30 Cambodian foods every visitor needs to try

CNN Travel, December 23, 2019

Cambodian cuisine has a long history and a diverse range of influences, yet it's only now becoming known beyond the country's borders. In fact, the only place you can experience all it has to offer is in the country itself. Here are 30 of the best dishes to try.

Read more: 30 Cambodian foods every visitor needs to try | cnn.com

Breakfast in Cambodia

BBC Travel, March 3, 2017

Mornings in Cambodia the place to eat is on the go, in vibrant local markets and small street-side stands where popular breakfast dishes reflect the many influences that shaped the country’s long and rich history.

Read more: How breakfast has shaped Cambodia's cultural identity | bbc.com

A gourmand pilgrimage to Scottish shores

BBC Travel, July 18, 2013

Home to more sheep than people, the remote Inner Hebrides island of Iona is developing a flourishing slow-food scene, where gardens are only fertilised using seaweed.

Read more: A gourmand pilgrimage to Scottish shores | bbc.com

If you are in the UK and cannot access this photo essay, you can view it here.

Wat's Cooking in Siem Reap

Going Places, Malaysia Airlines, July 2013

Although more renowned for its temples, Siem Reap is also carving a reputation as a destination for foodies.
For centuries Siem Reap was a small Cambodian village that garnered little attention from the outside world. Then, in the early 1900s, the French "rediscovered" the majestic temples of Angkor and helped reclaim them from the encroaching jungle, and international tourism to the area began. These days the town is the heart of Cambodia's tourism industry. Last year more than two million people traveled to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat and the other ancient Khmer temples. 

Until recently, however, Siem Reap offered little in the way of dining options beyond greasy fried noodles. But now visitors have more than the temples be impressed by: the town boasts a plethora of outstanding restaurants and international cuisines.

Foodie paradise in Sri Lanka's hill country

BBC Travel, Apr 23, 2013

The charming village of Ella may be nestled in the middle of world-famous tea plantations, but it is locally renowned for something else: delicious home cooking. The town, located in the foothills of Sri Lanka's lush hill country 200km west of Colombo, offers foodies the chance to dig deep into the country’s culinary traditions and learn to eat – and cook – like a local.

Read more: Foodie paradise in Sri Lanka's hill country | bbc.com

Cooking classes in Sri Lanka

South China Morning Post, Apr 12, 2013

Sri Lankan cuisine features scorching chillies, spicy curries, crisp breakfast hoppers (a bowl-shaped pancake made from rice flour and coconut milk) and tangy pickles, and although you can taste influences from neighbouring India and the Dutch and Portuguese colonists, Sri Lanka's food is uniquely its own. And Ella, a sleepy village nestled in the hill country, is one of the best places to sample it.

Read more: Cooking classes in Sri Lanka | scmp.com

Three Great Places: Phnom Penh

Oryx Magazine, Qatar Airlines, April 1, 2013

Cambodia's busy capital has a truly international food scene where visitors can enjoy excellent Asian and European fare as well as the much-loved local Khmer cuisine.

Read more: Three Great Places: Phnom Penh | oryxinflightmagazine.com

Cuisine Wat Damnak: The proof is in the produce

South China Morning Post, Jan 10, 2013

Calamari salad with coconut tree hearts and prawns. Photo: Lina Goldberg

I'm careering around the dusty roads of Siem Reap in the back of a tuk-tuk. At the wheel is Joannes Riviere, the chef from Cuisine Wat Damnak. As we slow down to make a turn, I notice a group of Cambodians standing around a street-side food stall, watching us and giggling.

It's not clear whether they're laughing because they've never seen a foreigner - or as Khmers call us, barang - at the wheel of a tuk-tuk, or because they know that Riviere is a famous chef who probably shouldn't be driving one at all.

The Frenchman, who moved to Cambodia in 2003 and who speaks almost fluent Khmer, is credited with being one of the few chefs in the country who is cooking "real" Cambodian food.

