Food, price more than cover up decor's flaws
Golden Lake Restaurant
38 Bennett St., Lynn
Telephone: 781-596-3860
Hours: Daily, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Credit cards accepted
No handicapped access
Since March, I've become a frequent diner at Mittapheap, a Cambodian restaurant near the Lynn
But to truly understand the origins of Mittapheap, I traveled to Golden Lake Restaurant last week - an old diner that sits parallel to the Lynnway, alongside car repair shops. This is Lynn's oldest Cambodian restaurant, and is run by Samal Om and Nath Soung - who left the killing fields of Cambodia in the early 1980s for Lynn. In 1993, the Om family opened the Full Moon in this former diner, and built up a loyal clientele before selling it in 1998. Then they opened Mittapheap just a mile away on Western Avenue, before selling it in 2004. That year they repurchased the diner, and called the restaurant Golden Lake.
The diner has the feel of a greasy spoon and could use some paint on the walls. Except for the TVs that hang on opposing walls and offer up CNN all day, there's little atmosphere in the 60-seat restaurant. And one who is used to fine dining might get cold feet given the lack of amenities. But despite its worn look, remember: It's all about the food at Golden Lake. And here, there are more than 100 items on the menu, and a person can eat like royalty for $20.
Nearly obsessed with Mittapheap's deep fried fish, I ordered the deep fried tilapia ($13.50). At Golden Lake, they deep-fry the entire fish in peanut oil for 10 minutes, then cover it with a delicious sweet and sour sauce. The fish is topped with stir-fired tomatoes, onions, and green and red peppers. This is a superb dish that measured up to Mittapheap's serving.
The vegetable pad Thai ($6.25) was a pleasing medley of scallions, bean sprouts, eggs, and rice noodles - which were steamed and then stir-fried.
If you like black mushrooms, the bean curd and mushrooms ($7) should be right up your alley. The mushrooms are a bit gamey but are quite filling, and absorb the flavor of the bean curd sauce. The tofu was lightly fried, and proved bland but also filling.
We needed greens on the table and the stir-fried Chinese watercress ($8.50) brought the meal to a whole new level. It's easy to get lost in all of the meat and seafood dishes they cook here, but this offering could have served as an entire meal. The watercress was sautéed in a garlic sauce, heated to a perfect level, and was quite satisfying.
There was more sautéed food to come and we eagerly embraced the crispy egg noodles ($6.25) served with stir-fried broccoli, carrots, baby corn, and Chinese mushrooms.
Given the challenging economic times, it makes much more sense to visit the mom and pop restaurants where the owners cook the food. Sure, they could redo the place and probably bring in more customers, but these people are focused on the food. And that's all right with me.
S. A. ROSENBERG
