Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Discussions about restaurants, cafes, coffee shops or bars in Cambodia. Feel free to write any reviews you have, whether its the best burger you've had in Phnom Penh or the worse pizza in Kampot, we want to read it! Discussions about Khmer dishes are also in here, or you can leave your own. If you own a restaurant, feel free to let the expat community know about it here so that we can come check it out. Found a favorite cafe or have a place we should avoid? Tell us about it. Asian recipes & questions are always welcome.
Uncle-V
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Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by Uncle-V »

I'm sure a lot of your old Cambodia hands will have me beat but this was maybe the wildest thing I have actually eaten.

Dancing Shrimp: It was a kind of salad made with live small shrimp that were still very actively moving. Like eating live sea monkeys sold from the back of comic books when we were kids. LOL

Didn't taste bad. Just awkwardly crunchy.

attaching a video from youtube that gives you a better picture (sorry cant' figure out how to attach the videos we made)




[Mod Edit: no need for url tags for YT vidz]

This is at the Cham run Oyster House on 154 in PP. Love the oysters and shrimp there. Great seafood and highly recommended for all their food. But no alcohol on the menu. We usually bring a couple of bottles of white wine.
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AndyKK
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by AndyKK »

Indian curry, even started a thread on the subject. :(
Always "hope" but never "expect".
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ItWasntMe
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by ItWasntMe »

Had it in Thailand long time ago. They would shake the bowl and open the lid slightly letting the shrimps barely escape and you'd catch them trying to get out.

I tried out of courtesy but did not dig in so to speak 😅

Thinking about it that was the weirdest food I had lol. But I think it's a dish that originates in the Philippines?
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Chad Sexington
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by Chad Sexington »

Not sure if this qualifies as a ‘dish’, but one time I sat down to a meal with some Buffalo wranglers in a shack on a palm oil plantation, it was basically a mixed barbecue consisting of bats, sparrows and doves, accompanied by the usual chili dipping sauce, and beer obviously.
The ‘ingredients’ were alive in a net bag, and everyone was obliged to help dispatch and pluck them (bats don’t require plucking, just singe the hair off)
I tried all three, quite tasty, but you need to eat bones and all (good luck trying to eat around the bones of a sparrow)
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Kammekor
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by Kammekor »

Grilled dog leg with large red ants as a topping. The meat is surprisingly tender and the ants give it a bitter taste.

Not for the faint hearted though. For the faint of hearted... In some restaurants you can get a similar dish with the dog replaced with goat. Also tasty.
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truffledog
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by truffledog »

pizza topped with spaghetti meatballs
work is for people who cant find truffles
Chad Sexington
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by Chad Sexington »

Kammekor wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 2:56 pm Grilled dog leg with large red ants as a topping. The meat is surprisingly tender and the ants give it a bitter taste.

Not for the faint hearted though. For the faint of hearted... In some restaurants you can get a similar dish with the dog replaced with goat. Also tasty.
I couldn’t understand the point of the red ants, they spoil a perfectly good meal.
I’ve tried dog a few times, and initially I wanted it to taste shit so I could question the point of eating it, but the reality is that it’s delicious, and as you say, amazingly tender.
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Chuck Borris
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by Chuck Borris »

Pineapple on pizza.
Don"t Eat The Yellow Snow.
Ryan754326
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by Ryan754326 »

I tried dog a couple of times in Vietnam and thought it was pretty good, but the one time I ate it in Phnom Penh, it had a funky taste that somehow reminded me of garbage. I could only assume that the dog in question had probably been living on garbage, and I was kind of turned off. Country dog vs city dog, I guess.
The red ants are one of my favorite things to eat in Cambodia, but I’ve always had them with beef. I don’t think they have much flavor, but they do have a satisfying crunch to them.
The weirdest thing I’ve eaten would probably have to be horseshoe crab; the ones that look sort of like a hard shelled stingray. There wasn’t really any meat on it like a normal crab (the legs are small and hidden under the belly) but the “head” was packed full of tiny eggs.
Darkcel
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Re: Craziest dish you've eaten in Cambodia?

Post by Darkcel »

Kammekor wrote: Tue Jan 11, 2022 2:56 pm Grilled dog leg with large red ants as a topping. The meat is surprisingly tender and the ants give it a bitter taste.

Not for the faint hearted though. For the faint of hearted... In some restaurants you can get a similar dish with the dog replaced with goat. Also tasty.
You had here? I only got to try this in Hanoi

Dog isn't bad, sort of like venison so I can see how people like it
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