"I'll have the crocodile"
March 3, 2008
My drink at Banana Leaf. Something involving pineapple and coconut.
Our guide was pointing out all the different restaurants on the street, but I was determined to try Cambodian BBQ. I wasn't sure what exactly it was, but I knew you could get a variety of meats there- crocodile, ostrich, snake, and kangaroo. I'd be lying if I said that the Travel Channel's No Reservations and Bizarre Foods haven't encouraged me to be more daring (to a point) with the foods I try when I travel! A couple in our group from Canada headed down later to check it out and asked what they had to eat there.
Sign in the bathroom at Banana Leaf
My roommate, Dean (one of the 19 year olds on a RTW trip) and I wanted to try something new and interesting so we decided to each order different things and share. It was obvious that they would be my partners in crime (PIC) for the short time that they were on the trip. I really wanted to try crocodile for some reason. If ten years ago you had told me that I would one day be sitting at a restaurant in Cambodia and ordering crocodile for dinner, I would have thought you were crazy. But there I was. My roommate was really into trying ostrich and Dean ordered chicken as a backup in case the other ones weren't so tasty.
Me and Dean at X Bar
After dinner, the PIC and I and two of the Canadians decided to hit up a bar called the Banana Leaf. It's a nice mellow place to sit down and have a drink and a chat. But our conversation was being drowned out from the loud music coming from the Temple Club next door. Eventually the Canadians left to go to bed. The PIC and I wanted to check out the Temple Club but went to see what was happening at X Bar first. It's at the end of Pub Street and at the top of a building that overlooks the street. Nothing much was going on there that night. It's a big place with pool tables and a lot of seating. It's probably much more fun when there are a lot of people there.
We went back down the street to Temple Club which had a decent sized crowd for a Monday night. We went in to join the fun. They played a lot of Top 40 hits and it felt like a Western club, except for a big woodcarving of Ankor Wat on the wall. So there I was dancing to a reggaeton hit song, looking at a picture of Angkor Wat, colorful lights flashing and foreigners dancing awkwardly but enthusiastically around me. A microcosm of Siem Reap and Angkor?
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My drink at Banana Leaf. Somethi…
Sign in the bathroom at Banana Leaf
Me and Dean at X Bar
PIC at Temple Club
An easy way to try something new
At this restaurant they have an interesting selection to choose from: snake, kangaroo (?), crocodile, frog, ostrich and of course chicken, pork or beef. Each person usually orders one dish and then you share a barbecue with two or so people. I think there are some regular cooked meals available if you're not interesting in trying the barbecue.
They first brought us a hot dome shaped "barbecue". Then they brought out the meats as well as noodles, veggies and rice. The meat comes chopped up into small pieces with an egg and you mix it up before sticking it on the grill. At the bottom of the grill is soup. They refill the soup every so often and give you unlimited vegetables, rice and noodles. You add the veggies and noodles to the soup and use chopsticks to cook the meat and flip it over.
We tried the ostrich, crocodile and chicken and our "exotic" choices turned out to be the best. The crocodile tasted like combination of chicken and fish. The ostrich tasted a little bit like red meat or maybe chicken cooked in red wine. I don't think the meat was seasoned except for some salt and pepper. Because of this, you get more of an idea of the actual flavor of the meat. So it makes sense to go for something other than chicken.
This restaurant is located in an alley which I think was just off of Pub Street. It's not too hard to find. It has a "made for tourists" vibe, but it's still an interesting and memorable experience. If you're in Siem Reap it's worth a try!
They first brought us a hot dome shaped "barbecue". Then they brought out the meats as well as noodles, veggies and rice. The meat comes chopped up into small pieces with an egg and you mix it up before sticking it on the grill. At the bottom of the grill is soup. They refill the soup every so often and give you unlimited vegetables, rice and noodles. You add the veggies and noodles to the soup and use chopsticks to cook the meat and flip it over.
We tried the ostrich, crocodile and chicken and our "exotic" choices turned out to be the best. The crocodile tasted like combination of chicken and fish. The ostrich tasted a little bit like red meat or maybe chicken cooked in red wine. I don't think the meat was seasoned except for some salt and pepper. Because of this, you get more of an idea of the actual flavor of the meat. So it makes sense to go for something other than chicken.
This restaurant is located in an alley which I think was just off of Pub Street. It's not too hard to find. It has a "made for tourists" vibe, but it's still an interesting and memorable experience. If you're in Siem Reap it's worth a try!
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