Interested in learning more about Khmer food, cooking and traditional snacks? Join us on a street food tour that introduces you to local dishes and the people who cook them, with a boat through Kompong Khleang in between and the evening stalls of Road 60 to finish.
Leave Siem Reap in an air-conditioned vehicle in the early afternoon for our first stop, a village famous for growing bamboo and preparing fresh sticky rice. Learn how the rice is cooked, stuffed into hollowed-out bamboo and smoked on a grill, then try some yourself. From there we head to a countryside bakery where doughnuts and bread are made by hand. Try the treats and watch the bakers at work; depending on the time of day you can make a doughnut or a waffle cone yourself. After the bakery we make a quick visit to a local market to see, and try, popular daytime food and snacks.
Then we make our way to Kompong Khleang on the banks of the Tonle Sap Lake. We board a boat through the floating village, stop at a Buddhist pagoda, head out onto the lake and come back. From the lake we drive up to Road 60, where locals go in the evening for street food and shopping. This is arguably the highlight of the trip: you will see, and can try, insects, tarantulas, fertilized duck eggs and more, before heading back to your hotel.
The day, hour by hour
- Hotel pickupPrivate air-con vehicle and your English-speaking guide
- Bamboo sticky rice villageSee sticky rice cooked, stuffed into bamboo and smoked on the grill, then try it
- Countryside bakeryDoughnuts and bread made by hand; you may get to make your own
- Local marketSee and try popular daytime food and snacks
- Kompong Khleang by community boatThrough the village with a stop at the pagoda, out onto Tonle Sap Lake and back
- Drive back towards Siem Reap
- Road 60 street foodWhere locals go for street food and shopping, with your guide ordering
- Back at your hotelOr stay on in town if you prefer
Times are approximate, and the order of stops can change with the water level.
What's in this day
- Air-con vehicle with driver from your hotel and back
- An English-speaking guide from the village
- Community boat tickets
- Sticky rice and doughnuts stop
- Local market stop
- Countryside pagoda
- Houseboat communities
- Street 60 local food tour
- Bottled water; life jackets on the boats
Priced for your group; children under 2 are free. Free cancellation up to 4 hours before pickup.
Good to know
Is the food included?
Yes. It is a whole afternoon of street food: the bamboo sticky rice, the bakery treats, the market tastings and the stalls on Road 60 are all included, with cold water through the day. Tell us about allergies or diets in the notes when you book.
Is the street food safe to eat?
The countryside stops are very safe: the bamboo sticky rice is smoked and fried and contains no animal products, and the bakery treats are made fresh in front of you. Road 60 is where the more adventurous food is, like insects and frog. It is all cooked, but as with any street food there is always some risk with how it is prepared. Your guide will tell you what is what, and you can try as much or as little as you like. Bottled water is provided all day.
Why Kompong Khleang?
The bamboo sticky rice village and the countryside bakery are on the road to Kompong Khleang, so the tour always goes there.
How long is the tour?
About 6 hours, from a 1:00 pm pickup to the street food stalls on Road 60 at around 6:00 pm, then back to your hotel.
Do we try anything unusual?
Only if you want to. Your guide will point out the more adventurous things, like fried crickets, and you can skip them.