Phnom Penh Noodle Shack

A rocky outcrop on a secret beach. A trail at Griffith. The fountains at The Americana. Every Angeleno needs that special place to run to when sh*t hits the fan. For us, it's Phnom Penh Noodle Shack, a family-run Cambodian noodle shop in Long Beach that treats customers like prodigal siblings who are home at last after far too long—even if you were there last week. 

Part of Phnom Penh's warmth comes from the food, of course. The menu essentially boils down to three main sections: noodle soups, rice porridge, and stir-fried noodles. If it’s your first time—or if you're in need of a metaphorical weighted blanket—go for one of the rice porridges. We love the sweetness of the Mo’s Special with ground pork, chicken, and beef ball. Whichever protein you choose, know you’ll be staring down a giant bowl of velvet. This is one of LA’s great dishes, and something we drive 90 minutes to eat without an ounce of hesitation.

Treat everything you order at Phnom Penh as a base for the restaurant's condiments and garnishes, like the plum sauce, sriracha, and pickled hot peppers sitting on each table. The stir-fried student noodles work well on their own, but when doused in a house garlic fish sauce, every nutty-salty flavor in the dish immediately cranks to eleven. 

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Dishes and condiments aside, we end up remembering our Phnom Penh meals by the tiny chats we've had with the people who work here. It's clear the staff wants everyone to find something they love. Your server might even pull up a chair to share their own personal dining preferences—how they like squeezing thick, spicy sambal oelek into their porridge instead of the sweeter sriracha, or suggesting you order rice noodles in your soup because they absorb the bone broth better than the egg noodles do.

Servers pulling up a chair to hang out with you? A bowl of edible velvet on a bad day? Maybe you're imagining a sleepy room where you'll have the place to yourself. Not at Phnom Penh Noodle Shack. This place is a Long Beach institution and a tentpole of the city’s massive Cambodian community—the largest in the world outside of Cambodia. And that means, come Saturday and Sunday mornings, expect wait times to be well over an hour. If you’re local, send the nearest friend over early to put a name on the waitlist—a little Venmo incentive never hurts—or do what we do and stick to weekdays. (The restaurant stays open from 7am-3pm daily.) This is when the place empties out a bit and you can sit alone with your thoughts and a bowl of warm broth like it's a $14 therapy session. 

So go ahead, show up on your worst day (in head-to-toe pajamas, if you must), and find your own little cove of comfort. You probably won't be the only one. Young families, church ladies, solo diners, and hungover college kids—everybody’s doing something similar here. We can't confirm if Phnom Penh is their favorite place to come exactly as they are. But it's certainly ours.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Mo's Special Rice Porridge

Whenever someone asks us about LA's great dishes, Phnom Penh’s rice porridge is always one of the first we rattle off. There are six varieties here, ranging from vegetarian to fish to a house special with spleen, liver, and blood, but our favorite is the subtly sweet Mo’s Special with ground pork, chicken, and beef ball. Be sure to ask for some sambal oeleks packets, too. This adds a nice kick of heat while also thickening up the broth a bit.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Phnom Penh Noodle Special

Another iconic dish in its own right. First, pick the noodle type (small rice noodles, big rice noodles, small egg noodles, big egg noodles, or mixed) and then decide whether you want the soup in the bowl or on the side. For us, it's always small rice noodles with soup on the side. We find the rice variety to be less bulky and better fit to absorb the broth, and keeping the soup on the side allows the broth to sit with the actual pork bone for longer. You can take the bone to-go, a full-on lottery win for any canine friends back home.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Cha Quai

These airy, deep-fried dough sticks are an essential part to any meal at Phnom Penh. They’re the first things to hit the table, and as hard as it will be to not completely finish them off in 60 seconds, leave some for later. They taste even better when dunked in the pork bone broth.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Student Noodles

Served as is, this giant plate of stir-fried rice noodles topped with bean sprouts, peanuts, and a protein (get the pork and shrimp combination) is a highlight dish at Phnom Penh. But when drenched with the sweet garlic fish sauce your server will bring out from the kitchen, it moves into the same tier as the porridge and noodle soup. If you’re with a group, make this dish a priority.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Loat Cha

Another option from the stir-fried section, we love this dish because of the spongy, tube-like pin noodles that soak up the flavors of the various toppings. That includes fried garlic, bean sprouts, peanuts, onions, the house garlic sauce, and a protein. Your meat choice is fully up to you, but ordering it with a fried egg on top is non-negotiable.