Food journey into The Khmer Kingdom, Cambodia

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The beauty of Cambodia goes far beyond the famous Angkor Wat ruins or the charm of the Khmer people. One of the most pleasant surprises of Cambodia is the food. By blending subtle flavors and spices, Khmer cuisine sets itself apart from the many other styles of food in Southeast Asia. It is similar to Thai cuisine, but is distinctive in creating full flavor without the use of chili. (Khmer cuisine was established before the introduction of chili.) For someone who is a fan of flavor and not culinary burn the Khmer food is a perfect balance of pleasure and pain.

The Khmer culture has mastered the use of herbs and spices to create flavor without the use of fats and meats as well.

Drinking in CambodiaLiving in Cambodia is exceptionally cheap. Expect to pay around $1-1.5 for a beer. The local beers are worth drinking. Avoid the high priced Heinekein.

Wine is exceptionally expensive. A lot of places we visited had poor quality house wine available for $8-9USD. Not worth it at all. Not when you can get a cocktail for around $2.5. A lot of places also do happy hours, when you have a buy one get one free cocktail menu.

If you don’t feel like boozing it up then try out the smoothies. Coconut & banana and plain old mango smoothies where a huge hit. Super fresh fruit and an overly refreshing drink costing between $1-2USD each.

Like many areas of South East Asia, Cambodian cities and towns heavily rely on markets to supply the people with fresh produce. These are most definitely worth a look around. Be warned though, these open markets are a bit of an assault on the senses. You will see and smell a multitude of seafood, chicken, beef, ducks and pork just to name a few. Some times these items are still alive when you walk through and freshly available, if need be.

If you ever get the opportunity to have dinner with a Khmer family do it. Don’t question anything, just go ahead and have a wonderful meal. We were lucky enough to take part in a group dinner with a local Khmer family. The night started out with copious amounts of food, a few beers and lots of laughs. We ended up downstairs with the family members and neighbors drinking beer and singing Cambodian love ballads on a home karaoke machine. The food was shared around with members of the community.

Dishes to try-
Amok. Traditionally amok is a fish coconut curry. The general population of Cambodia has survived on a diet high in fish and rice. However in recent years chicken and pork amok have become exceptionally popular. If you walk into any restaurant you will see amok available. It tastes even better when served in a coconut!

Spring rolls– Try the taro spring rolls. These are vegetarian and best dipped in a curry sauce.

Lok Lak is a traditional Khmer dish, which is basically stir-fried beef slices (or pork) in a light brown sauce, served with rice and/or green salad and pepper sauce.

Tarantulas. Yup we went there. No visit to Penh Phnom is complete without a visit to the Romdeng Restaurant for a gracious plate of tarantulas. Romdeng is run by Mith Samlanh, which has worked to build the futures of former street children and marginalized young people in Phnom Penh since 1994. All the staff wear shirts which tell you if the staff member is a Student or Teacher. Just a side note that the food here is a bit more pricey then what you would normally pay in a Cambodian restaraunt. No complaining about this though, when you see the clean kitchens and understand the work that is being undertaken to train the students and provide them with a realistic and viable employment opportunities. We also visited the sister restaraunt, Friends, also in Phnom Penh.

Although noodles are also popular, almost every meal includes a bowl of rice. A wide range of curries, soups and stir fried are usually served with rice. If you find yourself in Siem Reap and are after some good Khmer food avoid Pub Street. However if you want to see drunker white tourists, dancing on tables and flashing their bits than this is the place for you. No need to pay to see nudey bits. By 9pm there are enough drunker tourists to give a decent show. Take the time to walk past Pub Street. There are numerous restaraunts offering beautiful Khmer cooking. We can highly reccomend the AnnAdyA Restaurant. If you have a spare afternoon take up a cooking class here. The facilities are spotless and you get a welcome cocktail on arrival. In  a two hour class we cooked and ate a three course meal. For an extra $5 you can buy a tee.

The food at restaurants was safe to eat. Many places had little notes at the bottom of menus to let you know that they used purified water to wash and cook in, as well as ice that was sourced from a reputable supply.

Cambodian culinary secrets are rarely written down; the recipes were instead handed down from mother to daughter. From an ancient origin has come a traditional cuisine of unsuspected treasures: a unique blend of flavors and colors that enhance the natural ingredients used.