Aug 19 2006
Filipino Food in Cambodia
I may have complained a lot in the past about having no KFC, McDonald’s and Starbucks in Cambodia. But I still consider myself, and other Pinoys who live here, lucky because in Cambodia, we have no scarcity of Filipino foods and Filipino restaurants.
In markets and supermarkets, you can buy bagoong, patis, bulalo, kangkong, ampalaya, and others. Probably the only thing you can’t buy here is bangus.
When it comes to restaurants, there is a handful. There is Helen’s Bakery which is a carinderia-style turo-turo where she cooks super-delicious pork chops, ampalaya, Filipino fried chicken, menudo, afritada, pinakbet etc. for about $1.50 per meal. Her tapsilog, longsilog, and tocilog are famous all over Phnom Penh. She also delivers for free. Her carinderia is visited not only by Pinoys but also westerners who like her tacos, potato salad, and pizzas.
Then, there’s Bamboo Restaurant, situated strategically near the Independence Monument. It’s a little bit more elegant than Helen (air-conditioned) and of course a little more expensive… but still quite reasonably priced. They have crispy pata, kaldereta, lumpiang shanghai, sinigang na hipon, pancit bihon and everything else you could think if you’re craving for Filipino food. Their leche flan and halo-halo are to die for.
A cross between Helen’s Bakery and Bamboo Restaurant is Jessie and Marie’s Carinderia where Pinoys can watch TFC while they eat or sing-along with the videoke. Jessie’s kare-kare is simply delicious (spicy yet sweet) and his pinaputok na tilapia is heaven.
Then, there’s Mang Bhoy’s Lechon, which of course serves lechon. Most Pinoy parties in Phnom Penh order their delicious lechon de leche from Mang Bhoy who delivers it with his complimentary dinuguan.
And then there’s the newest Filipino restaurant which just opened last month… Bistro Lorenzo. I have no idea if it’s connected to the one in Annapolis in Greenhills wherein I had many fine high school memories. We tried it out and sure enough, we were treated to a real Pinoy meal.
What could be better for a night out than Sisig and sizzling kangkong?
Honey ordered this garlic fried rice topped with glazed chicken wings.
Kain na!
Of course if you want adobo, the best place is right here at home… in Honey’s kitchen! 
Technorati tags: Filipino Food
Sisig
Kangkong
Filipino Restaurants
Kangkong
- Pinoy Gathering in Cambodia
- FOOD… BY Honey
- To Russia, for Lunch
- KFC in Phnom Penh
- Lebanese Food in Phnom Penh
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Ayan naman pala eh! hahaha….mas masarap pa to kesa sa KFC.
iba talaga ang Filipino foods..kakagutom itong post nyo hehehe
I can hear that sisig calling out to me “eat me! eat me!”. LOL!
BTW, maanghang ba?
It’s just now that I realized there were so many Pinoys in Cambodia working or doing business.
Ladybug, oo nga… pero baka naman ako mamatay kaagad kung panay sisig at crispy pata na lang ang parati kong kakainin.
Dapat may KFC din para… ay! Ganun din pala ‘yon. 
KD, diba nakakatulong sa homesickness ang Filipino food pagka nasa abroad?
Sngl… yes, the sisig is a little maanghang, but not that much… it’s just right.
There are more than a thousand pinoys here, not as much as in other countries. They don’t need manpower here naman because marami ngang unemployed na Cambodian dito e.
I miss adobong baboy, it’s quite expensive here (P800/kl). Patago pa yon cause pork is not allowed here. But almost all Filipino Foods are also available here, meron din bangus but frozen.
I think we also have Filipino food among the food courts of Sorya Shopping Center..
[...] You won’t find a Starbucks or Mickey Ds in Cambodia, but there’s enough tapsilog and tocilogto to feed a small nation of 7,000 islands. [Kurokuroatbp] [...]
Hi Toe. How’s your weekend so far? Napadaan kami sa Bistro Lorenzo last night, sabi ko na nga ba e Pinoy resto ito. Saan naman yung Carinderia nina Jessie at Marie? Di pa ko nakapunta dun a. Natatakam ako dun sa sisig at pinaputok na tilapya!Yum!
buti pa kayo madaming choices. Here in Frankfurt, if I want pinoy food, I have to prepare it myself or kakapalan ko mukha ko so I get invited by other pinoys. haha.
Ann, it’s good that Filipino food is available in Saudi. Ang hirap talaga pagkawala. Kaya lang, nakakamiss nga din kung walang pork. P’ano nga nila pinapapasok yung binebenta nilang pork?
Hi Mongkol. Thanks for visiting my blog. I didn’t know about the Filipino food in Sorya. What floor?
