comfortable seating, instead of the current cramped one. When he does, he plans to serve not only Cambodian cuisine, but also Chinese cuisine, which he has been training in for 10 years since coming to Japan, so that more people can visit his restaurant frequently.
I heard that by continuing to take on challenges like this, he hopes to inspire other Cambodians and other foreigners, and young people in general, to pursue their own dreams.
We look forward to seeing the new, more spacious Oakun in the near future.
Rim-kun, I'm going to keep going and eat lots more!
O-KUN
1958-77 Nishikata, Suo-Oshima-cho, Oshima-gun, Yamaguchi Prefecture
TEL 080-3055-1867
https://tabelog.com/yamaguchi/A3506/A350603/35010453/
Business hours: 11:00-16:00 Closed: Wednesdays