Overview of Gastronomic Delights

The purpose of this travelogue is to share that dining out in Siem Reap’s Central Business District (CBD) need not be expensive. We spent on the average US$20 per meal, including drinks, for five persons. The amounts ranged from US$15 in street food stalls up to US$30 in not so pricy restaurants. The only exception was the US$50 for our farewell dinner.

Three rules of thumb we followed in selecting eateries were: (1) recommended by hotel staff and/or tourist guide; (2) dining places where local people and back-packing foreign tourists congregate; and (3) simply trusting our instincts. Along the course of our seven-day stay in Siem Reap, we have visited 13 eateries within its CBD. I have presented here a narrative of our dining out experience based on the types of meals: (1) breakfast; (2) lunch; (3) dinner, including late night snack; and (4) coffees and dessert. I have tried to indicate the exact location, wherever possible, if not a reference land mark.

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Breakfast

Given our scheduled tours on most days, we opted to take breakfast at our hotels. At Bokre Angkor Hostel (first hotel at Svay Dangkum Commune, #363 Taphul Village, my wife (Lita) and I usually shared the ‘The Bokre Platter’ (US$4) that consist two pieces each of the following: eggs, bacon, Kampot pepper sausage and toasts. We also liked the US$3 ‘Classic Pancakes’ that are served with honey and butter as well as the US$2 ‘Vegetable Omelet’ made of scrambled eggs mixed with bell and black peppers, tomatoes and onions. Our children preferred a variety of Asian fried rice (Figure 1), flavored drinks and noodles (meat choices are beef, chicken and pork) with price ranging from US$2 to US$2.50.

At The Orientation Lodge (second hotel at Sok San Road G13, Svaydongkum Village), our family’s run-away favorite was ‘Egg Benedict’ (Figure 2) that consists of two halves of an English muffin topped with a poached egg accompanied by bacon, sausage, hollandaise sauce, butter and fruit jam. For US$2 and with nice presentation by its chef, it is a damn bargain as the order comes with a bonus of fresh fruits! Our 3 children liked ‘Egg Benedict’ so much that they ordered 5 sets just for themselves on our last day! The banana pancake (Figure 3) and French toast (Figure 4) were also good. Outside, I once tried a US$0.50 French bread with pork from an ambulant vendor, which was not bad.

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Lunch

Lunch in this context refers to all mid-day meals. As we were moving a lot, we ate our lunch mostly in fast foods and/or ambulant street food stalls. Fruit shakes here are reasonably-priced at US$1. While the children preferred avocado, my wife and I opted for lesser-known fruits in the Philippines such as dragon fruit and passion fruit.

We had a late lunch at an unmarked food stall (Figure 5) at Avenue Pokambor near Pub Avenue (across Amazon signage). Our family feasted on grilled pork and chicken (Figure 6) as well as a variety of fried rice, veggies and noodles. Average menu costed only US$1 each.

As recommended by our tour guide, we wanted to try the popular ‘Pi Phop Aha Restaurant’ located at National Road 6 in Kron Village. Unfortunately, it was closed for lunch and we were already running late. Hence, we just barged into a nearby fast food stall with Khmer name (that we could not understand) plus the number 333. We got lucky as this was the best-tasting seafoods rice (Figure 7) we ate. Menus were relatively cheap at US$1.50 on the average.

We ordered room service meal at the ‘The Orientation Lodge’ for lunch during our last day. The kids tasted mushroom soup (Figure 8) as a starter. We tried baked fish with Sandan spices (Figure 9) and spicy prawns linguine (Figure 10). Although each main dish costed US$6, the yummy taste was worth the price.

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Dinner and Night Snack

We had more time for dinner and we took the opportunity to explore a variety of Khmer and western cuisine. The first restaurant we tried was ‘Phiphop Aha Bok’ (Figure 11) that is located at Taphul Street, Taphul Village, Svay Dangkum Commune. (Nearby establishments as reference landmarks include the Bopha Pollen Hotel and Xing Angkor Hotel.) It offers very nice barbecues, particularly pork, beef and shrimp (Figure 12). It also sells a variety of fried rice and noodles. It has a variety of cold drinks including the ones with a ‘gimmick’ of injection (Figure 13); my daughter Zarina Hannah ordered strawberry flavor. Average price is US$1.50. The staff was quite hospitable; they cooked barbecued meat for my sons ahead of scheduled time when they visited again prior to lunch time.

On the same night, we dropped by an ambulant stall vendor without name at National Road No. 6. It was only few hundred meters away from the 5-star Sokha Angkor Resort near the Sivatra Street Junction. Earlier, my children (Figure 14) befriended the stall owner when they ate their midnight snack at the said stall on the night of our arrival (Sunday, 16 December 2018). My sons ordered US$1 each of take away noodles (Figure 15 and Figure 16) as well as tofu and fried rice. The owner spoke fluent English who openly expressed his admiration to the Philippine boxing legend, Senator Manny Pacquiao. He said that they stopped selling food whenever they watched Pacquiao’s boxing matches!

