Eating in Kampot: What the Locals Eat and Where to Find It

If Cambodians have a main meal of the day, it’s breakfast. The staples of a Khmer morning are rice porridge, noodle soups, and pork and rice. The best place to experience it properly is Samaki Market. It’s chaotic, crowded, completely in Khmer, and a bit of a walk from the town centre. But it’s as authentic as you’re going to get.

A little closer to town, you can find the street vendors lining the side-roads just down from the old bridge selling the same classic dishes in a slightly less overwhelming setting. You can often point at pictures on the menu, or just at what someone else is having, and eat for just a dollar or two. If you want to try asking, your basics are: Kah Sack Cheruk (pork and rice), Baw-Baw (rice porridge with chicken), Baw-Baw-Saw (Rice porridge with salted fish), Kuy Tiew (Noodle Soup), Bye Chah (stir fried rice).

Get there early. Breakfast is usually over around 9am.

For anyone looking for something authentic, the Riverfront Street Food Carts should be your first choice. If you head down the river, just past the old Governor’s Home, you’ll find the streets lined with dozens and dozens of food carts serving everything you can imagine.

It’s your classic, chaotic, southeast Asian street food: From classics like fried rice, to relics of the French colonization like crepes, and, of course, your fried insects and other traditional asian street food.

Just past the old bridge, on Kampot Beach, as the sun goes down, the sand fills with tables set out under strings of lantern-style lights. It’s a relaxed, sit-down affair where you can grab a spot on the beach and have the local food trucks deliver food directly to your table.

It’s a great way to try a few different things at once while eating right on the water with the locals.

A short walk out of town, near Espresso Cafe, is one of the more popular spots with locals. You can’t miss it: there’s a full cow roasting on the street corner.

It’s hugely popular with Cambodians but can be daunting at first. There isn’t much English spoken here, but the process is simple enough. Sit down, flag down a waiter, and order some beef. Half a kilo is 30,000 riel and probably enough for a couple of people. Your beef arrives cut into small pieces alongside a plate of vegetables, dipping sauces and a half-dozen condiments. Mix them to your taste. Pick up a piece of beef, wrap it in a cabbage leaf with some vegetables, and dip it in the sauce. There’s a table of cold beers beside you. Help yourself and pay for the empties at the end.

This is a Khmer-style meal: no rush. Just snacking, drinking, and socialising with friends.

For tourists who want to try proper Cambodian food in a comfortable, Western-style setting, 1960 Restaurant is the place to start. The menu covers the classics: Fish Amok, Khmer-style roast chicken, the dishes that define Cambodian cooking. But if you’re up for a culinary adventure, they also offer red ants, crickets, and tarantulas. A great first step into Cambodian food, or a much deeper one, depending on how adventurous you’re feeling.