Top Street Food in Siem Reap, Cambodia - Asia Street Foot - Khmer Food, ...

After three days in Siem Reap, we were about to give up. We tried asking locals (they pointed us towards the touristy Pub Street for pad Thai) and we tried any stall that looked promising, but a minor bout of food poisoning later, it seemed that the Cambodian street food scene is beyond the grasp of the non -Khmer-speaking tourist. Thankfully, we booked a tour with Siem Reap Food Tours for our fourth day. Founded by Cambodian expats Steven Halcrow and Lina Goldberg, Siem Reap Food Tours offers a unique perspective into one of the least understood food cultures of South-East Asia.

A bit of background: Halcrow used to work as a chef in a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Scotland and Cuisine Wat Damnak (currently number 43 in 2016’s Asia’s 50 best) in Siem Reap; and Goldberg has been based in Siem Reap since 2010, writing about food and travel for the likes of The Wall Street Journal and CNN. The duo has spent years getting to know Khmer food, culture and language, and the results paid off. During the tour, we watched as Halcrow joked with vendors and placed orders for food with ease. Our first stop of the day (we went on the morning tour, but evening tours are available as well), Psar Leu (meaning ‘Old Market’) is a photographer’s dream. Sunlight streams in between umbrellas, colours bloom from the surrounds, and baskets overflow with produce like catfish, grapes, garlic and doughnuts. Cameras clicking frantically, we followed Halcrow into a labyrinth of stalls, manoeuvring between hunks of freshly butchered meat and tubs of fermented foodstuffs, before coming to a stop at a nondescript hawker stall. We began with the banh sung – a rice noodle salad in which ribbons of fresh rice noodles are reaping tossed with spring rolls, greens, sweet-sour cucumber pickles, crushed peanuts, bits of pork, small crunchy shrimp, a dash of lime juice and fish sauce – which started things off on a good note. We had almost finished it when we were reminded that this is a food tour and that we should pace ourselves. We polished it off anyway. As we continued exploring the market, Halcrow kept up a running commentary and pointed things out (prahok, a fermented fish paste integral to Khmer cooking; how locals use sugar palm fruit in their iced desserts; the history of red ants and larvae stir-fries in Khmer fare). More culinary highlights awaited at the market – a plastic bag of freshly pressed sugar cane juice, some kueh bahululookalikes baked over charcoal, skewers of bananas caramelised in palm sugar. We would’ve gladly spent the whole day here, but it was soon time to move on to the next destination.