Khmer Tasting menu at Meric, Siem Reap Cambodia

During my trip to Southeast Asia, our goal was to sample as much street food as humanly possible. However, we could not escape our love for a dining experience consisting of tasting menu and wine pairing. Meric is the upscale restaurant located in the gorgeous Hotel de la Laix in the quaint city of Siem Reap. The restaurant is named after the famous Cambodian pepper. It is serves a Khmer tasting menu which I had read over online.

The hotel is so modern and luxurious, that I got pretty jealous when I walked in. This is where I want to stay at next time I am in town!

Gorgeous outdoor patio area.

Bathrooms are amazing too.

We decided to get seats in the patio area, on their famous "swings". They are essentially chaise sofa looking seats that are suspended from the ceiling. It was fun for a while, but was a task to get on and off.

The Khmer tasting is a 7-course menu which features local Khmer cuisine. It was priced at US$33 which is a steal normally, but is considered very pricey by Cambodian standards. Wine pairing which consisted of 3 glasses of wine was an additional US$16.

There was also an ala carte menu which encompassed a more Westernized cuisine, offering dishes such as pan fried quail with crispy sweetbreads, and pistachio crusted foie gras terrine.

1. Pomolo Salad with Crispy Pork Fritter
2. Chicken and Banana Bud Salad
The first course was essentially the size of an amuse bouche. I liked the texture of the fibrous pomolo salad which was topped with salty and pungent dried shrimp and deep fried pork. Good flavors but it was hard to eat the heap of salad with a spoon and in one bite.

The second course was a salad which was rather refreshingly. The chicken was white meat and a bit dry, but it was seasoned with a lot of fish sauce. The banana and heart of palm were sliced thin and added a crunch to the salad.

3. Grilled Maam with Khmer Crudites
Maam, which is fermented fish paste cooked in banana leaf, was quite interesting in flavor. It was salty and a bit sour, and I liked its meatiness. The crudite of jicama and cucumber helped to balance out the fishiness of the Maam.

4. Prawn Sour Soup with Coconut Milk and Winter Melon
The curry had a pineapple flavor, and was rather mild and not spicy. I wonder if that is how Khmer curries usually are, or if the kitchen tempers the spice level for tourists. It was tough to eat this dish without a serving bowl. We were told to eat the rice first, then the soup, but the rice wasn't even flavored. Although the curry was lacking in spice, I liked the tang from the pineapples.

5. Stir Fried Frog Leg with Braised Ginger
The frog naturally tasted like chicken but was a bit dry. I thought the grilled frog from Pub Street that I had the night before was cooked better. There was too much ginger which was rather unbearable - there was a whole clump in my dish whilr my friend had almost none. Must have been a kitchen error.

6. Beer Shank Soup with Green Papaya
The soup looked rather ordinary but I really enjoyed it. I liked the semi-soft mild tasting radish and the meat which had a nice amount of tendon, but was still tender. The soup was even better after adding freshly squeezed lime juice, which brought a sharp acidic essence to the dish.

7. Assorted Khmer Sweets
Not sure how I forgot to take a photo of this. The selection included tapioca cake, sticky rice with 3 bean, cloudless green cake, coconut cake, and something similar to bubur cha cha (yam and sago). It was a nice smattering of desserts which were rich and sweet.

Because the courses were served in pairs, it didn't feel like a seven course tasting menu. In fact, we were done after 1.5 hrs. Not necessarily a bad thing, just that I was expecting something more progressive. Overall, it was a good way to sample the local cuisine in a gorgeous environment. It's tough to describe what Khmer cuisine is, I still am not entirely sure. But I do know that it packs flavor, and they do like their frogs here.

Meric at Hotel de la Paix
Sivutha Boulevard
Siem Reap, Cambodia
(855) 63 966 000

BBQing in Siem Reap, Cambodia (frogs, croc, snake, galore!)

While travelling in Asia this Fall, my favorite city was Siem Reap in Cambodia. After getting scammed in Saigon and Bangkok, I realized that the safe, quaint, friendly city of Siem Reap was my most memorable stop. I spent many hours sitting on the sidewalk patio of bars, sipping wine, people watching and munching on food. It all felt very Indochine. It is very tourist friendly yet has the charm of an old French colonial town. It's also convenient that almost everything is priced in USD, so you are not left with a bunch of foreign currency at the end of your trip. Even ATMs dispense USD.

