One of the best things I’ve enjoyed here is noodle soup for breakfast. Take really fine Chinese noodles and choose your meat. Simple as that. It comes to the table piping hot with a side of spicy sauce, fresh bean sprouts and a wedge of lime. Mmmm good.
The eating technique is also pretty cool. Chopsticks in one hand, Asian spoon in the other and you use both implements simultaneously. I must say, I am getting really good with chopsticks. Funny though, most of the locals use forks and spoons now. Really easy to spot barangues (Westerners).
And there is always a pitcher of hot tea on the table, free of course. You can order coffee but it isn’t the greatest. It’s usually thickish stuff with a consistency like thin latex paint. Milk is almost always sweet condensed milk that sits at the bottom of the glass like a parfait. I didn’t like it at first but have gotten used to it.
Lunch is a big thing here. It’s a full two hours long, with eating in the first half and grabbing a nap in the second half. There’s this really good locals place just down from the office with excellent food. They even have the menu with English translation for the occasional barangue that wanders in. But me, I’m a regular. The one girl on staff who speaks English always waits on me. It’s just automatic.
The food is excellent with all sorts of soups, curries and stir-fries, from vegetarian to every kind of meat you can imagine, including eel, frog and snake (I haven’t ventured into that part of the menu yet). Of course, rice is always served in a big side bowl that sits covered on the table.
Khmers share their food with their friends. Typically they will dish up a mound of rice and then just a spoonful or so of the ordered food, unlike the rest of us who typically think the thing we’ve ordered is the main thing you eat. Khmer’s, and I suspect most from SE Asia, are here for the rice. It’s not uncommon to see leftovers on the table from the main course but the rice is gone.
Here in Phnom Penh you can eat Western style but it will cost about 3 to 4 times the cost of traditional foods. Both breakfast and lunch as described above cost about one dollar each, including tea. You would pay about 3 to 4 times or more than that amount if you insist on eating in a place that caters to Westerners.
There are the REAL local places which consist of a totally portable restaurant with mini-trestle tables, small plastic stools and portable barbecue stoves – I don’t eat there because hygiene is of reasonable concern. But many, many Khmer’s eat at these informal eateries. I prefer an open air restaurant spilling out of a business space onto the sidewalk, surrounded by potted plants, trestle tables, cheap plastic seats and loads of Khmer people who act somewhat surprised at my presence, and who seem genuinely pleased I’m there.
And of course there are more exotic foods to eat here. Take prahoc for example. It is known affectionately as fish cheese. It is made from very small fish that are gutted and deboned, then minced into a paste. The mince is put into large ceramic jugs (60 gallons or more), salt is added and it is allowed to ferment for 45 days. Yes, that's right, can you imagine the smell of this stuff as it breaks down and ferments for a month and a half? I've actually been to the fish paste factory in Battambang where there are about 200 of these vats going in various stages. After fermenting it is ready to be processed and so flavorings like chili are added. I have eaten it twice and it is really pretty good. After all, I eat moldy French cheese - same thing, right?
The eating technique is also pretty cool. Chopsticks in one hand, Asian spoon in the other and you use both implements simultaneously. I must say, I am getting really good with chopsticks. Funny though, most of the locals use forks and spoons now. Really easy to spot barangues (Westerners).
And there is always a pitcher of hot tea on the table, free of course. You can order coffee but it isn’t the greatest. It’s usually thickish stuff with a consistency like thin latex paint. Milk is almost always sweet condensed milk that sits at the bottom of the glass like a parfait. I didn’t like it at first but have gotten used to it.
Lunch is a big thing here. It’s a full two hours long, with eating in the first half and grabbing a nap in the second half. There’s this really good locals place just down from the office with excellent food. They even have the menu with English translation for the occasional barangue that wanders in. But me, I’m a regular. The one girl on staff who speaks English always waits on me. It’s just automatic.
The food is excellent with all sorts of soups, curries and stir-fries, from vegetarian to every kind of meat you can imagine, including eel, frog and snake (I haven’t ventured into that part of the menu yet). Of course, rice is always served in a big side bowl that sits covered on the table.
Khmers share their food with their friends. Typically they will dish up a mound of rice and then just a spoonful or so of the ordered food, unlike the rest of us who typically think the thing we’ve ordered is the main thing you eat. Khmer’s, and I suspect most from SE Asia, are here for the rice. It’s not uncommon to see leftovers on the table from the main course but the rice is gone.
Here in Phnom Penh you can eat Western style but it will cost about 3 to 4 times the cost of traditional foods. Both breakfast and lunch as described above cost about one dollar each, including tea. You would pay about 3 to 4 times or more than that amount if you insist on eating in a place that caters to Westerners.
There are the REAL local places which consist of a totally portable restaurant with mini-trestle tables, small plastic stools and portable barbecue stoves – I don’t eat there because hygiene is of reasonable concern. But many, many Khmer’s eat at these informal eateries. I prefer an open air restaurant spilling out of a business space onto the sidewalk, surrounded by potted plants, trestle tables, cheap plastic seats and loads of Khmer people who act somewhat surprised at my presence, and who seem genuinely pleased I’m there.
And of course there are more exotic foods to eat here. Take prahoc for example. It is known affectionately as fish cheese. It is made from very small fish that are gutted and deboned, then minced into a paste. The mince is put into large ceramic jugs (60 gallons or more), salt is added and it is allowed to ferment for 45 days. Yes, that's right, can you imagine the smell of this stuff as it breaks down and ferments for a month and a half? I've actually been to the fish paste factory in Battambang where there are about 200 of these vats going in various stages. After fermenting it is ready to be processed and so flavorings like chili are added. I have eaten it twice and it is really pretty good. After all, I eat moldy French cheese - same thing, right?
Another group of delicacies are bugs, deep fried and coated with different flavorings. It is really something when you see a vendor walking down the street with a large flat basket of deep fried bugs! I saw an entire vendor stand of at least eight different varieties of critters, including tarantulas and smoked snake. I haven't been there or done that one yet, nor am I likely to do so. However, what I've been told is that out of survival necessity the Cambodian people turned to eating bugs for protein during the Khmer Rouge holocaust. They developed a taste for them and now they can't stop eating their bugs!
Other than the previous paragraph the food here is delightful. I took a cooking class here for about 5 hours and learned how to cook Khmer style. I thinkI do a pretty good job of it too. And my rice cooking skills have been perfected. I can't wait to cook for many of you when I get back. Bon appetit!
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