I’ve been a bit quiet the past 2 weeks as I’ve been on holidays in Cambodia. I thought I’d do a gluten free travel review in case anyone is planning on going there. Cambodia is a beautiful country – touched by tourism but not quite at the point where it’s too touristy so you can still experience a lot of the local culture. Food wise the type of food is quite similar to Thai food – lots of coconut based curries – their main dish is Amok curry which can be done with fish, chicken or beef. Lots of stir fries, fried rice and soups too.
In terms of gluten free eating, this is not a country you want to go to if you worry about not being able to be guaranteed gluten free. In general, a lot of Cambodian food is gluten free when cooked from scratch and in the traditional method. Very basic English is widely spoken but even then a lot of time you need to point to the item on the menu to be understood properly, so getting the gluten free concept across would be a challenge to say the least! Khmer is the local language so if you’re worried I’d suggest trying to get a translation of a flash card that you can show at restaurants.
There are a lot of western restaurants run by ex-pats, many from Australia, so if you manage to see the owners you can always ask them but generally these places are still run day to day by locals. In saying that most western restaurants have the steak + veg option which, without sauces, is pretty sure to be gluten free.
In local restaurants you’ll always find an Amok curry of some kind – the ingredients to make this are all gluten free so it’s a good guess, but still, you don’t know exactly what ingredients they’ve used so it’s hard to be certain. Same story with stir fries, fried rice, etc – the ingredients are likely gluten free but once you add sauces, etc it’s really hard to be sure.
For snacks, there are a lot of general stores that have lots of western food with brands you’ll recognise (with labeled ingredients).
If you can, stay at a good hotel like the Sofitel in Ankor which will more likely cater to gluten free (although they are clearly a bit pricier!)
