Khmer(pronounced as “Ka-meer”) food is a mish-mesh of flavours adopted from its neighbouring countries like Thailand, Vietnam , Laos. Their dishes also have hints of French (note the baguettes) and Chinese (note the rice noodle dishes and the use of soy sauce in cooking).

My contact with Khmer food over the past four days in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh has led me to believe that Khmer food is a poorer cousin of Thai food and Vietnamese food.

It lacks the distinctive sweet, sour, salty and spicy elements that Thai food usually has in every dish and meal. Everything is milder and a more toned down version as compared to the Thai. To me, Khmer food also does not have dishes characteristic of Cambodia, like pho is to Vietnam.

The closest is amok trey which is steamed fish that is wrapped in banana leaf, in a thick coconut milk based curry. So predominant is this dish that some Cambodians even name their restaurants after it. I can’t comment on this dish because I did not try it. I don’t like coconut milk based dishes partly due to the fact that I can properly digest it.

Some Khmer dishes that I tried:

Pomelo salad with thinly sliced pork and peanuts with fish sauce

Stir-fried ginger pork (sounds really Chinese)

Pork with eggplant and rice (you would be totally surprised how this turns out! The eggplant was cooked without its skin and hence you get a gooey dish)

Pork cooked with stewed pumpkin

Doesn’t sound too inspiring, does it?

At Friends (Phnom Penh), Stir-fried chicken with mangoes and cashew nuts (foreground)

Pork with stewed pumpkin cubes (background)

Amongst the other cuisines we had, we tried French, Spanish Tapas and casual Italian (Pizza and pasta). That really shows how much we enjoyed Cambodian food huh. Even as international cuisines with the likes of French, Italian, Thai, and even Korean and Japanese burgeoning in the town centres of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, they are not able to serve them with great finesse.

The French food there is very mediocre even by bistro standards. (the one I had in HCM is so much better) The spanish tapas we had at Pacharan ( a restaurant run by FCC Phnom Penh) was one of the better meals we had. Italian pizza and pasta that we tried was mediocre. One commendable upmarket bistro-style cafe is The Blue Pumpkin, Siem Reap. Situated in the town center, opposite the Old market, it's a cool chill out place to enjoy breakfast or tea and to take in the sights and sounds of this small town. We went there twice- for breakfast and for tea.

It is without a doubt that is a place for expats and tourists- you can say 98% of their customers fall into this category. The food here is decent for Cambodian standards. I enjoyed the homemade warm bread with ginger & honey tea. The crossaint though is a let down-the texture was rubbery despite the strong buttery taste. We tried many of their pastries and breads like cinnamon roll (Nice!), lemon and poppy muffin (yums..), mille feuille (too sweet..).

The bedsupper club-like interior on the 2nd storey of Blue Pumpkin

The breakfast set I had served with homemade pineapple jam

Spanish Tapas at Pacharan, Phnom Penh

This entry sums up the food experiences that we had in Cambodia. Some better than others. But mostly, I was grossly disappointed. To me, eating in a country allows me to appreciate a country's culture. For me, that did not happen. I wonder if my expectations had let me down or if I have not been eating in the right places. Or perhaps, just perhaps, this is a sad result of how tourism is depleting the identity of the countries and cities.