Relaxing and Eating in Kampot, Cambodia

There’s lots of good eating in Kampot. And you can watch college basketball in Kampot.  Oh, these aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think of Cambodia? Yeah, me neither…

So it turns out Kampot was the perfect place to take it (relatively) easy and recover from that ill-timed food poisoning I’d just acquired in Vietnam before crossing the border into my next country.

The French colonial architecture and the river running through it make the city beautiful, despite its many rundown portions that are still visible remnants Cambodia’s tragic past. Still, it’s managed to remain charming and almost shabby chic in a way that attracts lots of outsiders.

Restaurants in Kampot

I also learned that Kampot has quite the expat community. I actually think I saw more Westerners in town than Cambodians. And though this isn’t quite what I expected from my first low-key stop in the country, it did mean a plethora of international food options and great customer service at sit-down restaurants, something I hadn’t had much of in the past couple months.

After my border crossing and self-imposed 48 hours of fasting* (if you don’t eat, you won’t have to go to the bathroom on a moving bus right?), I was ready to ease myself back into the world of food. Well, slowly.

*I actually think this is the longest I’ve ever gone without eating in my life. Even longer than the devastating hangover episode of Montañita.

I started off gently… like really gently, with a green juice at OM, and then a baked potato with butter and garlic back at my hostel-restaurant-bar, the Magic Sponge. Lo and behold, by the next day I felt (mostly) recovered.

There are great, trendy cafes like Ellie’s with its boho decor where I started working on my “eating in Kampot” check-list by inhaling an eggs Benedict and smoothie. Another very cool place for coffee and breakfast or lunch is Cafe Espresso, recommended to us by an Australian who had lived in Cambodia for years while craving good coffee.

For dinner, I was super pumped to visit Ecran Noodle and Dumpling House for their hand-pulled namesakes. And perhaps most surprisingly, I found some of the best Italian food I’ve ever had in my life at a roadside outdoor restaurant named Ciao. Really. I mean, they have homemade gnocchi and bolognese sauce, and the owners are from Italy so it is truly legit.

Spa Stuff

Because I was feeling sorry for myself (and you know, because I’m worth it), I browsed spas and yoga studios in the area too. Not wanting to chance it on another blind massage, I came across Banteay Srey. I went a little overboard and got a facial (my first, um, ever) and one of the best massages I’ve had in Southeast Asia, followed by a smoothie and a yoga class. The spa also does excellent things for the empowerment of Cambodian women, providing them with safe residential space, training, and job skills. The whole place just has a great vibe.

I visited Banteay Srey on two separate occasions, taking the evening yoga class on their upstairs deck twice and lounging on their dock. You can swim in the river, sunbathe, read, and eat delicious food from their vegan cafe. And you can use a Khmer-style bathing suit if you forget yours!

The ladies who work there are super nice and the yoga instructors were friendly volunteers from Portugal and the United States. This place was pretty much all I needed to feel better; I give it partial credit for my recovery.

A Visit to the Market

Because Kampot is a small town, my new German friend Maren and I were trying to scratch up things to do besides eat in our last few days there. So after checking out our map, we headed to the market for a visit. Just to see what it was all about.

It’s almost exclusively locals shopping at the Kampot market, for anything from produce, to fish and meat, to clothing, and gold jewelry (which, if you’re into that, you can buy by the weight). There were tailors and metalworkers next to baby gear and party supplies. We grabbed a coffee and a couple of snacks, but because my stomach wasn’t up for too much of the local cuisine just yet, I mostly wandered and took lots of photos of all the colorful things.

And then of course, we had some drinks…

Bars & Sports

I said that I wasn’t drinking after all that stomach nonsense, but (as you could probably guess) I was convinced to make it out a couple of times.

In terms of bars, we ventured to Tantrei for some pretty decent live music – they’ve got bar food and many pillows for you to sit on. Another night we went to a place called Nola for some beers served by a fun French bartender who’d been living in Kampot for a month. The place is American-owned with New Orleans-themed decor (but you could guess that by the name right?). Still, it felt a little crazy seeing the Confederate flag in the middle of Cambodia. That night ended with a trip across the street to a French-inspired bar (I cannot remember the name!) with more $1 beers, some unexpected dancing, and a Cambodian captain’s hat from the navy being passed around.

Fun fact:  Some Cambodian canned beers still have that old school pop-top. And word on the street is that if you peel off the top and manage to get the whole beer logo inside the metal ring, you win a free beer! It’s the pop-top lottery, apparently.

Most importantly though, I was able to watch college basketball in Kampot! In the midst of March Madness, one of the owners of the Magic Sponge was able to stream the NCAA Tournament for me in their bar. He ensured me that not only did they have the biggest TV in the city, but that I could watch any game I wanted while I ate my breakfast (or drank morning beers, ya know, because of the time difference). I cannot tell you how shocked and elated I was.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Kampot, especially the plentiful amount of good-quality food and international flair. I got comfortable relaxing, doing nothing, and eating. I even extended my stay twice, spending a total of six nights in the little town.

While I didn’t delve into the Cambodian food scene quite yet because of my sensitive stomach (that would have to wait until Phnom Penh), I did take a culinary day-trip while in Kampot. But because this post is getting a little too long and I have so many photos to share, my journey to the nearby town of Kep to eat crabs will have to wait for another day…

If you’re looking for some great tips on where to eat local Cambodian food in Kampot, The Travelling Hams have written an excellent guide on What to Eat in Kampot!

Have you been to Kampot? Did you find it as charming as I did? What did you eat?!