Berk’s Blog

Never rely on travel guides. For one, our 2006 Footprints guide to Cambodia, only one year out of date, provided very very low transportation cost figures compared to what we are really paying. Granted $25 for a car and driver for a day is pretty cheap by Western standards, but when told the going rate was only $10, that’s a pretty big jump.

Food was another point of contention; our guide books told us that the food was ordinary and unremarkable. Perhaps that is partially true, because the cuisine borrows heavily from Thai and Vietnamese influences, which are now well-known in the west. However, we’ve stuck to the Khmer selections on our various dining excursions, and have yet to be disappointed. Had we taken the guidebook’s description of Khmer cuisine to be 100% accurate, we may have been subsisting solely on happy herb pizza, which has been widely available in both cities on our trip (though we did not inhale…err…swallow).

Fish amok is considered by some to be the national dish of Cambodia. It is fish in a sweet and not-too-spicy green curry sauce, served with rice. It is very similar to Thai green curry dishes, but lacking the spicy kick (which can be added back in upon request). Lok lak, stir-fried beef with onions and whole peppercorns, has been another favorite. Perhaps the best of the bunch is kuyteav, a broth-based soup with rice noodles, meat (usually pork or beef), greens, sprouts, and cilantro. Very similar to pho, chile sauce or chile oil is added to give it as much of a kick as desired by the diner.

All aforementioned dishes taste even better when washed down by a $1 mug of locally-brewed Angkor draught beer.