Phnom Penh on a Budget: Best Cheap Eats
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Phnom Penh’s food scene runs on street stalls, not fine dining
The best Khmer food in Phnom Penh isn’t hiding behind a restaurant door, it’s at a market stall or a plastic-stool spot with no sign, and it’s cheap, most street dishes run $1-3. This guide covers the dishes worth seeking out, when to order them, and the two restaurants worth naming here.
The dishes to know
Fish amok (amok trey), coconut-and-kroeung fish curry steamed in a banana leaf, is Cambodia’s signature dish and shows up on nearly every menu in the city. Nom banh chok, cold rice vermicelli under a green fish curry, is the other national dish and a common breakfast order. Lok lak, peppery stir-fried beef with a lime-pepper dip, is a reliable mid-range order at almost any restaurant. Kuy teav, rice-noodle soup, is the default breakfast alongside bai sach chrouk, grilled pork over broken rice, which most stalls stop selling by around 10am, so go early if you want it. Kampot pepper, the EU-protected crop from the south coast, seasons much of the above, look for it named specifically on the menu rather than assumed.
Where to eat it
Sisowath Quay and the Night Market (Friday-Sunday) are the city’s main street-food clusters, grilled skewers, noodle soups, and fresh fruit shakes from vendors along the riverside as the day cools off. Central Market (Phsar Thmei) has food stalls inside and around its Art Deco dome alongside the souvenir stands, and the Russian Market’s food corner is worth a stop once you’ve finished bargaining. For a sit-down meal that also does some good, Friends (215 Street 13) and Romdeng are the two restaurants worth naming here, both are TREE Alliance social enterprises that train at-risk and formerly street-connected youth in hospitality, and both cost a modest premium over a street stall for genuinely good Khmer cooking.
Practical eating tips
Cash is standard at street stalls, USD in whole dollars or riel for anything under a dollar, and crisp bills matter, a torn $1 gets refused as often as a torn $20 does. Tap water isn’t potable, stick to bottled, most busier stalls use factory ice rather than tap water, but when in doubt, skip it. Tipping isn’t expected at street level but 5-10% is appreciated at a sit-down restaurant. If you’re building a market crawl around food, go to Central Market or the riverside in the morning before the heat sets in, most vendors are out from breakfast through the afternoon and thin out again after dark outside the Night Market’s Friday-Sunday run.
Read more: the main Phnom Penh guide covers where to stay near these food streets, and the travel tips guide has more on cash and etiquette.