What’s the best supermarket in Siem Reap and Cambodia? The answer is Angkor Market and my word does it win by a long shot! Why? Oh we will get into that in a bit.
So, when I first moved to Cambodia as Coronavirus refugee my first digs were in Siem Reap. Having a nice place with kitchen meant we went in the search for kitchen based sustenance .
To read about the last chopper out of Saigon click here.
The Supermarket scene in Siem Reap?
So the actual supermarket scene in Siem Reap is that there are marts, bigger marts and only one supermarket in Siem Reap – Angkor Market, located on National Road 6 if that means anything at all for you.
So, what makes Angkor Market so great? Well, it is an actual supermarket full in size and spread into every area you might need, like a you know a supermarket. I won’t go into the semantics of what is in a supermarket, but well Angkor Market has it.
What though makes it so great is that it is an absolute smorgasbord of not just national produce, but also the great stuff from Australia, New Zealand, the States and the UK. Yes Angkor Market has Heinz, Branston, Worcestershire Sauce and some other truly British greats!!!
Where can I get Tango, Irn Bru and Orange Squash in Siem Reap?
OK, so I realise that I am being really British centric here, but buying Irn Bru in Cambodia? Buying Tango in Cambodia? And buying orange squash????? These are the things that truly make a British expat go crazy.
Need to know what Tango is? Well its like Fanta, but a whole heap better.
To read about Tango click here.
To read about how Fanta was invented by the Nazis click here.
And Orange Squash? I think I need to give this its whole own article, but it is basically a cordial in that you mix the concentrate with water to make a drink. It is not just amazing, but absolutely a huge part of English culture, yes we drink it as much as tea.
I literally go shopping in Siem Reap just to bring back food to Phnom Penh. For context, or if you care I care Heinz soup, macaroni cheese, spaghetti hoops, Irn Bru, two Tangos and of course the aforementioned orange squash. Orange squash definitely deserves its own article one day and yes I am obsessed with it.
What’s the best supermarket in Phnom Penh?
So, when I moved to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap one of the things that most excited me as that there would be great supermarkets, turns out the Phnom Penh supermarket scene is not exactly eclectic.
Basically the Phnom Penh supermarket scene is mini-marts, something that was supposed to be revamped by the introduction of 7-Eleven – well turns out not so much so, although Kiwi-Mart does do a bit of a job.
To read about 7-11 in Cambodia click here.
But there are supermarkets to an extent in Phnom Penh, namely and most importantly AEON Mall. Is AEON mall any good? Well AEON is Japanese owned, so thus dominated by Japanese and to an extent Chinese products. It’s much smaller than Angkor Market, which means less stuff, but it is also a shed tonne more expensive.
I’ll admit that perhaps there is a tinge of nationalism to my humble opinion, but I am also not the only one of this persuasion. So, the best supermarket in Siem Reap is Angkor Market! There is no better supermarket in Phnom, ergo the best supermarket in Phnom Penh is Angkor Market.