Cambodian food was a funny one, we definitely weren't as blown away by it generally as we were in Thailand. It also felt much harder to find affordable street food options. So we found ourselves eating in restaurant places more often, which isn't what we prefer! And generally it all came out much expensive than Thailand. We were getting Pad Thai or Pad Krapows for about £1.20-50 quite consistently, and in Cambodia the cheapest meals we could find were about $3 (£2.40).
That being said, we did have some pretty unreal food during our month there and had some real memorable meals!
Khmer BBQ and Hot Pot buffet, $10 per person - Siem Reap
We spent Christmas in Siem Reap, and although we're not massive Christmas people, we wanted to do something to celebrate the day and do something a big different. So we went for our first ever BBQ and Hot Pot buffet. You take a seat around a camping stove, with a hot pit dish in the center and a hot grill circled around it. You're then shown to the buffet station and given trays to fill up with your meat, veg, sides or choice. There was an array of seafood (some still alive!), usual pork, chicken, beef etc and also some crocodile. The veg section was huge, full of various mushrooms, pok choi's, and corns. We were a particular fan of the sides section, stocking up on fried rice, noodles, spring rolls etc.
We first picked up just a few bits of meat and some veggies, keeping it small to start with, and head back to our table. Cooking our food was surprisingly stressful!! Navigating the hot pot, the grill, controlling heat, moving and replacing foods around, while also eating things when they're done?! We soon learnt the error of our ways... we were quietly cooking away 2-3 things at once, and going up to refill dishes every few minutes, while one of us monitored the cooking station. While all the locals took STACKS of food trays to their tables, threw on mounds of meat and veg to cook all together and could just leave it cooking away wirh much lower maintenance. We soon copied suit, and got the hang of the process.
Overall we really really enjoyed this experience, something new and different and something we definitely do again!
The highlight was definitely when Chris dropped a cooked prawn into his newly pour glass of beer though and subsequently had to fish (no pun intended) out bits of prawn shell and scrap off an oily skin from the top of his beer😆🤣
Fish Amok, $5 - Siem Reap
We took a visit to one of the dinner highlights I had when I was in Cambodia in 2020, Tevys Place. Tevys Place is a very well known restaurant in Siem Reap and a wonderful social enterprise championing women's rights, providing education for children and is part of the Cambodia Ireland Changemaker network.
Their food is also delicious! I had a Fish Amok, which is a national dish of Cambodia. A thick and creamy curry sauce, with white fish, cooked and served in a banana leaf bowl. I had a few fish amoks throughout or visit to Cambodia but this one definitely stood out!
Fried chive cakes, $0.50, Siem Reap
For days in Siem Reap we'd seen street vendors frying these round or square green things, totally clueless as to what they are! We eventually decided to give them a go, and learnt they were two types of chive cakes. Still not sure why/how the two types were different, other than the round ones having much larger, chunkier bits of chive, while the square ones were much softer and doughier!
We actually really enjoyed them though. Super greasy, super stodgy, but real taste. Like a chive flavour fried bread?😅 and for £0.40, we couldn't complain!
Two ducks burgers, $6, Koh Rong
Now this, this was a NYE treat of a home comfort! This was the first time we'd eaten real western touristy food in the whole time we'd been away and oh myyyyy was it unreal!! On the tiny Island of Koh Rong Sanloem, on the micro bay of M'Pai Bay, was this delicious pub servicing burger that put Brewdog burgers to the test!
Everyone from the hostel was heading out for a big NYE celebration and so we knew we'd need to have a good meal so all decided to treat ourselves. And a treat it was!! Months later I am still thinking about this burger!
Hand pulled noodle soup and fired dumplings $3.25 a dish, Kampot
When we drove in Kampot I spotted this place from the bus window and thought it looked decent! When we looked it up on Google, we were blown away by the glowing reviews, so decided to try it out.
This place served a variety of noodle, soup and dumpling combinations, with each dish about $3-$3.50. They had most reviews for their fried pork dumplings and just how delicious their hand pulled noodles are, so we of course had to try these both out. We went for a beef noodle soup, a chicken noodle soup, and their fried pork dumplings (which were huge!). The hand pulled noodles were quite thick, in a good way and had such a nice bite to them. We absolutely loved them. And wow, the dumplings - super crispy dry wonton skin, packed full of well seasoned pork. What made them though was the unreal garlic soy dip they came with. Which was so well loved, they sold it by the jar!
Simons Indian $18 all together, Kampot
Quite possible one of the best Indians I've ever had! This came as a recommendation from a local we made friends with at a bar one night, and it really came through.
