Cambodia : Eats in Siem Reap

Khmer food is similar to Thai and Vietnamese food.  Noodle soup for breakfast,  main dishes with coconut milk like fish amok (a very popular dish), soups made flavorful with lemongrass, ginger and other spices, pork-chicken-beef-seafood bbq. $5-$6 per meal per person is a workable budget (typical meal, not fine dining :)

I'd like to share some of our food experiences in Siem Reap.   

Besides Touich (which I've written about), we liked Blue Pumpkin Cafe. An all-white environment, with white sofas fluffed with big pillows. We had snacks while I read a travel guide book and M & H checked the photos they've taken. We went there twice and tried the fresh spring rolls, sandwiches, mini pizza and ham-n-cheese quiche. Pretty good. The ice cream was, to me, pricey at $1.50 per scoop. Of course, the ambiance is part of the price.

The open-air dining area near Pub Street (across Red Piano) is not to be missed. Only for dinner, I think it only comes alive at night. The stalls were offering mostly Khmer food and yummy bbqs. We tried beef, pork ribs, chicken, calamari, which were served with some greens and your choice of sauce. (M was looking for crocodile meat, there was none. One stall had dried snake meat, M said it would be tough & chewy). $25 for 4 adult eaters and 2 young kids is quite reasonable; admittedly, we were all not that hungry when we ate there.

Khmer Kitchen is also a good place to eat. We went there with friends, the place was packed with tourists. We had the Khmer sour soup (shrimp and fish),  deep fried pork ribs and chicken with ginger. Service was slow, but the food was good (though the chicken with ginger have very few pieces of chicken). Most dishes were priced at $3 each. Our bill, together with mango shakes for the kids and a beer for M, was $35.  Reasonable.

Viroth's and Green Star were in our list,  but did not have the opportunity to go there.

When going on holiday, I think it's worthwhile to do some homework on good places to eat. In Siem Reap, make sure the tuktuk driver is very clear on where you want to go. Many tuktuk drivers (and guides) would recommend restaurants to tourists (maybe its similar to the practice in other countries where they get some commissions for bringing in customers). No problem with us as long as we give our consent.  (We had a not-so-good experience for lunch on our first day. We told the tuktuk driver where to take us, but he brought us somewhere else. We just let it go;  if we insisted on moving to another place, we may not catch the 1:30pm shuttle to the Silk Farm. The place's name is Orchidee Restaurant, if I recall correctly. The prices were on the high side given the quality of the food...We paid the the same amount for our dinner in Touich! Well, charge it to experience.).