- Good morning, hope you're
having an amazing day. It's Mark Wiens in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. And today I'm gonna take
you on a local food tour starting with breakfast. And then we're gonna have a typical lunch and then a popular typical
Cambodian Khmer dinner. It's gonna be a great day of eating and I'm gonna show you the typical meals in a single day in Phnom Penh. (rhythmic funky music) It's about 7 a.m. and I'm
starting off this morning with what is probably the most popular and the most common of all Cambodian Khmer street food breakfasts. And you literally walk
outside of your hotel or wherever you're
staying and you can smell the aroma of the grills, you can smell that fresh
meat in the morning. And what they do for this dish is that she scoops you a plate of rice. It's broken rice,
specifically, it's broken rice. And then she tops on a piece of pork. And the pork is marinated
in a combination of palm sugar and coconut milk
and some other seasonings. There might be some soy sauce in there. And so it's a very thin piece of pork and so it cooks really
well done and really almost kind of crispy. And you can see that caramelization on the edges of the pork. And then she puts that over your rice. I had to get it with a fried egg as well. And then this dish is served
with a side of pickles and then a side of soup. This is a very common breakfast
dish that you will find in Cambodia. Ooh. Oh, it's good. And the pork is indeed cooked very well so it's a little bit dried out. But then with that scoop
of oil that she added on, that rehydrates it and that ... It's so fragrant, it's so smokey. And I think I can taste a
little bit of coconut in there. I would have preferred my egg
to be a little bit runnier but that's okay. We've still got a little bit
of a transparent yolk in there. And follow that with some soup. Mmm. Oh, that tastes like a fishy soup. Oh, that just completes the full meal. If there happens to be
a little bit of chili on this table ... Oh, which, yes there is, this would just complete
the full meal deal. Add a little bit of
chili on the side here, or how about right there in the center. Oh, yes. Again, the same procedure. Egg, piece of pork, chili sauce and some of those pickles. Oh yes. Fantastic. Oh, what a breakfast. And follow with soup. Really really good in the morning. That's a great way to start your day when you're in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, or anywhere in Cambodia. And that's about as local and as popular as you can possibly get. And you can find it everywhere. Literally, just take a walk outside and you will find this dish. (men speaking in foreign language) - Okay. (honking) (laughs) - We're just cutting off a giant truck and going the opposite
direction on the road. And we're going not too far away. We're going to the old market. And there's a lot of things
to eat for lunch there. There should be a good place to grab some local, typical, Khmer Cambodian lunch. (rhythmic funky music) Okay, arkoun. We made it to this area. This is close to Psar Chas,
which is the old market. But we're just gonna look
for lunch around this area. This is exactly what I was hoping for. There is some amazing food at this market. Lots and lots of different
grilled river fish and some local Khmer delicacies for lunch. Hello, how are you? Look at that selection of
proteins, fried and grilled. There's pickles, there's ... Oh, I can see the prahok, which
is the fermented fish paste. All sorts of grilled fish. At this market they
have about ten different lunch time stalls that all serve a beautiful assortment of different food, especially lots of different
grilled river fish. There's some fried fish as well. There's some bubbly stews going on. There's some beautiful steamed different Cambodian Khmer dishes. Some prahok, lots of things going on. And then you have the big
pot of rice over here. This is truly a spectacular
display of different foods. There's so much going on. This is where we're gonna
have Khmer lunch today. Wow, that is a selection of fish. These maybe are Snakehead
fish, which she curls up onto a skewer and then they slow roast. They just sit here on
the grill all afternoon and just kind of slow
roast over the coals. That looks like a fish
I wanna eat for lunch. Okay. (woman speaks in foreign language) Okay, thank you very much. (Mark speaks in foreign language) This is one of the meals
where you break a sweat before you even start eating. I'm just dripping with sweat. And actually, almost
everybody just drives up on their motorbikes and gets takeaway. But we wanted to sit here and eat and so the lady who actually ... Her business is right in front of where they're selling the food. She kindly brought out a
table, a little pop up table for us to eat here. Really really kind of her. Thank you very much. And this is some very
local Khmer lunch food. And this is a cool place. The aunties cooking the food
here are really friendly. They were excited that we
ordered all these foods. My nose is detecting some
