JDiver

Siem Reap Food Tours

Written up in the New York Times:

Chef Steven Halcrow and food / freelance writer Lina Goldberg (FTer and one time FlyerTalk sponsored Kiva fellow in Cambodia for three months, she stayed and it's now over five years as she keeps writing, blogging and publishing from their home in Siem Reap) are charging USD $75 for a fabulous street food romp with their Siem Reap Food Tours. $35 kids under 12, all inclusive with hotel pickup by tuk-tuk. In part:


These two know food, and offer a variety of food oriented tours in Siem Reap. Steven was chef at a Michelin two star restaurant, Lina has had many articles published on eating Asian food.

Catch up with Lina on CNN Travel: http://travel.cnn.com/author/lina-goldberg and learn more on her blog: http://www.mybigfatface.com (no new posts, but most worthwhile). Or check her expat / moving to Cambodia site (with blog, tips and tricks - even securing a cheap easy visa for Vietnam) here.

I've spent time enjoying food in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam etc. and have loved (and benefitted from) Lina's sharings and ruminations about Asian foods.

Contact her via her websites or PM Giblet here on Flyertalk.

Goldorak

$75 for street food in Cambodia !!
I hope it's a joke, even for the best street food

RustyC

Wow, things must've changed in 15 years. When I was last in Siem Reap the Bayon restaurant was one of the better choices outside the few hotels, and they also ate dogs nearby at certain times of the month. You'd get followed by 3-4 uniformed beer girls wanting you to pick their brand, and occasionally there might be one for a booze brand like Otard (even pickier hiring).

One thing you do NOT want to do over there is land in a hospital for food poisoning (like I once did) or for any other reason. Am sure the Times didn't run into that but it's just to say not to take too many risks. Even a non-hospital bout with food can tie up your immune system fighting it and put you out of commission for 2-3 days.

Mike Jacoubowsky

People spend many thousands of dollars for their vacations, but feel timid or simply too scared to try something not found in a Starbucks or Wendys. Paying $75 to someone who can help you get past that and discover what makes things different and assure you that it's safe to eat and, for that matter, just help get past the awkwardness of buying it (when you're used to "normal" restaurants)... that could be worth a whole lot more than $75.

One of my best meals ever was on the street in Chiang Mai, a couple hundred meters from the Holiday Inn. 60 baht for both of us (my wife and I). About $2. I'm reasonably adventurous, my wife less so. It was just barely within my comfort zone; what a crime if I'd missed out. People going on the $75 food tour are not going to miss out.

And if spending $75 might help improve the odds of not dealing with intestinal issues, so much the better. For what it's worth, on my return from BKK, I went through a pretty miserable 24 hours. Stomach, headache, queasy, not much fun. It might not have been avoidable, or maybe it could have. I had quite a bit of fun sampling street food at one of the Bangkok markets. It would have been worth a lot more than $75 to reduce the chances of going through that.

dsquared37

Not a chance you'll avoid that potential by paying $75 or $100 or $12. It's street food in a country with absolutely no hygiene standards. Bacteria and parasites are rife.

You pays yer money and you takes yer chances.

Mike Jacoubowsky

My assumption is that somebody from the "west" who knows food, who lives there, might observe that some prepare food better than others.

Perhaps the question should be, how do you avoid food issues? Where do you eat, what do you eat? Or have you simply developed a hardened stomach after many trips to the region?

dsquared37

Considering that most of the prep occurs prior to the seller/cart arriving at that spot that's a very presumptuous position to take. You might be able to minimize some some risk but I wouldn't be so convinced of it.

Locals, expats and tourists all succumb to bacteria and parasites at some point. A recently arrived expat was taken to a well known restaurant as a welcome dinner and scored the trifecta of two bacteria and a parasite. This was a month ago. That's just how things go.

Food issues are impossible to avoid in Cambodia. It's a more acute problem than you'll find in Thailand and other neighboring countries.

JDiver

What some seem to be forgetting here is you are paying for expert led tours here.

Lina has written articles, blogs, etc. for everything from her own blog on Asian food to the Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC and many others. Steven is a Zchef from Scotland, and he has worked in Cambodian kitchens to immerse himself in the cuisine.

They can arrange vegetarian, gluten or pork -free tours, they're intimately familiar with their vendors and suppliers as well as their sanitation practices. As one who has toured in Asia many times, given the costs of travel (and potential costs of getting amebiasis, giardia, etc. on my own) I think $75 for a high quality tour of this nature by native English speakers with their knowledge (Lina's book on living in Cambodia for expats is the definitive guide), well worth the freight.

If one wishes to risk a mediocre experience and possibly get sick, go for it. But when I know of really top notch resources in places I've been, I'll share them (here and on Trip Advisor).

Happy travels.

StartinSanDiego

Yum, I'm hungry already! I'm going to see if we can get a food tour into our short, upcoming trip.

StephanieGodfrey

It looks like porridge, I found an interesting 7 day Cambodia culinary tour of BestPrice Vietnam company which also includes a cooking class in the itinerary, do you think it worth a try?

aphro

Some amazing food in Cambodia and I recommend trying to do a cooking course/lesson. Perhaps the author lady can help to arrange.
It is a lot of money, but then in SR there are some very high end hotels and some very high end tourists for whom this would be small beans. Ho ho.
I would recommend highly recommend Cuisine Wat Damnak - AMAZING food made from very local ingredients. Some of the best food I've eaten, in the world, anywhere. Not expensive in world terms for world class food. And if you ask them nicely they will try to accommodate some dietary issues.

stephem

Thanks OP, I think we'll book this for our Dec/Jan trip next year to burn up our remaining AA miles ;-)
Haven't been to Siem Reap in over a decade and my wife got terrible food poisoning then, probably the worst in retrospect of our years of living in SE Asia. Now that we have 3 small kids in tow, this should be interesting! But I assume the regularity of visits to these vendors will help remove the roulette nature of trying street food, even if it doesn't reduce the risk to zero.