Sihanoukville, a seaside town located in the South of Cambodia is a stunning, vibrant and most of all beautiful part of Cambodia. Sihanoukville is 230km South West of Cambodia's Capital City, Phnom Penh, where Cambodia's primary airport is located. Sihanoukville is accessible via bus routes from Phnom Pehn. Buses costs anywhere from $4 to $8 USD and take about 5 to 6 hours. Various bus routes are also available from Thailand and Vietnam.
Having lived in Sihanoukville for over a year, I was lucky to learn where the culinary delights and unforgettably delicious dishes were in the tropical town of Sihanoukville.
Breakfast/Brunch
Sihanoukville offers both Khmer and Western options when it comes to breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you wake and feel as though you want to experience a taste of local life head downtown. Early in the morning from 6am until about 11am there are many local restaurants and street side vendors who offer a traditional breakfast of sliced chicken or pork, over a pile of steaming fresh rice. Accompanied by picked vegetables and a soup of carrots, chicken stock and coagulated blood. Top this off with an array of homemade fermenting chilli's which will be sure to wake you up! Noodle soup is also a traditional breakfast; a heap of noodles swimming in a chicken broth, with a healthy array of vegetables will keep you full until lunchtime. Both cost around $1.25 USD and are not only delicious but cheap!
The best rule to remember with a local breakfast is that if there are a lot of locals, motorbike drivers or tuk tuk drivers parked up and eating, the food is going to be good!
However if you don't make the 6am wakeup call, there are plenty of Western alternatives lining both Occheuteal and Victory Beaches. One of the best is Browns. A daytime beach bar located at the end of Victory Beach. Browns offers a relaxed atmosphere and good quality Western and Khmer dishes, with full English breakfast, omelettes, baguettes and more, plus fresh fruit juices and shakes. Take your time over you breakfast whilst you laze in swing chairs or on a sun lounger and look out to the islands and seemingly endless ocean.
Dinner
When in Sihanoukville you are spoilt with the amount of fresh seafood options available to you. Here you will experience some of the freshest seafood in the world. Occheuteal beach has a vast amount of beach side bars and restaurants offering a variety of barbeques options.
One of the best on Occheuteal Beach is Museli's. Museli's is a local family run restaurant and bar which opens early and closes late and serves excellent Khmer and Western food throughout the day and night. Enjoy dinner here whilst sitting on the beach and looking out to the ocean. You are able to enjoy the sunset and often a fire show performed by one of the Museli clan, whilst listening to your fish and meat sizzling on the barbeque. A full plate of seafood or meat barbeque plus rice or fries and a huge salad costs only $3 USD. Seafood also comes served with a small dish of famous Kampot peppers, native to Cambodia. Crushed Kampot pepper with a few squeezes of lime makes a great sauce for your seafood barbeque, fresh and sour it’s the perfect compliment to your seafood and unique to this country. The highlights of the seafood barbeque include Barracuda and Red Snapper. Combined with cheap beers and cocktails and friendly family staff, it’s a great way to end your day or get ready for your night out.
Grand Kampuchea, one road behind Occheuteal beach is another great option for an impressive barbeque at night. Very well known in the area, Grand Kampuchea is full most nights of the week. A large choice of meat and fish freshly cooked before your eyes. All dishes are also served with barbeque sauce (a rare treat in Cambodia). Barbeque plates at Grand Kampuchea cost around $5 USD.
Pizzas are also commonplace around the Occheuteal area of Sihanoukville, not a local inspired delicacy but enjoyed by tourists throughout Sihanoukville. The pizza's of Cambodia sometimes have a little something extra and are well worth trying.
Cambodia is a fascinating country that many find addictive, and return to year after year. If you know where to look and are prepared to experience a culinary adventure and new cuisines it can be a great food experience.
Chloe Batrick - Chloe is from the UK but has spent the last few years travelling spending alot of her time in South East Asia and lived in Cambodia for ...