definite fermented fish aromas coming off of this table. I'm gonna begin with this dish here. And this is a type of prahok. And it's a fermented ... This one is one of the
main fermented fish dishes. It's a paste, I can see
some lemongrass in there and some herbs and some chilies. And then this one they
wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled it. Oh, wow. That's pretty salty. That's a great flavor, though. It does have that
fermented fish aroma to it. It's really loaded with lemongrass. A little bit of a smokey flavor
from being roasted as well. This seems to be one of the most popular Khmer Cambodian dishes, a
mixture of minced meat with egg. And then kind of ... I think this might either steamed or ... I think steamed in this little bowl. This is a nice little version of it. It's almost like a little casserole. I'll reach in with my spoon here. Oh, the firmness of that. Stick this onto my rice. Very salty. Has like a little bit of a
fermented taste to it, too. It almost sort of has
that starchiness of yolk in texture. And then you can taste
little bits of minced meat in there as well. This is one of the more
daring looking dishes that she's serving for lunch today. And it's little fish in
kind of a dark, murky sauce. Oh, you can actually see, you get in really close there, you can actually see
some lime pulp in there. And I think that's shreds of ginger. I have no idea if these fish are raw or if they're cooked, or
if they're just fermented. Mmmm. Oh. Wow, okay. It's not nearly as bizarre
as I thought it was gonna be. It kind of has a ... Okay, it's a little bit fishy. But it almost has that smokey,
fishy kind of taste to it. I was a little bit hesitant
going in with that bite, 'cause I had no idea what it is and it looks pretty hard core fermented. But it's actually, the
flavor is wonderful. As I keep on chewing, I can
almost taste some cheese in there, too. Next up to the big fish and you can oh ... You lift that skin and
it's just like buttery, buttery flesh underneath. You can tell that this has
been on the grill for awhile. Oh, it's still nice and hot, but they do this grilling
style where they grill the fish and they just kinda leave
the fish hanging out on the edges of the fire. So it just kinda slow roasts and keeps hot and sort of smokes at the
same time for who knows how many hours. The actual flesh of the
meat, you can taste that it's freshwater. And it sort of has that
rubberiness as you keep on chewing between your teeth. Oh, eat this sauce, with the fish? Oh, okay, okay. We just failed to order the sauce, but luckily, in those little plastic bags, this is the sauce. This is the sauce. Fish, and I'll put this onto my rice. And then for this bite, let me go in for some of this sauce. If you get a really close
up look at the sauce, you can see that there's
just crushed nuts in it. But that does smell very nutty. That makes all the difference. That's sour and it's nutty and it's like ... You can taste lemony,
maybe lemongrass in there. And maybe some cilantro as well. Oh yeah, that's what it needed. That's exactly what it needed. The yellow topped minced meat egg dish. It's okay, but it's honestly
not my favorite dish. However, the prahok dish, grilled, roasted in the banana leaf, that
fermented fish dish. That one is really a complexity
of flavors that I love. That's delicious. And that fermented fish
pickle looking dish is quite a surprisingly
delicious dish as well. Oh yeah. We got another fish and
another one of these banana leaf wraps. They were pretty surprised
and excited that we wanted refills on these dishes. They're good. This is specifically the dish of the meal. Oh, arkoun. Oh yeah, we just got a
handful of vegetables, too. Just the whole cucumbers and winged beans. We'll just go ahead and set
that into the bag, I guess. Oh yeah. And she has some chilies, too. I think I can just ... I think it's kind of
self-service back there, that little piles of
plastic bags back there. You can kind of help yourself. Oh, thank you, arkoun. Arkoun. I retrieved the final
component of this meal. 'Kay, let me move in for some
of this fresh banana wrap. There's kaffir lime leaves down here, too, giving it an extra citrusy aroma
along with that lemongrass. This is really a winner of a flavor. Okay. That's gonna light my mouth
on fire in a few seconds. I can already feel that
chili just juicing. Oh, the chili's pretty sweet. That was one of those
meals where it feels like I took a bath after finishing eating. That was a sweaty meal. That was some really good food, some very interesting dishes. Some of the dishes were kind
of surprising with flavor. Some of the dishes were pretty intense. The grilled fish, in
particular, was really good along with that pistachio nut sauce. It wasn't really pistachio,
but I don't know what it was, but it was nutty and green. And then, I have to say that this prahok, that was one
of the dishes of the meal. That dish right there
was a little bit intense, but had some surprising flavor. That's a little bit of an adventurous one. But really, there's quite
