The first night we were in Siem Reap, Cambodia, we went to Pub Street to find a place to eat. It wasn't a difficult task; there are dozens and dozens of restaurants in that area, including lots of street food carts. We picked a place that had a live music - a man and woman singing and playing an acoustic guitar - and 50 cent beer. MT had this fresh banana leaf salad with shrimp as an appetizer, immediately breaking all the rules we were told by the health department which included eating only food that was cooked and staying away from raw vegetables. I didn't have any, but MT said it was delicious and he was fine afterward.
~~~
Our tour of Angkor Wat included a stop for lunch. We were taken to Triple K Restaurant, a fairly good-sized place with air conditioning and a large menu. I think MT had something with pork. I had pineapple chicken rice. It was one of the best things I ate while on vacation. I have even made it here at home and though it wasn't exactly the same, it was dang good. Even T liked it!
~~~
Later that afternoon when our sightseeing was finished, we went to the bar at the hotel for a cold beer and we ended up having some tapas. Who would have thought we would have Spanish style appetizers in Cambodia? We did, though, and they were super tasty.
MT ordered the albondigas - meatballs in a garlicky, spicy tomato sauce.
I ordered the patatas bravas which are potatoes with a garlicky, spicy tomato sauce. I know I have described the sauces with the same words, but they taste completely different. The sauce on the patatas bravas is more like a spicy ketchup, but that description doesn't do it justice. As you can see, the tapas were served with bread. That bottle of Angkor you see in the upper left corner is Cambodian beer. Very refreshing.
~~~
The first night we were in Thailand, we had to have pad Thai, of course. It was served with a variety of spices on the side, but it was plenty spicy on it's own. I put a teeny tiny smidgen of crushed red chili flakes on mine along with some crushed peanuts and a generous squeeze of fresh lime. It was so damn spicy that my eyes were watering and my nose was running. It was amazing and tasted really good. MT stayed away from the chili flakes and just used the vinegar that was flavored with chilis on his pad Thai. He was happy with his choice as he watched me sniffle and shove big forkfuls of rice noodles into my face.
~~~
Inspired by how enthusiastic I was about the pineapple chicken rice I'd had at Angkor, MT decided to order the same dish when we were in Ao Nang after climbing to the top of the Tiger Cave Temple. The presentation of his dish was a little more whimsical than mine:
The inside of the pineapple was carved out and filled with rice. The food was tasty and the presentation was delightful. I mean, come on! How cute is that?!
~~~
After walking down the Monkey Trail into Ao Nang, we decided to have lunch at a restaurant that had been recommended by our Four Island Tour guide, Leng. The restaurant is called The Last Fisherman and it is right on the beach. The place has lots of tables and it was busy. I probably had chicken and rice; that was my go to meal most of the time. MT is more adventurous and since we were right by the water, he had the catch of the day.
He ordered it without a lot of spice, so I thought it was kind of bland. I don't know what kind of fish that is. It was a very simply prepared white fish. I think the novelty of having a whole fish that had probably been swimming around mere hours before was the draw here.
~~~
Over in Phuket we ate more pad Thai and a few other typical Thai dishes. We ate at Wiwan Restaurant a couple of times. It was a nice large place and the food was good. We had been advised by another guide that we had to have coconut ice cream. I'm not a huge ice cream fan, but I had to try it and since I was going for it, I might as well have two scoops, right? The white scoop is coconut and the green scoop is lime. MT had the coconut ice cream every day and we were sad we didn't have any in the Krabi area. MT misses the coconut ice cream even now. He comments about it almost every time he has ice cream, which is frequent. He loves ice cream!
What was so good about it? The texture was smooth and creamy and just rich enough. The flavor was delicate but you knew exactly what it tasted like. I mean neither the coconut nor the lime flavor was overwhelming, but it was distinct. Really, really delicious.
~~~
After playing in the water and laying on the beach in Ao Nang, we decided to get lunch at Macarona Restaurant. It had been highly recommended by a gregarious Swedish man we met in the pool at the hotel. He said the pizza was delicious and I thought beer and pizza sounded awesome after a morning in the sun on the beach.
And it WAS awesome! I don't know if I was just super hungry or what, but my pizza, the quattro formaggio (four cheese), was divine! MT had the Naithon special. I couldn't tell you what was on his, but I do know that we both ate every last crumb and cheese particle on those pizzas. The crust to sauce to topping ratios were perfect. The flavor was outstanding. Pizza in Thailand is definitely a thing. There are many places that serve pizza to be found there. I wish we would have eaten at Macarona again. I recommended it to some people we met and I even wrote a review about it on Trip Advisor.
The beer we drank in Thailand was Singha. There is another beer there that is very good too called Chang. There's really nothing like cold beer on a hot day and it was always hot there. I drank quite a few beers during those two weeks. It's safer than cocktails - no ice!
I have enjoyed writing about my food memories of Cambodia and Thailand. Lots of carbs. No wondered I gained a few pounds!
Have a great weekend!
1 comment:
I like pineapple chicken rice, Marvin and I had it often in the Renu Nakorn Restaurant in Rosecrans, it looked like yours not fancy like Marty's. I also like Pad Thai :)
Post a Comment