We went here with the intention of just "getting a curry to share with some rice, and maybe a naan each". That didn't go to plan🤣 we ordered two rice, two naans, lentil daal, a chicken madras and some cauliflower Gobi. Oops. We were STUFFED after all this food, and actually couldn't quite finish it all. But holy moly it was so good. The curries were rich and flavourful, the naans were really large and a right balance of doughy and crispy. But the cauliflower gobi was a show stopper. At home, we have a vegetarian Indian restaurant that sells chilli cauliflower gobi, which is hands down my favourite takeaway choice, so was keen to try this. It didn't come in a spicy sauce like at home, but it was still delicious. Such a great alternative to things like chicken pakora.
1kg crab, squid and prawn feast, $9, Kep (near Kampot)
This dinning experience is maybe one of my favourite so far on the whole of our trip and one I'll remember. I wrote a bit about this experience in my blog post from Kep/Kampot, but essentially we visited a well known fresh crab and seafood market in a small town caller Kep, and for my first time ever bought fresh crab and had it cooked right in from of us.
This experience involved lots of prior research for me, as I had no idea how to order crab, what I was looking for, what I should expect to pay, nor how I should ask for it to be cooked. It ended up actually being quite an easy experience though, we found a seller with some clean, fresh looking produced and asked for 1kg (as we'd read this was good for 2 people) of crab, prawn and squid. He then offered to cook it for us, in a spicy tomato sauce, right in front of us.
We paid an extra $1 for two portions of rice, and so for $9 in total, we sat and ate an massive, unreal feast of fresh crab, prawn and squid. It was a messy meal, but an incredible one! It definitely resparked a love for seafood🫶
Cold peanut noodles with tofu, $4.5, Katie
This was an unexpected discovery, but a delicious one!
We spent a few days in a very quiet, non-touristy town called Kratie, known for the endangered dolphins in the mekong river that runs through town. Being not very touristy, there wasnt many food options. However, Street Three Eatery was one of two very highly rated restaurants in the area. Ran by Australian Expats, street three specialised in vegetarian healthy foods. We ended up eating here 3 times in our short visit to Kratie!
The dish that stood out the most was the cold peanut noodle salad with tofu. At home, one of my favourite meals to make is spicy peanut noodles, but they'rehot. So I was very curious about the idea of that dish, but cold? With tofu, something I've not typically enjoyed much. But oh my, it was amazing!! Such a delicious combination of textures, tastes and temperatures! The cold noodles were coated in a thick creamy peanut sauce, but topped with cold, crisp and raw veg like beansprouts and red cabbage. It just worked so well! Plus, the grilled tofu was wonderful!! And it sparked my new love for tofu (I've eaten a LOT of tofu in Vietnam!)
Thinking about this dish now, I'm excitedto try and replicate this at home once I'm back. Would make a perfect lunch dish in the summer!
Pad Krapow $2.5 phnom penh
There isn't too much to say about this, other than it was a much needed step back into Thai food, and specifically our favourite Thai meal!
We found food in Phnom Penh underwhelming, overly touristy and overpriced. So spent a long time looking for a good, affordable, authentic spot for food. And on our last day stumbled across this place literally 3 minutes from our hostel 🙄 of course. And it just happened to do our favourite Thai dish!! And for $2.50.
I went for a crispy pork belly Krapow, rather than ground pork, and it was delicious!! Exactly like the ones we had in Thailand. Although, we definitely had lost our spice tolerance throughout our 4 weeks in Cambodia 😅
Grilled pork and a roll, $4 total, Phnom Penh
We also found street food in Phnom Penh generally underwhelming, touristy and expensive. Even in the famous riverside nightmarket. However, thanks to tik tok, we found this delicious food cart in the center of town.
For $4 we got 6 bbq pork belly skewers cooked right in front of us on red hot coals, two plates of pickled radish, carrot and cucumber, to eat with warmed baguettes. It forever baffles me how the most simple foods can taste so delicious!! I think it comes down to the details of ingredients and how they're prepared and combined. If the pork wasn't perfectly charred on the edges, or hadn't been cooked over coals, and without the perfect balance of sour and spice taste to the pickled veg side dish, this dish wouldn't hit as well as it does. It's the combination of all those elements that just pull these dishes together.
This sandwich also just got us incredibly excited to head to Vietnam 2 days later and indulge in Banh Mi's!
Well, that was Cambodias food highlights! I've written a number of other blog posts about our time in Cambodia if you'd like to read about things, not only food related! If you're only here for food, I'll be writing a (maybe extended) top food moments in Vietnam too. Although, I am quite behind on posts, so stay tuned for that, I'll share when I can
🫶
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