a wonderful selection of food here. These aunties are friendly and this is a proper Cambodian
Khmer street food lunch in Cambodia, in Phnom Penh. (rhythmic electronic music) We're back in a tuk tuk again. We're gonna head back
home just to hang out for a couple hours. And then we'll re-emerge again
for Khmer dinner tonight. (rain pattering) We spent most of the
afternoon inside the house and it's a good thing, too, because it downpoured
for a couple of hours. And now, Phnom Penh is ... Our street is flooded
and I'm sure the streets in the main part of the city
are pretty flooded as well. So we're hoping that the
driver for this tuk tuk, I think he lives right down there. And he's coming to drive us. We are in luck. We got a tuk tuk, on
our way to dinner now. Whoa, whoa, we almost tipped ... Whoa, that's pretty deep. (laughter) Oh, there's some pot holes in that flood. 'Kay, and we are on our way
to go eat Khmer barbecue for dinner. And that rain ... That rain really made a difference. It's nice and cool now. And that's actually why
it was so blazing hot when we were having lunch. Hello, Phnom Penh afternoon traffic. (rhythmic electronic music) For dinner tonight, we're at a local Khmer barbecue restaurant. And they have some really
unique and interesting dishes on their menu. I wanna first say a big thank you to Lina Goldberg from Mukhta,
Cambodia for this recommendation. This is kind of a ... Okay, it's very much a beer
garden, but they also have a huge menu full of food. But this is a very popular
meal to eat Khmer barbecue for dinner and to come
hang out with your friends. They've just started
playing some live music so I hope you can hear me alright. But a couple of the
dishes have just arrived, including this awesome dish
that I can't wait to try. It's fried goat with ant eggs. So you could basically
order this with whatever type of meat you wanted. So when I saw goat on the
menu, I had to go for the goat. There's goat chunks in here. I think that's the skin. These are kaffir lime
leaves, but I also smell a curry aroma to it, so I'm not
sure if there's curry leaves in here, too. Oh, that is insane. Oh, that goat meat is so tender. And those ants have a little
bit of a sour crunch to them. The skin is kinda fatty and creamy, well, fully fatty and creamy. And then it has this amazing
basily citrusy flavor to it. Oh man, that's good. The next dish over here
are the fried riblets. And these are deep fried ribs. Oh yeah. Oh, that's just deep fried
crunchy rib goodness. Fully crispified, so like ... A little bit oily, it's salty, you can taste the pepper on there. There are a few more meat
dishes that are on their way, but we also ordered just a plate
of random mixed vegetables. Yeah. Just their straight up stir fried ... It kinda has a tangy,
garlicky taste to it. The ribs are amazing, but this fried goat with red ant eggs is
just the superior dish of this meal so far. That is insanely good. That is really really quality ... That's a dish to remember. In English, it's known
as Lok Lak sometimes, or as shaken beef, but this
is more of a saucy version that I don't know if I've ever had before. These are nuggets of beef. They look like calf. They look nice and medium rare. There's an egg on the
side, there's french fries. This is a fantastic looking dish of beef. Oh, that is so juicy. Oh you can taste the blood of
that rareness of that beef, just kinda gushing with juice. This is the type of
restaurant where you just want to sit here and you wanna
be snacking on a dish and then you wanna order another dish. And you just kinda sit here,
enjoy, hang out with friends, and keep munching throughout the night. We just ordered another dish. This one is eel stir-fried with chili. It's said on the menu. And you can see these whole ... Just the whole pieces of chopped up eel. And what I love is there's
just a pile of herbs on top and that is so fragrant. I gotta take a whole bit of herbs first without even any eel. I only know the Thai
names for these herbs. But that has a little bit
of a licoricey taste to it. Wow, that's an herbacious
just explosion in your mouth. Oh, that's buttery, wonderful eel. And with those herbs, man, that's good. That is probably the tastiest Khmer meal that I've ever had. That food was unbelievably delicious. The flavors were just actually perfect. The herb mixtures, you
could taste the lemongrass, you could taste the pepper. They were salty and it is a
beer garden type of restaurant, but not only that, but also a really cool Cambodian experience because
they have a live band and they're playing Khmer music. And that's gonna complete this full day of local Khmer food in Phnom Penh. Breakfast was delicious, lunch was an adventure
and a very very local street food meal, and then dinner is just
a classic Cambodian Khmer barbecue feast with live music. This was a fantastic day in Phnom Penh. Thank you very much for
watching this video. Please remember to give it a
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more food and travel videos. Goodnight from Phnom
Penh and I'll see you on the next video.
