If you’re looking to try something local, Nom Banchuck is a popular Khmer noodle dish traditionally eaten for breakfast. Made from hand-pressed fermented rice noodles, it’s served in a turmeric and fish curry broth, along with local vegetables such as banana flower, lotus stem, and cucumber.
While Nom Banchuck is popular throughout Cambodia, Kampot is especially known for its unique take on the dish. The broth here is made from local seafood as well as Kampot’s renowned fish sauce, giving it a distinct flavor. To beat the heat, it’s also typically served cold, offering a refreshing twist to the dish.
You can find the dish in most local markets in the morning, as well as at many of the food stalls that line the roads heading up from the river. If going out looking for it isn’t your style, you’ll often find someone wandering around town carrying a bamboo pole over their shoulders with pots, chanting ‘Nom Banchuck!’.
The dish is believed to date back to the Khmer Empire days and it has become known as one of Cambodia’s national dishes.
There’s even a local legend about it involving a recurring character in Khmer legends: Thon Chey.
Thon is a clever and mischievous character who is constantly getting himself involved in adventures where he uses his wit and cunning to get out the situations he finds himself in, often humiliating the people who are after him.
Eventually his antics catch up with him and he is exiled to China. Destitute, he starts selling Nom Banchuk to the local people to make some money.
The Chinese immediately fall in love with Nom Banchuk and it becomes so popular that he is summoned before the Chinese Emperor to make the dish for him.
Before meeting the Emperor, Chey is warned that it’s absolutely forbidden to look at the Emperor’s face while in his presence. Chey – not the sort of person to follow rules – sneaks a glimpse of the emperor’s face as he’s eating the noodles.
Shocked by what he sees, he exclaims that the Chinese Emperor has a face that looks like a dog, while the Khmer King’s face is beautiful like the bright full moon.
He is immediately thrown in prison.
The cunning Chey immediately hatches a plan. He builds a kite with a noisemaker on it and flies it every day from the prison yard to annoy the Emperor.
The Emperor is infuriated by the sound but can’t figure out where it’s coming from. He turns to his fortune tellers who tell him that the sound will only end when Chey is set free.
Chey is released and makes his way back to Cambodia, once again having outsmarted his adversary.