Foodivore's Cambodian pick

The food in Cambodia up until now has been nice but it took a French chef to deliver the best Cambodian food so far. We believe much of the food is 'dumbed' down for the tourist palate, mostly that of Japanese, Chinese and Koreans who flock here. With a free night on our hands and with the assistance of the interweb we discovered Cuisine Wat Damnak. With a dark rain cloud heading our way we step up the pace to find our dinner location...sadly going the wrong way and being stuck in the downpour. Arriving finally at dinner completely drenched (Tracey was not quite sure the value of blow drying her hair and dressing nicely for dinner, oh well), we were handed towels and menus. 

A couple of cocktails to begin, a Kaffir Lime and Lemon Basil Mojito and a Purple Dragon Fruit Sangria, things are looking up. The menu is a six course degustation. First course an amuse-bouche of a small pan fried fish, we were desperately hoping not the fish that had fed on Tracey's feet the day prior...they were about the same size.  The rest of the menu is below, the pork with crispy shank was particularly delicious but everything was fabulous, including the bottle of French wine (Pouilly-Fuisse). We hadn't had any wine in Cambodia as it is cheaper to drink cocktails (hardship).

We were told the names of the fruits offered as post-dessert, wish we wrote them down. They were presented with a salt(lime salt?)chilli/palm sugar mixture that variously emphasised/offset/complemented the fruits themselves.......one of which, by itself, was the eating equivalent of the notorious "cement mixer" cocktail. It completely dries out your mouth, thankfully we had wine to re-moisture.

Our research wasn't particularly thorough. Turns out that the chef has quite a long (12 year) and distinguished record in Cambodia, having been instrumental in spreading the word about local cuisine. We had a brief chat after dinner with him, but business was booming (justly so) and he was needed in the kitchen. We hope to get in touch later for some tips - especially the pork and the fish dishes.