Eat... Drink ... Cambodia !!!

One of the things about owning coffee table books is that they are extremely persuasive – with their ‘picture perfect’ pictures and poetic description of locations/culture/cuisine et al. Our Cambodia trip was triggered by one such ‘100 things to ***** before you kick the bucket’ books.

Cambodia is much more than Angkor Wat - there is also Khmer food, other temples like Angkor Thom, Bayon,etc ...Khmer food, picturesque beaches, placaes .... Khmer food – you get the drift ! 

Khmer food, much to my surprise was was very different from its neighboring cuisines. Since Cambodia shares boundaries with Thailand and Malaysia, I always thought Khmer food would be ‘need-cold-water-next-morning’spicy. But Khmer food’s after effects are much milder, without making it any less flavorful. Not sure if it’s because of the Buddhist influence of wishing for peace and tranquility in every facet of life :):).

In my culinary quest I had a ‘short’-list of things I wanted to try in Cambodia – Amok trei, Khmer curry, Loc Lac, roadside snacks (read bugs and insects), amphibians (read frogs) et al.

Special Beef Noodle Soup !!!

My tryst with local food began in Phnom Penh (ya, like I was going to remain hungry going in and out of Siam Reap).

It started with The Most Amazing Pho I've had till date ...in a small roadside restaurant called ‘Special Beef Soup and more’ on ‘Preah Ang Makhak Vann’ road near the Royal Palace. Pho – a Vietnamese soup made from chicken / beef broth - has always been one of my favorite meals on cool California evenings. But this Pho was something else !!! The broth was so much more flavorful, the meatballs were so succulent and the add-ons – chillis, bean sprouts, basil, saw tooth herb (that was a new addition), sliced onions, lime and coriander leaves were all so fresh. It made the whole pho-eating experience divine. Unarguably the BESTEST Pho I have ever had !! It was so GOOOD that I dragged wifey to the same place on our way out of Cambodia – but they were out of Pho @ 8 30 PM !!! Guess good things never last.

AMOK and Khmer Curry @ Khmer Kitchen

In Siam Reap - After spending the whole day exploring the ruins and temples of Angkor, the best place to unwind in the evening is Pub street in Siem Reap. It’s actually a ‘restaurant’ street with 1 pub – ‘ANGKOR WHAT’ and a whole bunch of great eating joints like Khmer Grill, Khmer Family, Soup Dragon, Khmer Kitchen etc.



On day 1 we tried the highly recommended ‘Khmer Kitchen’ – and knocked off Amok and Khmer Curry off the list. The Amok Trei - said to be the Khmer national dish, was simple heavenly, delicate fish, cooked in a thick coconut curry to perfection & served with steamed rice. The Khmer curry on the other hand was very similar to an Goan Xakuti curry – perhaps because wifey ordered it in the ‘veg’ option :).

Lil' Frogie did not make it :(

The other 2 nights we ate at the Pub Street and each day was quite wonderfully surprising. I say surprising because one would not expect grilled frog to taste so similar to grilled chicken :).
Another wonderful snack / dessert to try post dinner were the crepes made by the local vendors on either side of Pub street. Its filled with the usual suspects – bananas and chocolate syrup and hot off the hotplate, it’s really a fitting ending to dinner.

Giggling away to glory !!

Another ‘must-do’ experience is get treated by the ‘Dr. Fish’. So here is the idea, there is a 3 feet X 6 feet glass tank, filled with some fish (not piranha – proudly announces the board on top the shop). This is surrounded by benches on all sides to sit on. One roll’s up his pants – even better if you are in shorts, and goes knee deep in to the water while sitting on these benches. And then, its dinner-time… for the fishes!!! They nibble at your feet, eating away the dry skin and leave you ‘clean’. I can tell you one thing, ‘Clean’ – I don’t know; but exhausted from laughing my heart out – ABSOLUTLY !!! The reason is that this whole process is so ticklish that you would be spitting your guts out laughing :) :) :)

Bugs Bunny :)

Ah- I almost forgot – my roadside snacks. On the 1st evening, back from Angkor Wat to Siem Reap, I bugged our guide to take us to a shanty for some bugs. Now seeing fried, roasted, sautéed creepy-crawlies may look fun on TV, but when you see a heaps of maggots, grasshoppers, beetles bang under your nose, even the brave hearts looks for an honorable way out !!! But then having travelled more than 2000 miles, I want not going to chicken out. So I popped the most clean looking beetle in to my mouth – not bad at all I tell you. Crunchy, salty and sweet at the same time, just like peanuts. The guide told me that each bug had their own different flavor – and I thought – If Forrest Gump was made in Cambodia, his mother would say – ‘Now look here darlin’- life is like a box of crawlies; you never know what the next one is gonna taste like..’ :) :) …. Now that’s something I was not going to pass by the next time.