Read more: Destination: Siem Reap, Proof is in the produce | SCMP.com

A taste of transition: Burmese eats

Phnom Penh Advisor, Sept 20, 2012

Now that Myanmar is opening up to tourism after decades of seclusion, more and more of Cambodia's expats are heading over to see what all the buzz is about. Once they arrive, one of their first questions is always: what should I eat?

10 of the world's best fresh markets

CNN Travel, Jul 6, 2012

They're known by different names from one country to the next--green markets, farmer's markets, fresh markets, wet markets--and they offer everything from gorgeous fruit and flowers to live seafood and perfect cuts of meat.

Often centuries old, these food markets combine the best of old and new, from ancient traditions to the latest food trends. The following markets, which feature dozens of different vendors hawking their wares, are some of the best places to get the freshest foods the world has to offer.

 Read more: 10 of the world's best fresh markets | CNNGo.com

Italian on the islands

Phnom Penh Advisor, June 7, 2012

The Cambodian islands are full of surprises, not least of which is their curious emergence as a hotbed of Italian cuisine. While it’s true that you’ll find spag bol on the menu of every beachside shack on Serendipity, the results are uniformly disappointing. But venture a little further, to the islands of Koh Rong or Koh ta Kiev, and you’ll find some of the country’s best Italian food.

Beatrice Falchini and Fabrizio Polci fell in love with Koh Rong when they first visited two years ago, and they’ve been back repeatedly. In early 2012 they opened Pura Vida, a small operation with a couple of bungalows and a restaurant on one of the island’s most picturesque beaches where developers are slated to build a luxury resort. "I said to Fabrizio, we need to go now," Falchini said, explaining why they made the move from Rome to an undeveloped island off Cambodia’s coast. "We don’t know how much longer it will last. When they start to build the resort – when it will be like all the other islands in the world – we can go back to Italy."

Plunging into the absinthe abyss

Phnom Penh Advisor, May 24, 2012

“Don’t drink it. This stuff is poison.” That’s how Johann starts his sales pitch.

Johann’s story is an advertiser’s dream. He’s been running a small distillery on the nearly-deserted Koh ta Kiev for the last eight months, creating absinthe, an aromatic green spirit notoriously associated with creativity and madness. But his marketing technique seems intended to discourage potential customers. “It tastes like shit,” he tells me, then adds, “Don’t put that in, but actually, it tastes worse than shit.” I can’t tell if he’s joking.

I met Johann, a charismatic California native whose lanky 6’8” frame is covered in tattoos, when I recently visited the islands. He showed me his distillery, a small, efficient setup that allows him to produce hand-crafted absinthe on an island that has neither electricity nor running water. The setup is also mobile, which means Johann, who goes by his first name, can easily move from island to island as the whim takes him.

10 incredible international cooking classes

CNN Go, May 16, 2012

Some say the best way to get to know a culture is through sampling its food, but even better is learning how to cook it.

These cooking classes give you a hands-on introduction to the cuisines of 10 countries around the world.

Read more: 10 incredible international cooking classes | CNNGo.com

Khmer Beer Garden BBQs

Phnom Penh Advisor, May 10, 2012

When expats in Cambodia talk about beer gardens, it’s usually to bemoan the lack of rights for the female beer sellers or to dismiss the places out of hand as dens of iniquity. And while those are certainly valid concerns, there’s one thing the nay-sayers neglect to mention: you’ll find some of the best food in Phnom Penh at its beer gardens.

Cambodian beer gardens vary widely in their wholesomeness. Some are simply restaurants packed with the after-work crowd and serving dishes – usually of the barbequed meat variety, but featuring stir-fried seafood and vegetables as well – that are best accompanied by pitchers of Angkor or Anchor beer. Others are as bad as you’ve heard, complete with karaoke performances and beer sellers whose job descriptions include more than just pouring pitchers.