ZJ, okay naman ang weekend. We’re lucky because we have a long weekend because Monday is a Philippine holiday (Ninoy Aquino Day). Si Jessie at Marie malapit din sa Independence Park. I forgot the street no. but think across the new ADB building. It’s just a hole in the wall so look carefully. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
AnP, thanks so much for visiting my blog. Yes, we are lucky here with quite a handful of choices of Filipino restaurants. I’m sure the Pinoys there are happy to invite you for some home-cooked Pinoy meal.
Hi Toe thanks for passing by. Actually, I just saw your comment just now (Aug.19,2006 at exactly 18:47 PM in France). You’ve got an interesting site because it’s about Pinoy alimentation and I just love it. In fact, I don’t know how to cook I just love eating but when I got married and have children (my french honey is a gourmand too and he loves Filipino Cuisine) thus I am oblige to cook and be innovative in everything! Unfortunately, there are no Filipino restaurants here in France pero nakakatikim din ako ng mga lutong Pinoy because of the parties and celebration within the Filipino community. I get to learn to cook too! Lucky me and thanks for Pinoy Friends!
Have a nice day there in Cammbodia and thanks again for hopping by. If you don’t mind me linking you
thanks. I will be your regular reader 
it’s nice to hear that the filipino entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. by that, i mean running their own businesses, that is.
How is Cambodian food, btw? I have no absolutely no idea kung ano lasa ng food nila.
OMG, nilalawayan ako!
Haze, thanks so much for visiting too and I’d be honored with your link. I can’t cook either. I just eat and eat and eat and eat.
It’s my husband who’s the cook in the family… and I sometimes blog about his gourmet creations. 
Maybe, you could open up a pinoy resto in France. 
Aren’t Filipino friends in a foreign country a sanctuary?
Wil, yes there are quite a few small businesses here in Cambodia, though no big investments yet. We’re quite happy that the small businesses here are all about food.
Ay, you don’t get bangus there. There are also a few Filipino stores and restaurants here. But I rarely go there. Aside from their distance to our place, the food is also more expensive. But the grocery store where I do my shopping carries Oriental foods, so we also get to buy Filipino foods, even bangus and tilapia.
AnP, like Filipinos, Cambodians eat a lot of rice with ulam of fish or meat and vegetables and some clear soup. But their food tastes different because of the herbs and vegetables they use. It tastes like Thai but a little less spicy (but still too spicy for my taste with their generous helpings of chili). They also use a lot of gata in their food. They have a lot of freshwater fish because the Mekong River. Thanks for the idea AnP… I’ve never blogged about Cambodian food yet. I’ll do so next time we eat Khmer.
Pinayhekmi, ako din nga e.
Do you have sisig in… uh, Texas diba?
lol Toe, kagabi pa ako open ng page mo, wala. I just checked lol, wrong link.
Anyway, masarap talaga Filipino food wag nga lang puro babsi (tawag namin sa piggy dito para di maintindihan ng mga locals). I love halo-halo.
I forwarded your blog to Jolibee at Max – give them time lang daw! Darating sila dyan!
hehehe
MikeinManila
Ipanema, so sorry… did I type out my URL wrong?
Babsi… haha… I like that. Yes, Filipino food do tend to be quite babsi. But Filipino seafood dishes are also delicious. I love halo-halo too. Good thing we also have it here… though there’s no pinipig.
MikeinManila, thanks for visiting my blog. There’s Jollibee nga in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) but not here. Are Jollibee and Max serious?
Na email ko sa kanila yung blog ninyo… dunno? who knows lagi ng hahahnap sila ng mga locations. Why not seek a franchise?
Di lang naman Jollyfoods Corp or RedRibbon – you should seek out Goldilocks, JoeKwan, Figaro Coffee… all of whom are opening places abroad – para naman sumikat ang mga pinoy franchises di po ba?
hehehe
Good luck- kakaian muna ako! nagutom ako sa blog ninyo.
mkc
OMG! You’re Mike Cohen! Mike Cohen is commenting on my blog!
My fault Toe, I forgot your using wordpress. It’s fix now.
With luscious food like this, I wont really mind having no KFC or McBurger for a year.
Its a wonder to me that there seems to be quite a number of Filipino food joints there in Phonm Penh, I never thought initially how alive and bustling the Filipino community there.
Since you like food and travelling.
Next time you’re in bangkok look for the resto ‘cabbages and condoms’ Really good thai food !! Promise ! A tad pricier than Mall food.
And if money is no object you can try ‘Mrs. Balbirs’ Indian resto best indian food I had… but pricey pricey pricey !! The 2 resto’s are along the main road din. Sukhumvit yata. Yep Sukhumvit nga.
