Vegetarian and Vegan Eats in Siem Reap
A visual guide from the Siem Reap and Angkor Wat travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
Ask for a vegetarian amok in Siem Reap and it usually arrives as tofu and mushroom set in coconut and kroeung, steamed in a banana-leaf cup — the same dish the fish version gets, minus the fish. The town punches well above its size on plant-based cooking: a cluster of garden restaurants around Wat Bo and Kandal Village build menus around morning-market produce, and a handful of Western-run cafes do full vegan menus. The catch is the seasoning, since fish sauce and fermented prahok are the default flavour base in Khmer kitchens.
Where to eat
Peace Cafe, on the quiet Wat Bo side of the river, is the long-standing anchor — an all-vegetarian garden kitchen that also runs yoga classes and does a good tofu amok and pumpkin curry. Banlle, set back from Wat Bo Road, grows much of its own produce and cooks strictly Khmer. Chamkar, near the Old Market lanes, has been doing vegetarian Khmer-fusion for years and fills up early. For fully vegan food and flat whites, Vibe Cafe in Kandal Village is the default, and Vitking House does cheaper vegan Khmer plates. Haven, a training restaurant off Sok San Road, keeps a proper vegetarian section.
Ordering and costs
The two words worth learning are prahok, the fermented fish paste that underpins many soups and dips, and teuk trei, the fish sauce that goes into almost everything else; asking for a dish ot dak prahok, ot dak teuk trei is understood in most kitchens. Num banh chok, the breakfast rice noodles sold from carts around Psar Leu and the Old Market, comes with a fish-based broth as standard, so the vegetarian version needs asking for. Expect roughly US$4–8 for a main at the garden restaurants and rather less at market stalls. Dollars are used everywhere, and change under a dollar comes back in riel.