Asia's 10 greatest street food cities

CNN Go, Mar 23, 2012

The street food in Asia is some of the best in the world, but do you know where to find it?

Start your Asian food journey with these 100 street foods in Penang, Taipei, Bangkok, Fukuoka, Hanoi, Singapore, Seoul, Xi'an, Manila and Phnom Penh.

Read more: Asia's 10 greatest street food cities | CNNGo.com

10 Delicious Cambodian Dishes

CNN Go, Sept 26, 2011

10 Cambodian dishes you've got to try

 Khmer cuisine has long been overshadowed by its Thai and Vietnamese cousins: But times (and menus) change

 Read more: 10 delicious Cambodian dishes | CNNGo.com

Destination Cambodia: It'll all end in beers

South China Morning Post, Sept 15, 2011

In Phnom Penh there is an expression that loosely translates to: “If you’re not drinking to get drunk, what are you drinking for?” Drinking to excess is a popular male pastime in Cambodia’s capital city, and while fancy cocktail bars have popped up in the last few years, locals prefer to drink beer, often in casual beer gardens. Locally produced Angkor and Singaporean-owned Anchor (pronounced Ann-chore, to differentiate) are the most popular draught beers in town, while ordering the more expensive Singaporean brew, Tiger, displays social status. All are served in short glasses over ice.

Drinking beer in Phnom Penh is almost inextricably linked with female beer sellers, disdainfully called “beer girls”. They wear uniforms colour-coded to the brand they represent and try to encourage beer garden patrons to quaff as much beer as possible. They are known for the difficulty of their working conditions but recently won a much-deserved pay rise.

Tepui at Chinese House: South American and Mediterranean flavours

Travelfish, Apr 19, 2011

Bringing a bit of South America to Phnom Penh, a team of Venezuelans have opened a new restaurant and bar at the Chinese House on Sisowath Quay. Antonio Lopez de Haro, originally from Caracas, Venezuela, first visited Phnom Penh while he was living in Singapore. He liked it so much he kept coming back, and eventually decided to open a restaurant here that drew on some of his favourite cuisines -- the Venezuelan food from his childhood and Mediterranean tapas influenced by the flavours of Asia, where he has lived for the last six years.

A tepui is a table-top shaped mountain that is found in South America; the name means “house of the gods” in the language of the indigenous Pemon peoples who inhabit Venezuela’s Gran Sabana. “Each tepui is a completely different ecosystem,” Lopez de Haro explains, and it’s clear that this idea has influenced Tepui, which is worlds apart from the average Phnom Penh eatery.

Have you eaten rice? Saying hello in Cambodia

Kiva, Aug 16, 2010

The standard salutation in Cambodia is Sua s’dai, “Hello,” followed by Nham bay howie nov? or “Have you eaten?” For the rest of the day, if you see someone a second or third time you don’t need to bother with any greeting–other than inquiring about their lunch or dinner.

This isn’t limited to when speaking Khmer, either. When I arrive at work at MAXIMA, my co-workers immediately ask me–in English–if I have had breakfast. Kiva borrowers ask me, via the credit officers, if I’ve eaten yet when I arrive at their doorsteps. Whenever I come back from running errands at lunchtime, I am greeted with, “Have you eaten yet?”

Ramen on the Rise

Splice Today, Oct 23, 2009

Ramen is having a renaissance. The archetypal Japanese noodle soup is currently the subject of a book, a movie, and scores of websites. It has hundreds of thousands of dedicated aficionados and has been taken by an astronaut into space. Long popular in Japan, ramen is now, like other aspects of Japanese pop culture, becoming increasingly chic in the West as well.

More and more niche and gourmet noodle shops are opening in the States, and a ramen subculture is forming. While America once thought of ramen solely in terms of the instant variety—cheap, fast and low-brow—today American foodies, particularly young people, are enthusiastically embracing the gourmet complexities of a soup that until recently was associated more with broke college students than with serious eaters.