Thursday, December 08, 2011

Tonle Chatumok

There's a lot of eat-all-you-want buffet here in Siem Reap but not all are really good. One of my fave, though, is Tonle Chatumok. They serve mainly Vietnamese dishes mixed with classic Khmer dishes like amok and boklahom or pounded papaya salad with fermented fish sauce. I love their sugar coated fried rice balls with sweet white beans center. I can eat a bunch of those. Their pho is quite flavorful and I like that you have different choices of noodles, I really don't like thick noodles so usually I get the bihon type. I always look forward to eating their banh xeo, the crispy fried Vietnamese pancake stuffed with vegetables and your choice of meat.It's good when it's freshly off the frying pan and you drizzle it with sweet vinegar and crushed peanuts on top. Unlike most buffets, Tonle Chatumok has free drinks like cola, fresh sugarcane juice, iced tea, etc. Their dessert selection has fresh cut fruits, lots of Vietnamese desserts, ice cream, and shaved ice fares. It can be a bit chaotic like most buffets of its kind so it can be daunting at times to select the food you like when there are hoards of other people with you. It's not going to be an intimate, quiet dinner. But if you like variety and the option to try new dishes (steamed escargot, perhaps?) with leverage, then it's really fun. I like going every now and then when I don't feel fat. That way I can stuff myself silly and not be guilty, LOL!

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