Restaurants and other businesses abound in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville. Food stalls are also common in all towns and cities. Khmer cuisine is very similar to Thai, but with fewer spices involved.
National specialties: • There is a plethora of sweet dishes, such as sticky rice cakes.
• Succulent fruits include banana, coconut, the
durian fruit (known for its distinctive odour), jackfruit,
longan fruit, lychee, pineapple and
rambutan fruit (which has translucent white flesh), to name just a few.
• Grilled fish, rolled in lettuce
or spinach and dipped into fish sauce.
• Like Vietnam, a must-have accompaniment to every meal is fermented fish paste.
• Rice noodles proliferate and can be bought covered in curry sauce from street vendors.
National drinks:• Fresh coconut juice.
• Green tea.
• Rice wine.
• The local beer is called
Angkor.
• The most popular, and refreshing, Khmer drink is soda water with a squeeze of lemon.
Legal drinking age: There are no age restrictions.
Tipping: Tips are appreciated in hotels and restaurants where no service charge has been added, and by tour guides.
NightlifeThe nightlife in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and to a lesser extent in Sihanoukville, is pretty vibrant, mainly because of the large number of visitors and expat residents. There are bars and restaurants but very few clubs and live music venues. Bars and restaurants range from dingy, smoky bars to upmarket cocktail bars and elegant restaurants. The major hotels offer entertainment, and weekly
Apsara dance performances are often held from November to March in some hotel gardens, mainly in Siem Reap. The
Holiday International Hotel in Phnom Penh has
a popular nightclub, the
Manhattan Club. Gambling is legal in Cambodia and there are several casinos in Sihanoukville and on the border with Thailand.
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