Food in Sihanoukville lives in two completely separate worlds. The first is the restaurants inside the casino hotels, which have no character at all. The second is the fresh seafood spots by the beach and the locals' night markets, which are genuinely very good. Real Khmer dishes like amok and lok lak still turn up in the small places where locals eat, while the lobster and crab from the Gulf of Thailand are so fresh you barely need to cook them — just blanch and crack them open and that's already the best way to eat them.
#1 Fish Amok
Cambodia's national dish, the one everyone should try at least once. Amok is made from fresh sliced fish steamed in thick coconut cream blended with kroeung (Khmer curry paste) — lemongrass, turmeric, galangal, garlic and red chilli. The flavour is creamy and rich, less spicy than Thai curry, with a distinctive herbal scent you won't find anywhere else. It's served in banana leaf or a scooped-out coconut, and was once a dish of the old Khmer royal court that has since become food for everyone.
- Order the amok with fresh sea bass or carp rather than chicken — the flavour is much better, especially in a port town like Sihanoukville.
- Good places make their kroeung from fresh herbs rather than ready-made paste; ask the staff or just go by the smell and you'll know.
- Eat it with plain steamed rice, not fried rice, so you get the full taste of the curry.
#2 Lok Lak
A stir-fried beef dish that sits at the heart of modern Khmer food. The beef is diced and tossed with soy sauce, garlic and black pepper, then served over fresh salad greens with tomato, a fried egg and a black-pepper-and-lime dip called tuk meric. The beef is fragrant and the sauce is thick and well-rounded, with a sweet-sour lift from the dip. It's a dish travelers often fall for because it isn't spicy and is easier to eat than other Khmer food.
- The black-pepper-and-lime dip (tuk meric) is what makes this plate — taste the beef and the dip together to get the full effect.
- Order the veal version if it's available; the meat is softer and tastier than regular beef, for a little more money.
- Some places use low-quality beef and make up for it with extra sauce — a good spot serves tender meat that doesn't need much sauce at all.
#3 Fresh Lobster
Sihanoukville is one of the few spots in Southeast Asia where fresh lobster is very cheap, because fishermen catch it in nearby waters and sell it straight to the restaurants. Many beachfront places show live lobster in tanks for you to choose, and you can have it grilled, stir-fried in butter, or steamed with garlic as you like. Prices start at 10-20 USD per piece depending on size, much cheaper than Hat Yai or Phuket if you buy it right.
- Pick your lobster from the live tank at the restaurant, not from a freezer where it has already been frozen — the freshness is worlds apart.
- Always negotiate the price first; the price on the beachfront menu is usually not the final one, and always ask the weight before you agree.
- The simplest grilled-with-garlic-butter preparation is often the tastiest — there's no need to get fancy because the lobster is fresh enough to be delicious on its own.
#4 Steamed and Salt-and-Pepper Crab
Sihanoukville's sea crab is something locals are proud of. It's caught in the Gulf of Thailand waters near the coast and arrives at the morning market fresh every day, with meat that's sweeter and firmer than pond-farmed crab. The traditional way to eat it is steamed fresh, with a Khmer seafood dip of fresh chilli, lime and garlic, or you can order it stir-fried with salt and pepper Hong Kong style, which most seafood restaurants can make. The price is clearly lower than in Thailand.
- Buy fresh crab at the morning market and have a nearby restaurant cook it — much cheaper than ordering in the restaurant, where you only pay for the cooking.
- Ask to see the crab before buying; a fresh one moves its legs, while a dead or weak crab, even one kept on ice, tastes very different.
- The crabs are fattest in the Gulf of Thailand from October to March — this is when the roe is full and the meat is at its firmest.
#5 Khmer Crab Soup
A Khmer-style crab soup completely different from Thai or Chinese crab soup. It's simmered in a broth with lemongrass, turmeric, kaffir lime leaf and Khmer pickled bamboo shoot, with a gentle sweet-sour flavour and a herbal scent, eaten with hot plain rice. It's a breakfast for the Sihanoukville locals who work the fishing boats and the markets — hard to find in tourist restaurants, but the fresh markets and local porridge shops usually serve it every morning. It's a flavour that tells you you're eating the way locals actually eat.
- The morning fresh market and the local porridge shops by the harbour usually serve it only before 8am — after that it's gone.
- Ask whether the soup was made fresh today; a good place simmers a new batch every morning, and reheated soup tastes very different.
- Eat it with French bread, the way Cambodians often pair it — a colonial-era food legacy that's still around.
#6 Night Market Street Food and Sugarcane Juice
The Sihanoukville night market is where good food meets prices everyone can afford. Crisp, fragrant grilled chicken, durian sticky rice, bok lock (sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf), Khmer-style grilled pork, and sugarcane juice pressed fresh in front of you. Prices start at 0.5-2 USD per item, perfect for a light meal or a snack after sightseeing. It's a space where travelers and locals mix, and the atmosphere is still relaxed and hasn't lost much of its character to tourism.
- Fresh-pressed sugarcane juice is 0.5-1 USD a glass, cold and naturally sweet — perfect after walking the market in the heat.
- Khmer grilled chicken is marinated with lemongrass and turmeric, a little different from Thai grilled chicken; order it with the Khmer-style peanut dip too.
- The night markets in the local areas (not the tourist market) are cheaper and the food is twice as authentic — ask your accommodation to point the way.
Where to stay in Sihanoukville for this trip
A well-located hotel means less commuting and more sightseeing. Here are real, top-rated stays in Sihanoukville — compare Agoda · Booking · Trip.com in one click.
Tara Lodge
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Independence Hotel Resort & Spa
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Otres Villas
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Sokha Beach Resort
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Tours, tickets & activities in Sihanoukville
Day tours, attraction tickets and travel essentials for Sihanoukville — book ahead on Klook with mobile e-tickets.
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Before You Pack
The best food in Sihanoukville usually isn't in the fancy resorts but in the night market, the porridge shops by the harbour, and the seafood places where the owner goes to pick up the fresh fish themselves every morning. If you see a spot packed with locals eating and fish laid out at the front, that's the one to go into. No need to wait for someone else to review it first.