food: Camber Montclair

Montclair Village has a new restaurant on Moraga Avenue, and it's great. Camber replaces the venerable Silver Palace restaurant. I happened by the grand opening celebration they had, attended by current district four city council member Annie Campbell Washington and former member and current mayor Libby Schaaf.

It's a nice space with a high ceiling. Husband and wife owners Irfan Jaffery and Linda Saechao made the front space a bar (with lots of TV screens for watching sports), and the main dining area is up a couple steps. Camber is their second restaurant; the first Camber Oakland is in Uptown on Telegraph. Camber is named for their kids, Camrin and Amber, who were at the grand opening. The food is mixture of cultures; according to Mimi Rohr's article, Saechao's family is Thailand and Laos, while Jaffery's is from Pakistan and Burma.

This past Friday, K and I got a chance to check Camber out for dinner. We started with drinks (Gingerita for K, Lagunitas IPA for me) and an order of Crab Rangoon. Then it was on to spicy Bouncing Tofu for me, and a really tasty Pad Si Ew for K. Everything was great, but left us too full to even contemplate dessert. Camber makes a great addition to Oakland's burgeoning restaurant scene and for us it's great to have another dining option close to home. We'll definitely eat there again, and will likely take advantage of the bar for watching sports that aren't on broadcast TV.

Camber Montclair celebrates grand opening in Montclair Village by Mimi Rohr San Jose Mercury News January 21, 2015.

More pictures from the grand opening and from dinner: