Culinary Cambodia

📍 Siem Reap Airport - Siem Reap (8 km): 15 mins

On arrival at Siem Reap, the charming riverside city that is the gateway to the majestic temples of Angkor, guests will be met by their guide and transferred to your hotel for check-in. 

The remainder of the day is at leisure before enjoying a welcome dinner at the MAHOB, the Cambodian word for “food”, is a culinary hotspot that takes Khmer cuisine to a new level. Using only locally produced ingredients, this beautiful restaurant serves up some of the best local delicacies that Siem Reap has to offer. Located in a traditional Khmer wooden house that enjoys a peaceful, cosy garden setting, Mahob provides visitors with a truly genuine Khmer experience.

Overnight in Siem Reap.
 

Inclusions:

🍗 Dinner

📍 Siem Reap – Temples (06 km): 10 mins

0730 Early this morning begin your Angkorian exploration by remork (Cambodian tuk-tuk). Start with a typical Cambodian breakfast at a khmer noodle stall in town, before continuing to explore the star attractions of Angkor Archaeological Park. Starting at the world’s largest religious temple, the magnificent Angkor Wat. Built by Suryavarman II in the early 12th century, it was constructed following the model of the temple mountain, symbolizing Mount Meru, home of the gods. 

Continue to the ancient city of Angkor Thom; the last capital of the Great Khmer Empire under the reign of Jayavarman VII and is surrounded by an 8m high wall drawing a perfect square. Enter the city from the impressive stone South Gate, carved with elephants and four giant faces.

From here, continue to Bayon temple in the center of the city. This 12th century masterpiece is distinguished by its dozens of towers with enigmatic faces looking out over the widespread provinces of the Great Khmer Empire, however, Bayon is of special interest to us for its galleries of bas-relief carvings featuring scenes from daily life that tell us much about the culinary culture of the Khmers during the Empire. 

Also visit the Terrace of the Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King for more intricate bas-reliefs and stroll the grounds of the former Royal Palace to discover small hidden temples that are rarely visited. Return to Siem Reap late morning where there’ll be time to rest at your hotel. Lunch will be on your own account. 

Then continue to visit the magical Ta Prohm temple. Built in the mid-12th to early 13th centuries, Ta Prohm is unique in that it is overgrown by jungle, trees, vines, and with many parts crumbling to the ground, it is one of the most picturesque Angkor temples. Alternatively, depending on the season and the crowds, you may wish to visit Preah Khan temple. Built by the same king in a similar style, this larger temple complex is also largely left in ruins and its labyrinthian layout and fewer visitors’ makes a more intimate experience even in the high season months. 

Afterward, return to your hotel for some refreshment. 

18:00 it is time to explore a Cambodian Street Food Discovery. Bring an appetite and sense of adventure on this unique Siem Reap nightlife tour. After sunset, travel by remork to Street 60 on the outskirts of town. Busy most every night, this street has the feel of a night market with locals throwing down bamboo mats to enjoy a smorgasbord of freshly cooked dishes. It’s an evening picnic of barbecue heaven. The aromatic smells will certainly make the mouth water. Make a stop at a stall famous for its pickled fruit and fried insects. These are popular snacks for the Cambodian people. Taste the contrasting flavors of sour fruit dipped in a salty and spicy dip, or try a selection of crispy crickets, grasshoppers, or silkworms. 

Then, head over to the Sombai rice wine workshop to sample a selection of spirits made from fermented rice. Taste the unusual concoctions infused with local fruits and herbs, accompanied by local snacks. This is a great break from the culinary adventure! 
Continue the culinary adventure to Wat Damnak to the handful of smoke-filled corrugated-iron roofed shacks and fancier open-sided eateries on Wat Damnak Street, for one of Siem Reap’s most popular street food snacks, sach ko ang jakak, (beef skewers) marinated in palm sugar, soy and kroeung (a paste of lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, kaffir lime, garlic), and then barbecued over coals on a traditional clay grill. Cambodians love barbecue. All well and delicious, but what truly qualifies this barbecued beef is its accompaniment: a sweet-sour pickle-salad of thick cucumber slices finely shredded green papaya and ginger. 
Next, explore the streets around Psar Chas (Old Market), which are lined with various stalls selling pancakes, fruit shakes, fried bananas, waffles, coconut rice cakes, and various fried rice and noodle dishes. Sit down anywhere and enjoy anything at leisure! Make sure to stop at one of the many fresh fruit stalls to try a range of exotic local fruit, including dragon fruit, longans, mangoes, mangosteens, snake fruit, and the pungent but very tasty durian! 

Continue the foodie adventure and drop by a famous local ice cream shop just off the popular Pub Street. There are a lot of ice cream shops in town but Gelato Lab is truly special. Pick a flavour of ice cream or sorbet that’s bursting with the pure taste of organic milk, local fruits, chocolate, nuts, Madagascar vanilla and other flavours. This stop will mark the end of the tour. Be driven safely back to the hotel, or dropped off anywhere in the city center of Siem Reap.

Overnight in Siem Reap.
 

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast, 🥘 Lunch, 🍗 Dinner

This morning discover Cambodian cuisine and culture in a fun, tasty Siem Reap cooking class (Join with others). Meet with a local chef to discuss the morning’s plan and lunchtime menu. Then head to the market and browse the displays of herbs, fruits, vegetables, and meats on offer. The chef will explain some of the more unusual ingredients on offer and how they are used in traditional dishes.

Then it’s time for cooking! 
Venture out of the main part of town to an outskirt local restaurant. Be welcomed into a typical Khmer restaurant and shown to the kitchen. Under the watchful guidance of the chef, chop, slice and dice the ingredients. Use traditional tools such as mortar and pestle and follow recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. Learn about food and its role in Cambodian culture as the chef shares tales of his personal experience and life.

When the meal is ready, sit down and feast on the delicious dishes. It’s then time to return to Siem Reap, with a full belly and a better understanding of local culture.

After lunch, continue to explore a tour around a local village, which gives an insight into village life in Cambodia and the challenges faced by rural Cambodians. Take an ox cart ride, a traditional countryside method of transporting people and goods. The 30 minute journey passes through the village and continues on foot through the village, providing ample opportunities to stop at a local market along the way, if you prefer, and chat with locals and to observe their activities. 
Depending on the time of year, on the way you may see local people planting rice, weaving thatch coverings for their roofs, harvesting vegetables, or other similar tasks. For a truly immersive experience, lend a hand and join the locals in these activities!

Before leaving the village, partake in a special Buddhist tradition. Local monks will impart wishes of good luck and success in a solemn, age-old ceremony.

Return to the hotel for refreshing and relaxation.

One distinctive feature of the culinary scene in Siem Reap is a selection of restaurants providing culinary arts training to disadvantaged Cambodian youth. Visit a variety of such culinary social enterprises to enjoy some of the finest Khmer cuisine while supporting the education of at-risk youth on a Dining for a Cause: Social Enterprise Restaurants of Siem Reap food tour. (This tour is closed on Monday, alternative choice will be arranged)

1800 Pickup from the hotel by remork (a Cambodian “tuktuk”) and drive to the first restaurant, where follows a different business model, directing their profits to various organizations. You may order any drink from the menu (they make some special cocktails and fruit mix using local ingredients) and any one appetizer (try different ones and share with each other) while exploring the large selection of second-hand books donated by their supporters in the UK.

Next, enjoy Khmer classic dishes at a restaurant which is another social enterprise restaurant providing disadvantaged youths, and underprivileged adults, professional training and employment in the hospitality industry. Learn about its efforts while dining. 

After dinner, go to a tropical garden restaurant run by an organization that operates a hospitality training school where all the restaurant workers learned (or are currently learning) their trade. Learn about how the program runs and its achievements while enjoying a creative cocktail, a glass of wine, beer, or coffee.  This stop will mark the end of your tour and your driver will bring you safely to your hotel or, at your choice, drop you off at Pub Street or in the city center of Siem Reap.
Overnight in Siem Reap.
 

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast, 🥘 Lunch, 🍗 Dinner

📍 Siem Reap – Battambang (174 km): 3 hrs

This morning an entertaining and informative culinary tour to Cambodia's cultural heart will be taken, getting the chance to try Cambodia's best breakfast dishes, tasty treats, and tropical fruits, with photography opportunities along the way. The tour will travel into the bustle of Siem Reap's food markets and street food stalls, sampling food all along the way, all whilst listening to stories of Cambodia’s extraordinary past.

After, depart to Battambang, Cambodia’s second largest city although it feels like a big country town with some of the friendliest locals you’ll meet in the country.

This afternoon tour along Banan Road through some of Cambodia’s most beautiful countryside to Wat Banan. Along the way make a stop at Prasat Phnom Banan Winery, Cambodia's only commercial winery. Here there is an opportunity for wine tasting that includes a red wine that is a blend of cabernet and shiraz, a brandy and ginger juice. Although you probably won’t be tempted to have anything shipped home, it's worth a visit to meet this passionate wine-making family and see the vineyards flanked by palm trees.

Continue through lively local villages and farms to Wat Banan, to climb the stairs up to an 11th century temple on a hilltop, set amongst fragrant flowering trees, and offering sweeping vistas over the countryside.

There will be time to rest and freshen up before heading to dinner tonight at stylish Jaan Bai (meaning ‘rice bowl’ in Khmer), a social enterprise restaurant established by the Cambodian Children’s Trust to provide training and employment for disadvantaged youths, with all profits going to support the activities of the Trust.

Overnight in Battambang.
 

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast, 🍗 Dinner

This morning head into the historic center of Battambang to explore the town, beginning at the lively local markets, which are much busier than those in Siem Reap. Battambang is the rural heartland of Cambodia and the center for production of rice, pineapples, coconuts, and many other different types of produce. You can quench your thirst with a freshly squeezed sugar cane juice.

After, discover the historic heart of the city, where you may be lucky to see a procession of saffron robed monks of their morning alms collection. Call into pagodas such as Wat Povil, where you can take the opportunity to observe the monks, and stop to admire buildings and drop into art galleries. Battambang has an impressive collection of architecture that is some of the best preserved in Cambodia, including glittering Buddhist pagodas, Chinese shop-houses, an historic Chinese temple, early 20th century French colonial villas and administrative buildings, and modernist architecture from the 1960s, Cambodia’s ‘Golden Age’. In recent years, it’s also developed into an emerging arts hub. 

Lastly, try some of the award-winning coffee at Kinyei Café before stopping for lunch at Lan Chov Khorko Miteanh for some hand-pulled noodles and handmade dumplings. Nicknamed ‘Noodle Guy’ or ‘Chinese Noodle’ by expats, Lan Chov Khorko Miteanh is a simple, no-frills eatery with a stall-like kitchen with boiling pots and woks on gas stoves at the front. This is where the most unlikely of noodle masters, wearing low-slung shorts, singlet and flip-flops, makes hearty handmade dumplings and silky hand-pulled noodles to order. 

Return to the hotel for some free time to relax and freshen up.

In the late afternoon, continue to Phnom Sampeau, meaning “Ship Hill” in Khmer, due to its distinctive shape, and one of the few hills standing out in this otherwise pancake-flat plain. From the small temple on the top, you will have a fantastic view over the typical landscape of paddy fields and sugar palm trees. Phnom Sampeau is home to the notorious killing caves, which are cruel reminders of Cambodia’s troubled past. Serenity and inhumanity represented in one place make this an interesting visit…Your visit will last until dusk – a time when millions of bats emerge from a cave and create patterns as they fly in tandem across the sky – a nightly spectacular show of nature!
Then return to your hotel and free at your own leisure. 

Overnight in Battambang.
 

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast, 🥘 Lunch

This morning make a stop at the nearby Ancient House located in Wat Kor Village, the oldest standing Khmer timber house in Wat Kor Village, where the lady of the house will give you a guided tour, showing you everything from how they mill their own rice to demonstrating the after-dinner betel leaf ritual.

Continue through picturesque countryside and small sleepy villages en route to Wat Ek Phnom, to visit small cottage industries operated by artisanal producers in family homes, many of which have been making their product for generations. Sample popular snacks along the way from roadside vendors, including sticky rice and black beans in bamboo called ‘krolan’, and fish or pork paste and chili, wrapped in banana leaf and grilled called ‘naam’.

Wat Ek Phnom is a dilapidated 11th century Angkor-era temple surrounded by shady banyan trees. Rarely visited by tourists, it’s been a popular picnic spot for Cambodians dating back to the 1880s. Also pay respects at the Buddhist temple, Wat Samrong Knong, one of the oldest in the area, dating to 1707, which became a prison after the Khmer Rouge seized it in 1976. On the adjoining land the Well of Shadows is a sobering monument containing some of the bones and skulls of the 10,000-odd people killed here that now serves as a memorial to the genocide by the Khmer Rouge.

Lunch at your own expense.

1300 From here return back to Siem Reap, and after checking in there will be time to relax.

1800 Pickup by a Remork (local tuk tuk) head to Asana Bar, located in the last remaining traditional Khmer timber house in the heart of the old town, for a Khmer cocktail lesson. During this fun informal class learn more about Khmer herbs, spices and roots, the basic principles of making cocktails, and how to prepare and mix a cocktail. The Cambodian owner Pari will teach you her cocktail recipes plus you’ll also have a chance to create your own. (Note: it’s also possible to create non-alcoholic cocktails.) 

And finally this evening enjoy a farewell dinner at the stunning Embassy Restaurant, an exclusive fine dining experience unparalleled in Siem Reap and headed by executive chefs Pol & Sok; the “Kimsan Twins”. Their experience has taken them to different continents and under the mentoring of Michelin starred chefs they have created one of the most unique five-star quality cuisines that can be experienced in Siem Reap. With a constantly changing menu based around seasonality, guests can savor skilfully prepared masterpieces from multiple-course set menus, paired with a selection of fine wines.

Overnight in Siem Reap.
 

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast, 🍗 Dinner

📍 Siem Reap - Siem Reap Airport (8 km): 15 mins

Enjoy the day at your leisure for further independent exploration of Siem Reap’s colorful markets before transferring to the airport for your individual onward flight. 

Inclusions:

☕ Breakfast