Phnom Penh Pizza and Pasta Porn
A selection of my favorite food in Cambodia, mostly pizza and pasta, mostly in Phnom Penh; and some other food related observations. My favorite pizzas in Bangkok see here: https://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2018/02/my-favorite-pizzas-in-bangkok.html
I'm not the only one who likes alliterative or rhyming headlines:
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50954950/trapped-trafficked-thais-televise-their-terror/
https://cne.wtf/2021/08/17/mystery-mademoiselle-mangles-maserati/
https://cne.wtf/2021/10/25/kampong-chhnang-frog-catchers-cage-captured-crocodile/
https://cne.wtf/2021/11/12/prius-sinks-in-sen-sok-sewer/
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50969803/pungent-effulgent-careless-driver-drives-into-phnom-penh-sewer/
https://cne.wtf/2021/12/07/boozy-driver-snoozes-loses/
https://cne.wtf/2021/11/13/barrel-of-monkeys-making-mischief/
My favorite foods, in no particular order. Name of restaurant with street number, name of dish with price.
Romano's Italian Pizza (St 19)
Pizza four cheese (medium 7.25 USD).
Happy Paradise Pizza (St 1 = Preah Sisowath Blvd.)
There are several restaurants with similar names who all have the same menu? "Happy" refers to cannabis, you can upgrade your pizza or fruit shake in several levels.
Fish Filet Florentine 6 USD and Pasta Sophalla 4 USD.
Yellow Cab Pizza Co. (IFL) (St 118)
Friend ordered take-away for our dinner. The white plastic is to keep the lid from touching the pizza. The first time I saw a pizza cut in a rectangular grid.
Pizza 4 P'S (St 1 = Preah Sisowath Blvd.)
Pizza Margherita 6.80 USD +10% SC.
La Dolce Vita (St 172)
Various pasta dishes 3-5 USD and salmon with avocado cream 3 USD for starter.
Piccola Italia Da Luigi (St 308)
Pizza four cheese, no picture.
Martini Bar (St 51 = Pasteur)
Pizza four seasons, no picture.
David's Restaurant Homemade Noodles (St 13)
Garlic fried rice 2.75 USD. Wouldn't believe that something so simple can taste so good!
Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger Parisien
Several branches in Phnom Penh, but none in Siem Reap, Kampot, Sihanoukville. The first time I came across bakery in SEAsia that can compare by taste to German bakery.
Unnamed shop opposite Tatie's and Panda Mart (St 13)
Steamed rice with omelet and hard boiled egg 1 USD. Pickles as a side dish.
Restaurant at Kampong Cham market
I had omelet with onion for 10 kKHR = 2.50 USD that was delicious. Didn't get such a good omelet with onion elsewhere.
Buffet in Kampot
A dish available in many buffet restaurants. You can choose from various metal pots. My favorites are egg in dark brown soup with meat (pork?), bitter gourd stuffed with minced meat. A plate of steamed rice and a bowl of each 7 kKHR = 1.75 USD.
Other culinary discoveries
Cashew apple: https://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2021/03/quiz-what-is-this.html
Coconut: https://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2021/11/coconut.html
Fried rat. Bones are so soft, can be eaten completely (just like un-hatched or young chicken).
Fried tarantula is available at insect street stall at Royal Palace Park, and while I found boys who said they ate it, I never got around get someone to show me how and join me.
The humble apple. I went on a diet during my two weeks in quarantine, and I read that bananas and apples are best to end the diet. It tasted good, and apple has several more advantages over most tropical fruit: keeps for days, even weeks at room temperature, doesn't ripen and doesn't get soft.
I grew up in Eastern Germany and we had apple, and only apple, for fruit. Only monkeys in the zoo and higher politicians had access to tropical fruit. I never thought I would buy and eat apples in South-East Asia, but I did!
Sweet potato. An accidental discovery, I got some from a friend and they taste good. Buy at under 1 USD/kg at the market, wash and cut out bad spots, put in kettle and cover in water and heat once to boiling and let cool down. Several advantages: doesn't crumble, doesn't get soft, doesn't stick to fingers. Particularly useful when traveling.
Negatives
Whereas I can get a decent meal (Thai food) anytime anywhere in Thailand, in Cambodia you have to shop around to find something that is comparable to Thai food in quality and price.
Much of what is sold as "meat" is best described as a mixture of bones, bone splinters, skin and cartilage, a carcass, or roadkill. Some completely defy description. A friend bought something that looked like meat on a skewer, he couldn't figure out what is was by taste or texture, I had a bite and I couldn't figure it out either, and when he threw it away, even the rats didn't want it.
A new low point. I ordered this (friend broccoli with chicken?) and it was entirely bones, skin and cartilage. I didn't eat any of the chicken. Even the stray dog I gave it to wouldn't eat any of it!x
The filthiest menu I have ever seen, and the typo is an achievement as well. So there is a point in abolishing printed menus for digital ones for hygienic reasons.
Forks and spoons are kept in cups (in water, originally boiling water for disinfection?) with the handle up. I was fishing for a fork or spoon many times, and saw locals doing the same. At one point, I thought I had figured it out: forks have pointed ends and spoons have round ends, but the next restaurant proved me wrong.
Individually packed (in plastic) and labelled apples, potatoes, strawberries in the supermarket.
Copyright 2021 ChristianPFC except memes
