Mekong Cat

More of an overgrown café than a restaurant, Mekong Cat is small, homely and heavily booked-up thanks to its excellent value and the quality of its unapologetic South-East Asian cooking. The plainness of the interior is enlivened by folksy artifacts and kitsch Asian record sleeves. The name refers to the iconic (now endangered) giant catfish found in the Mekong river bordered mostly by Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Like its elder sibling, the Kambuja restaurant in Marple, the cooking pulls together colourful dishes and flavours from these countries. The Cambodian recipes, in particular, cooked by head chef/owner Y Sok, have an authenticity conferred by generations of her own family tradition. 

The choice for vegans and vegetarians is especially wide, and includes a rich Cambodian-style curry with sweet potatoes, green beans, onions and bamboo, as well as a spicy lemongrass stir-fry with tofu or seitan. The crispy, invigorating Mekong salad is a go-with-everything must-order. Portions are generous but the vibrant food is neither heavy nor indigestibly rich. Fragrant rice-paper summer rolls are filled with rice noodles, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, mint and a protein of choice, while Laos-style pho based on a superb, intense beef broth is braised for hours and includes a choice of meats such as sliced brisket, meatballs, tendons or tripe. Alternatively, order the Cambodian pork noodle broth from Phnom Penh.

Among the non-broth noodles, there's an excellent rendition of Bangkok pad thai cooked with tamarind, palm sugar, salted radish, bean curd, Chinese chives and more, while kar ko with rice is a hearty Cambodian beef stewed with cinnamon, star anise, mild chilli and tomato paste, slow-cooked for four hours. To drink, there are South-East Asian beers, a few wine selections and shots of soju (a clear Korean spirit made from fermented rice).