My favorite part of the town is its popular Pub Street which houses a bunch of bars and restaurants. It caters to an older crowd, and did not seem like a collegiate scene.

One of my favorite Cambodian street food is their BBQ. There are many makeshift stands on Pub Street that serve up freshly grilled fare. It's the perfect post-boozing food.

I went with a chicken wing and frog which cost only $1 per piece. Definitely a steal. I was very surprised that they served the whole frog! I was expecting only the legs. Even though I've had my fare share of frog legs and other exotic meats, I was actually a bit terrified to take the first bite. But once I got over the the fact that I was eating frog that actually looked like a frog, I realized what a delicious piece of grilled meat this was. Tender, juicy with lots of bones to chew around.

When we were on Pub Street, we noticed a lot of Cambodian BBQ signs, so we decided to check it out for lunch the following day. There were many options but we opted for the restaurant with a nice patio seating area and fans (it's humid there!)

Cambodian BBQ Restaurant also caught our eye because of its exotic menu. It was also very affordable at $15.50 for two people, and you are allowed to substitute two meats.

Garlic bread to start.

A bottle of Sauvignon Blanc goes with anything.

We were koo-koo for spring rolls on our entire trip in Vietnam and Cambodia, so this was a requisite order. Freshly fried with pork and vegetable filling. The nuoc mam dipping sauce is always such a great compliment.

Being the adventurous souls we are, we opted for the snake, kangaroo, frog, crocodile and squid. Ok, the last one wasn't unique but how can you pass up on grilled seafood? I liked the little pictorial signs that show you what meats they were.

They also served fresh yellow noodles, vegetables and pumpkin, which are cooked in the chicken broth.

The waiter actually started to grill these for us, so we just sat back and enjoyed our wine.

A slab of pork fat was used to grease up the grill. The snake was surprisingly a bit tough but fell apart easily.The crocodile was also a tad chewy. I've definitely had better croc in Oz. My favorite was the frogs leg which was juicy. Love chewing off that tiny cartilage between the bones. The kangaroo tasted like beef but much leaner. Finally, the squid grilled up nicely but it kept slipping off the grill and falling into the broth. The meats were served with an array of sauces. Seafood paired the best with the cilantro sauce, which was my favorite. The tamarind and pepper sauce were also pretty good.

After all the meats were gone, we moved to the noodle and vegetable soup that was infused with all the meat juices.

The best part of our meal was the bill, at $40 for two which included wine. Overall, the meats are not of the best quality, but it was a fun experience to sample some grilled exotic meats.

Cambodian BBQ Restaurant
Le passage Alley and Pub Street,
Siem Reap, Cambodia 855

Scenes from Siem Reap, Cambodia

Here are some non-food photos of my favorite city on this Southeast Asia trip.

Our hotel, the Golden Banana Resort was just a short walk to Pub Street. It thought it was clean, up-to-date in decor, and the hotel employees were friendly and helpful.

Our room was comfortable, and was located poolside.

Even though I am not much of a sightseer, I dragged myself to the temples. Our personal guide, Bunvath, spoke good English, picked us up in a tuk tuk (complete with supply of cold bottled water), and took us on a tailored tour of the temples. BTW, the tour cost US$25 for the both of us and another $20 for the tuk tuk. Best deal ever!

I liked that the temples are located pretty close to the town center. Angkor Wat was only a couple minutes away on tuk tuk.

Our first stop was the fortress city of Angkor Thom.


The Bayon Temple is located in the center of the city of Angkor Thom. It is known for the stone faces carved in the towers. The elephant ride around the temple was pretty cool. We got to feed our elephant some bananas afterwards.




Our next temple was Ta Prohm, also known as the temple where the Tomb Raider movie was filmed.

The massive trees growing out of the temples were a sight to see.

Last but not least, we stopped at Angkor Wat, the most famous temple.


Siem Reap is such a magical place that still holds its charm. The locals were friendly and we felt very safe in the city. No one tried to scam us here, and everyone was welcoming.