If you’re looking for the best street food in Siem Reap, you may find it difficult. In a post-COVID world, a lot of street food stalls mentioned in other blogs seem to have vanished. Maybe they only existed for tourists, rather than the local people. However, there is a place in Siem Reap serving authentic Khmer street food, bustling with locals at night – Street 60.
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Street Food in Siem Reap (besides Street 60)
Now there still are a few street food stalls in the city. Our favourite spot before we found Street 60 was a group of stalls by the river, south of Pub Street. Here you can find BBQ, clam ladies, banana fritters and banana pancakes.
We had seen on other blogs that normally on Pub Street you can find lots of street food outside the clubs. But, from our experience, you’re going to struggle to see anything besides the “Fried Ice Cream Roll” stalls and more banana pancakes.
We were on the search for what we thought were Khmer street foods; bugs, crickets, scorpions and tarantulas. We asked our Angkor Wat tuk-tuk driver, Mr Thet, where to find them, and he said it’s more of a Thai thing to eat those sorts of food. But, he did say there are a few spots in Siem Reap, like if you go to the Old Market. We tried looking for them here but we had no luck.
Mr Thet told us about Street 60 – a locals hangout.
Getting to Street 60
Now it’s quite unlikely that you’ll be staying anywhere near Street 60 – it’s a little bit out of the city centre. You may have driven down this road during the daytime on the way to pick up your Angkor Wat ticket. Here’s the Google Maps location.
If you’re feeling confident, you can hire a scooter and drive over to Street 60.
However, you may find it easier to hire a Tuk Tuk driver, like Mr Thet. They can drive you to their favourite spots on Street 60, help order for you and show you how to eat each dish. We would 100% recommend doing it this way!
The BBQ Joint – Frogs, Fish, Chicken and More!
The first spot we pulled up to was a BBQ joint, similar to what you’d find in central Siem Reap. But, it had a lot more interesting stuff.
Chicken hearts, weird balls, intestines, kidneys and stuffed frog legs to name a few. A huge pot of tripe also boiled nearby. We knew there were more spots on this street food journey, so we only bought a few things.
Stuffed frogs, chicken thighs on a skewer and chicken wingtips.
The wingtips were crunchy, and the chicken thighs were juicy, in a slightly smoky and sweet glaze.
But the star of the show out of the grilled meats was the frogs stuffed with a mix of pork, peanuts and lemongrass. They were so good, and probably the best stuffed frogs we tasted in all of Cambodia. The stuffing had the flavours of satay sauce – peanuts, fragrant lemongrass and coconut, but in a juicy minced pork filling. We wish we ordered more.
The grilled meats came to $3.
The Banh Chiao Joint – Pancakes, Balut, Song Wak
Mr Thet took us to one of his favourite places to eat with his family. A stall not too far from the BBQ Joint, serving Banh Chiao. This Cambodian dish is similar to the Vietnamese Crepes known as Bánh Xèo.
We sat on a mat, next to the Banh Chiao with our bag of grilled meats. Meanwhile, Mr Thet ordered three Banh Chiao, with all the trimmings, six Balut and a bunch of Song Wak.
Here’s all the food, including our grilled meats on the mat.
The Banh Chiao (yellow crepe) was like a thin coconut omelette, stuffed with pork. Mr Thet showed us how to eat it.
We tore pieces of the Banh Chiao and placed them inside a piece of lettuce. We added some herbs like holy basil, mint and sawtooth coriander, along with cucumber to the lettuce wrap. We then dipped the whole thing in a sauce of fish sauce, vinegar, chillies and garlic. It was nice, mainly just a vehicle for eating lots of herbs and meat.
Next up were the Song Wak – the little parcels wrapped in banana leaves, that you can see in the top right of the photo. Song Wak is made from fish that’s been pounded into a paste with garlic, chilli, ginger and various other seasonings. This is then spread onto banana leaves, folded and grilled over charcoals. What comes out is a solid block of spicy, garlicky and fishy goodness that you can also add to your Banh Chiao wrap.
The Balut – Fertilised Duck Egg
Finally, we got to the Balut – fertilised duck egg that had been boiled for a few minutes. Served with bowls of black pepper, salt, limes and sliced garlic.
We cracked open the top of the egg to reveal a weird, veiny half egg, half duck sort of thing, covered in a thin membrane. We cut through this membrane, causing a really savoury, slightly eggy juice to leak out. It sounds kind of gross, but trust me it tastes really good.
Then, we went in with our spoons. There were so many textures. At the start, it was almost creamy, like a soft-boiled egg yolk, but then there’s the odd bone that gave a slight crunch. I could make out what looked like an underdeveloped wing, but it was easy to chew. Adding the pepper, salt, lime and garlic only made it taste better.
At the bottom of the egg was a really solid part. I’m not sure what it was (duck or egg) but it had a really odd, rubbery texture and it was squeaky, like really tough halloumi.
The three Banh Chiao, Song Wak, six Balut and three bottles of water came to $6.
The Cambodian Noodle Soup Joint
We were almost full. Almost. But, Mr Thet wanted us to try one last thing on Street 60. Two generous portions of noodle curry.
The first was a coconut and lemongrass fish noodle soup. Lots of different herbs and crunchy green beans interlaced with thin noodles, coated in the coconut broth. It was an almost refreshing dish, with the flavours of the herbs and vegetables being very much at the forefront.
The second, and my favourite, was the beef noodle soup. Big chunks of tender beef and wedges of beef liver, sat in a rich and slightly creamy broth, spiced with warming flavours of cinnamon, cardamom and garlic.
The soups came to $2.50 combined.
The Insects Joint
Now I hadn’t seen any food stalls selling insects during the time I spent in Siem Reap. But here it was. Just as we were leaving Street 60 with full stomachs, we passed by a vendor selling an assortment of insects.
We asked the vendor for a bit of each. A tasting menu of insects. Some grasshoppers, crickets, beetles cockroaches, frogs, and tarantula. All had been stir-fried in a sauce of spring onions, soy sauce, chilli, garlic and sugar.
The maggots tasted like almonds and popped in your mouth when you bit into them. The deep-fried frogs were like chewy, crunchy pieces of chicken. I wasn’t a huge fan of the flavour of the beetles, but the crickets had a really nice crunch.
The tarantula was interesting. The legs were similar to the frog. Crunchy vessels with a little bit of hair, which the garlic chilli sauce clung on to. But the body of the tarantula was really weird. It had a texture and look similar to black pudding, with a subtle meaty taste. According to Mr Thet, this was the best part of the tarantula, and he’d fight over it with his family when he was a kid.
Our bag of insects cost $2.
Wrapping Up
All in all, it was a successful and tasty trip to Street 60. Although a lot of it was thanks to Mr Thet!
Street 60 is definitely worth a visit if you’re in Siem Reap, if not for the food then just to experience a real spot where Cambodian families like to hang out.
We could have visited Street 60 on our own, but having Mr Thet with us, our Tuk Tuk driver for Angkor Wat made the whole experience a lot easier. He would stop at the stalls we wanted to stop at, but he was also happy to give recommendations, describe the food and order for us as well!
If you want to get in touch with him, look for the Tuk Tuk with the name “Mr Thet”. Or, drop me an email and I can send you his number!
Thanks for Reading!