On the second night, we tried the ‘Noodle House’ (Figure 17) located at #363 Taphul Village. It is in the same street address as Bokre Angkor Hostel that intersects in the other highway. It specializes in noodles and rice-based meals, with most dish costing US$2. We tried several noodles soup with beef (Figure 18), chicken, fish and pork rice; we likewise sampled the combination wonton soup and cold drinks.

The third dinner happened at ‘Ly Ly Restaurant’ a fusion eatery of Chinese, Khmer and Thai dishes. It is located at Sivutha Street, Mondol 11 Village near Lucky Mall Super Market. It has the best fruit shakes in terms of tastes and variety, each costing about US$1.50. We sampled tom yam (Figure 19), fish amok (Figure 20), several types of noodles and sautéed veggies. Moreover, we partook pineapple fried rice (Figure 21) and seafoods fried rice (Figure 22). The following day, we also sampled seafood noodles (Figure 23) served only during day time and Basil fried rice (Figure 24). The average cost of meals was US$2.

Our fourth dinner was held at the ‘Pagoda Café’ also located at Sok San Road G13 Svaydongkum Village. This restaurant is directly beside ‘The Orientation Lodge’. My wife and children sampled a variety of Asian noodles (Figure 25) and fried rice (Figure 26 and Figure 27). I partook a grilled river fish (Figure 28) with a vinegar-tasting dip. The tastes of most were reasonably good. Most of the dish costed US$2.

Fifthly, we dined at a Street Food Stall (Figure 29) at the junction of the Night Market Road and Sivutha Boulevard. Foods we ordered included mixed vegetables, seafoods fried rice and noodles, grilled chicken (Figure 30) and sautéed beef (Figure 31). Most dishes costed US$1.50 per order. We ordered grilled squid (US$1.50) and fruit shakes (US$1.00/cup) at the nearby food stalls.

For our sixth dinner, we ate at the ‘Reak Srhey Restaurant’ (Figure 32), also along Sok San Road G13 in Svaydongkum Village near Temple Mart. We interviewed the enterprising owner wearing two hats: a Tuk Tuk driver by day and a restaurant manager at night. It is a fusion restaurant of reasonably-tasting Cambodian, Thai and western food. We ordered the following: fried frogs (Figure 33); fried fish (Figure 34), fried shrimp (Figure 35) and Amok fish (Figure 36) from Tonle Sap Lake; seafood and pork fried rice (Figure 37); and fruit platter. Prices ranged from US$1.5 for fried rice and up to US$3 for fried frogs and fish.

Our seventh and last dinner was held at ‘The Orientation Lodge’. The specialty menus we ordered included: Sandan’s specialty which is a combination of Khmer Beef Lok, grilled freshwater prawn and stir-fried morning glory (US$12) (Figure 38); fish amok – steamed bar fish in coconut cream (US$6) (Figure 39); pan seared pork chops (US$7) (Figure 40); spicy prawns linguine (US$6); and pan seared fish fillet with curry sauce (US$6) (Figure 41). These dishes all looked good as the chef made relatively intricate presentation; more importantly, they tasted quite good. Our total bill was the highest at US$50 – what the heck, we just treated ourselves for a change from scrimping for food money!

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Dessert and Beverages

We went to several eateries for dessert and beverages, hot and cold. Our children particularly liked ‘Swensen’s, an American-based ice cream house which is situated at The Heritage Walk, National Road 6. We sampled various types of ice cream flavors (Figure 42, Figure 43 and Figure 44) and crepes. The lowest cost of each order was US$6. At the Ly Ly Restaurant mentioned earlier, the mango with sweet sticky rice was a yummy dessert (Figure 45).

‘Phlov Coffee’ (Figure 46) is located right across ‘The Orientation Lodge’. We sampled fruit smoothies (strawberry and passion fruit) (Figure 47) and cold coffee. Most drinks are priced at US$2.50. We likewise tried hot and cold coffee drinks at ‘The Orientation Lodge’. The cheapest beverage drinks in this establishment costed US$1.50.

For dessert at the ‘Night Market’, my daughter Hannah went at the ‘Fried Ice Cream Rolls’ stall (Figure 48) with Khmer signage. She only tried the vanilla ice cream (Figure 49), which she said was not bad. I was tempted to try some exotic food like fried scorpions and bugs (Figure 50) – but chickened out at the last minute!

Parting Words

Overall, our one-week stay at Siem Reap, Cambodia, from 16-23 December 2018 was a great family bonding time. Economics-wise, we got the value for the hard-earned money that we spent for food. Hopefully, this experiential sharing may provide planning and budgeting insights that overseas family get-together could be both economically-affordable – food-wise –  and provide quality time for bonding with the millennials. #

Copyright ©Michael D Pido