Eating Out

Rice and fish are the basic food items among the Khmer people. Famous classical Khmer specialty widely enjoyed up to now are: Nhaom (a popular cuisine comprises of vinegar, dried or salted fish and herb and vegetable); Kor Kor ( normally cooked with fish and a mix of vegetables ); Amok (fish - or chicken - curry, cooked in a banana leaf); Samlor Machu (vinegar soup cooked with fish and mixed with a variety of vegetables). Other dishes cooked with pork, chicken, beef arealso the main diets. Chinese and Western menus are commonly available in the capita of Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville.

There is still a strong French colonial influence, with lots of bread shops selling filled baguettes for breakfast.

Cambodian food does not use curry powder in most of its dishes, even though the English menu may translate "spice paste" as curry for lack of a better term.  

Fruits such as bananas and oranges are picked when ripe and sweet, so they taste different, and better, than what you might be used to.  Purchasing these fruits from a roadside stand is safe for your health as they are enclosed in a thick skin.  Another fruit surprise is a green or purple oval fruit slightly larger than a mandarin orange called "milk fruit" that tastes like a new almond - one does not eat the skin, only the soft insides (much like kiwi).  It has pits inside that are not eaten.