Khmer Food (Cambodia)

So at this point in my journey, I admit that I might have been a little obsessed with food and food prices. But, checking out the local food and avoiding getting totally ripped off all the time are priorities for me.

One of the good things about this fairly small country is that there is not a lot of food variation by region so prices are pretty standard. How much one pays is largely dependent on the types of places where he eats and how willing he is to negotiate. Here are the prices I paid. I know for a fact that the noodle soup was local price. As for the rest, I'm not sure but I think I was paying fair prices. This is not meant to brag about low prices but to give an ideal of how much things cost.


Exchange rate: $1US=4000 riel if you pay in dollars and get change (dollars are accepted everywhere). If you change money at the market, you can get 4100 riel for $1US. The XE.com rate is irrelevant. Not sure why they bother.


•Noodle soup: Found in food stalls and food carts in the morning. It is usually green, red or clear. Add the miscellaneous leaves, green beans, sprouts, sauces, and lime. I routinely paid 2000r for 1 bowl of basic soup around siem reap and central cambodia. They will usually try to charge 4000 for one but come down in price immediately. When the mystery meats get involved, the price goes up to around 3000. The 5000r soup is better but it's not worth twice the price for a few bits of chicken gristle.

•Fried rice/noodle/vegetable stands. 4000r is what I would expect to pay for 1 plate of vegetables and an accompanying plate of rice. If the food stall has a menu in English, it is the same as all the others floating around. The price might be different but it is more of a suggestion which is open to negotiation-especially around sr.

•The cauldrons: Another way to load up on veggies. The food is made fresh twice a day. In the market it is 3000 for a bowl of rice with a few scoops of veggies on top. The precooked veg are usually dark green and have bits of meat mixed in . At one food stall in kampot, I paid 2000r for each plate of veg and 1000 for rice. Usually, there's a wide selection of meat and meat products as well.

•Baguette sandwiches: Standard price is 3000r for the pate special. I usually get everything except for the fat globules. If you just want bread, find the ladies selling only bread and it is 500r for a sandwich size a d 1000 for the bigger size.

•Fruit shakes: No need to pay more than 3000r. Best price I found was 2000r with the option to add an egg for 500r. Soursop, winter melon, and jack fruit are the tropical fruit stars for shakes.

•Coconuts: Best price 1500r for 1. Highest price I paid 2000r

•Coffee: Iced coffee with sugar is 1000r to 1500r. Iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk is 2000 to 2500r. Go to the places with old men sitting around and don't neglect the post coffee free tea.

•Fruit and veg: oranges-4000r for 1 kilo of the smaller, less pretty ones. Bananas-2000/kilo. Dragonfruit- 4000-5000r/kilo. Cucumbers- 700r/kilo. Eggplant-3000/kilo. Mango-3000r/kilo. Most fruit starts around 4000-7000r/kilo. Must negotiate.

•Pau: Pau is the omnipresent breakfast/snack food. I believe it is of Chinese origin. It is that white bready blob with pork, chicken, red bean paste, coconut, etc. inside. In Cambodia, I routinely paid 1500 for one.

•Baby duck egg (duck embryo) 1100-1500r for 1 egg. Don't forget the condiments. See Quest for Nutrition post for details.