Food in Phnom Penh

As I have mentioned on my Peace Corps Thailand blog, I’m a vegetarian. However, I’ll occasionally eat fish when traveling if it seems like the best way to enjoy a particular local cuisine. This was certainly the case in Cambodia!

Our first dinner in Phnomn Penh was eaten at the Khmer Boran Restaurant on the river, which had been recommended in the Lonely Planet. The recommendation was well deserved – that was some of our favorite food from the entire trip! We started with a light pomelo salad, which was very flavorful in a delicate way.

That was followed by two fish dishes – amok and fish with palm sugar. Amok is a Cambodian specialty featuring fish cooked in coconut milk with assorted flavors (lemongrass, basil, etc). It came served in a banana leaf wrapper and was fantastic. We vowed to eat as much of it as possible during our stay in Cambodia. The fish with palm sugar was almost as good, with a not-quite-sweet flavor.

We were each given a free serving of dragonfruit at the end of the meal, and the entire dinner was nicely accompanied by a shared bottle of Angkor Beer.

Our second day in Phnom Penh, between tourist activities, we decided to splurge on some amok for lunch. There are plenty of small restaurants in the neighborhoods along the Tonle Sap river, so we chose one near our guest house. We shared a plate of amok along with a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and both were quite good. This time the amok came on a plate in a curry form instead of in a banana leaf wrapper.

That evening, having slightly overspent our budget for the day, our dining goals included affordability and Tonle Sap River experience. North of the Grand Palace, there are a number of bars and restaurants lining the riverside park advertising amazingly cheap happy hour specials. We chose one that had 2-for-the-price-of-1 Angkor Beer on tap, with a good view of the activity along the river, and settled in to watch the sunset.

On the walk back to our guest house, we stopped at a noodle shop that appeared to be doing a good business with the locals. We tentatively approached the cook, an older woman positioned above a giant wok with piles of vegetables nearby, and Robert gave our orders in Cambodian. The food arrived just as ordered! We found two spots at a table, the locals showed us which sauces to add, and we were set. It was so good, and so cheap, that Robert went back for a second plate. Three big plates of noodles for just $1.25.