HCMC and Cambodge for the tastebuds...

Like most travelers, one of the things that I enjoy doing when I go to a new place is to try the local cuisine. The Kapampangan in me is almost always ready to try almost anything new to the tastebuds.

(I still have my limits though. I don't think I can eat any Lassie or any of her family members, or an ostrich egg. Hehe! Rabbit, I'm willing to try.)

Anyway, I'm most probably wrong but if you ask me, there are only two food choices in Cambodge and in HCMC - rice and noodles. The only difference is that they come in a wide range of how they are cooked.

For the noodles, it's either with soup or fried. For rice, it's either steamed (partnered with a viand) or fried and because there's already so much extra ingredients in it, you can eat it without any viands anymore. Haha!

When we were in SR, my breakfast would always be the same - noodles with soup. The only ingredient that changes is th meat - pork, chicken or beef. What I did love about the breakfast though is that there's so much vegetables!!! Potatoes, carrots, and other leafy veggies. I love.

As for the rice, Wes concluded that what makes the fried rice yum is their local version of Knorr or Maggi Savor. Haha!

Amok, the local Cambodian dish, didn't look anything new to me. It kind of reminds me of the local dishes we cook in coconut milk. (Wait! Amok is cooked in coconut milk! Haha!) What I did like about it was the leaves that were added, but I wasn't able to ask what the leaves were.

The must-try restaurants (according to the Lonely Planet) which we tried are Pho 24 and Dead Fish Tower. Pho 24 is something like Chowking. I love the spring rolls and their rice combo.

Dead Fish, on the other hand, was so so. I got a curry but I wasn't too happy over the sauce because I thought it would be thick and creamy. Hehe!

More than the food, a reason to eat at Dead Fish Tower is the interior of the place (the owner definitely knew how to make good use of all the space) and the Apsara dancing. Oh, there's free Wifi too, I think.

Don't kick me but the best meals I had during the trip were from a barbecue garden and from a shabu-shabu restaurant (I think). Wes and I stumbled upon the latter by accident. We were looking for a restau near the Water Puppet theater, and we decided to try the restau. Kamusta naman? None of the food servers speak English. And we didn't have enough dong with us. Good thing the owner spoke English and was kind enough to accept US dollars. Haha!

But the food was really good!!! Wes got a clear tom yum soup and pad thai, which I loved!!! I got a (surprise!) green curry fried rice that was good enough to be eaten on its own because there was so much shrimp. Haha!) We also ordered a crispy catfish salad. The fish was already in flakes so what you get looks like adobo flakes, actually.

The two other things that I liked were the baguettes that you could buy from the street and the Tutti Frutti froyo shop in HCMC. So I guess a baguette for HCMC and SR people is what a pan de sal is to us Pinoys. On the way back to HCMC from SR, Wes and I had a baguette for lunch that I bought on the street. For just $1, I was already super full from devouring an entire loaf with sweetened pork and veggies. Haha!

On the other hand, the Tutti Frutti is a favorite because I love it that I get to make my own froyo combo. They have several froyo flavors to choose from. And the choice of toppings are even more. How much your dessert treat costs depends on how much it weighs.

Oh, what I wasn't able to try though were the exotic delicacies in Kampong Thom! During one bus stop, a sidewalk vendor was selling crispy, deep fried tarantulas, day-old chicks and either locusts or grasshoppers! I would have tried it but I was kind of worried about the oil used for frying. I dunno how many days the vendor has been using the same oil to fry the creatures. Haha! Weird, huh? Well, we all have our own concerns.

Lastly, I'm happy because I finally got to try Trung Nguyen Coffee. While walking home from the blasted water puppet show, Wes and I saw a Trung Nguyen coffee shop. I didn't get to try the coffee from that place when I went to HCMC last year so this was definitely a treat. Yey!

As for the budget, in HCMC, maybe about $3-5/meal. In Siem Reap, the food is more expensive in the rural areas. Uhm, it was about $5/dish. According to the Manang from the carinderia at Kabal Spean, it's because all the ingredients come all the way from town. In the city area, you can already have a good meal with $1.50.

So that's it really for the food. Up next, the Temples and a different kind of "sightseeing." Haha! Oh, and I guess I should write about being in HCMC for the second time.