Well I’ve not been blogging enough lately so when Cambodian Hot Pot was suggested I decided to go for it, if nothing else just to write this blog. As it turned out I was to suffer for my art.
I have mixed views when it comes to hot pot. Chinese hot pot is a bit overrated, whilst I find Vietnamese style pretty good. What though would Khmer style be like?
The chain that we went to was not imaginatively called “Pol Pot’, but Suki Hot Pot. The layout reminded me of Chinese hot pot, staff in uniforms and that standard boring vibe typical of these restaurant.
As we’d been invited there we let the local order the food. Vegetables, tofu and mushrooms followed by meat and added to the pot in that order. The broth in the pot as opposed to Chinese style was bland, very very bland.
Being the baller that I am I had a phone call with a former premier league footballer and thus missed 15 minutes of the meal.
I arrived back to find the food finished bar a few scraps. It all honesty Suki Hot Siem Reap has been shit, so I was more than happy to get the bill at this point.
Keeping in mind the four of us were still hungry and we’d had at best 2 beers each (Anchor and ABC) the bill came out at $80. Now whilst 20 bucks a person might not sound like much, in Siem Reap it’s a lot. It felt a lot like being robbed.
Later that night I had to have a burger! And get drunk on soju.
I rarely do this but Suki Hot Pot of Siem Reap and Khmer Hot Pot as a whole a big thumbs down from the Street Food Guy and humble apprentice Nic Song-Dok.
Comparing Chinese and Khmer hot pot is simply pointless there’s simply no comparison. The flavour simply wasn’t there and the price for Khmer hot pot in Siem Reap frankly astronomical. Glad I ticked it off the list, but I shall not be trying it again.
Tonight we experience with cheap bars and Khmer BBQ.