24 - Champa Gardens - Oakland

2102 8th. Ave, Oakland CA, 94606, (510) 238-8819

Last Visit - February 2009

Champa Gardens website

Champa Gardens is a small South-East Asian restaurant in East Oakland. It's not too far from Oakland Highschool, but is nestled in a deep residentual area, away from East 14th/International Ave. But it actually thrives. I have eaten food from there twice now, I guess it's Laotian or Cambodian flavors, and have no complaints. 

The food is amazingly fresh. The lettuce wrapped rice is really good for starters. And their curry is really good. We had the pumpkin curry, which was a part of their specials menu. Lastly we had the stuffed chickenwings. They're odd things, stuffed veggies and chicken used to remake a wing. It was quite tasty though. 

It just makes you wonder about what is Cambodian food? What kind of ethnic niche does it have against Chinese, Thai, and Indian. Or is it one of those types that are caught in the middle? I'll have to investigate this some more. 

As take-out goes, this would be a very safe choice.