It’s along the business central of BKK. It’s like BKK’s version of makati.
Wow! Naglaway ako! I didn’t realize that there’s quite a thriving community of Filipinos in Cambodia.
Now I’m more interested to learn more about modern Cambodia besides my previous concept of it under Pol Pot’s regime.
Will be visiting often from now on
That’s funny. I thought I already left a comment earlier. Baka na-delete.
I was just saying that we get bangus and tilapia here too. There are also a few Filipino stores and restaurants here, but I seldom go there because not only are they far from my place, but the prices are also higher. Syempre, imported foods kasi iyon. 
But the grocery store where I do my shopping carries Oriental foods, so I get to buy these too.
Wow Toe! May celebrity sighting na tayo…. in the person of Mike Cohen.
there are no celebs in blog-space only netizens!
we are all equal!
Napass ko yung food blog ninyo k Pareng Julius at Kumareing Tin-Tin.
Para batiin kayo sa TFC…
God Bless-
Mike
Thanks Ipanema!
Major Tom, it’s funny. The Filipinos here aren’t really that many… more than a thousand lang. So I’m really happy that we have quite a few restaurants. There are also entrepreneurial Filipinos who just offer things like palabok, leche flan, tocino, purefoods canned goods, etc..
Senorito Ako, Cabbages and Condoms… that’s so funny… and so Thai.
Okay, we’ll try that next time we go to Bangkok. Is that near Emporium?
Eric, thanks so much. Cambodia is a very interesting place (politically, culturally and historically) and quite a hot spot tourist destination nowadays. It’s quite wonderful that Filipinos have helped a lot in its development especially in the 1990s.
Niceheart, I am sooooo sorry. There’s something wrong with my blog. It seems that some comments do get deleted and I have no idea why since I don’t even moderate my comments. It’s good that you have bangus. I miss that so much here. Canada is so far kc, I guess that’s why Filipino food stores are few and quite expensive. But you do enjoy Canada’s modernity which we don’t have much here. I guess every place has its advantages.
Ladybug, oo nga… blogging is amazing no?
MikeinManila… sorry about that… my friend Ladybug and I are starry-eyed kapamilyas.
Thanks so much for the referral. 
One less thing to be homesick about then! And how about Cambodian food? Interesting to learn about that!
Nakakalusot sa may immigration dito sa Bahrain papasok dito.
wow! ang sarap naman! kung si honey, adobo ang masarap na luto.. sayo, ano?
Hi Toni. Thanks for visiting my blog.
Cambodians, like us, eat rice with ulam of fish or meat. They also eat plenty of vegetables. But the taste of their food is different because like the Thais, they use herbs like basil and lemongrass a lot. They also use a lot of pepper though their food isn’t as spicy as the Thais. They have plenty of freshwater fish because of the Mekong River. Their grilled river prawn is simply luscious.
Ann, kaya naman pala presyong ginto ang pork jan e.
Tin-Tin… ah… masarap na luto ko? My culinary expertise is limited to toasted bread and hotdogs.
Honey is the cook in the family. 
[...] Of the regional cuisines that I know literally nothing about, Filipino cuisine tops my list. My knowledge of the Philippines has mostly been gleaned from Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and the works of seminal turntablists, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz. 100mph Backsliding Turkey Kutz may be one of the canonical scratch weapons that every aspiring hip hop disc jockey should have in their armoury, but it hardly provides much insight into food and culture of the Filipino people. Thankfully, the Internet is filled with people who know that there is more to Pinoy food than Jollibee and are conversely less interested in hip hop marginalia than me. It seems that Filipino expats aren’t too badly served by the Phnom Penh food scene. Toe writes: In markets and supermarkets, you can buy bagoong, patis, bulalo, kangkong, ampalaya, and others. Probably the only thing you can’t buy here is bangus. [...]
It’s on the 4th floor..
It’s called Payong Filipino or sth.. 
I don’t remember the name very well.
Mongkol, thanks so much for this tip. I’ll check it out.
Take care of yourself in San Francisco!
I got here through Tin (Pinayhekmi)’s blog and I am enjoying your posts that i linked you already without even getting your permission first (hope you don’t mind)!
I’m so envious you have Pinoy restaurants in Cambodia. Here in Thailand, I know of two but they are quite far from where I live
Yupki, me naman, I love Thailand!
I love the food, the stores, etc. But yes, we are lucky here because of the Pinoy restaurants. It helps a lot in dealing with the homesickness.
Thank you so much and I’m glad you’re enjoying my posts. Oh, and thanks for the link!
you are so lucky because of that. that way, you dont miss the food here in the philippines.