Monday, October 28, 2013

Phnom Penh food: lort chaa!


Trust me I have no idea what he's saying either, but he makes perfect sense to me!

Very, very hungry so so 'elderly' School of Vice. Hmmm...

14 comments:

School of Vice said...


You are welcome as usual Mr PO.

Lort chaa is not only School of Vice's all time favourite [in addition to many other all time favourites!] but, one which always reminds me of a rather funny incident when School of Vice was still very little.

A grown cousin took me out for a meal and he, having been a student with meagre financial means decided to go for lort chaa at a mobile lort chaa vendor just outside an open market. We enjoyed the lort chaa very much and were feeling quite pleased and gratified for the experience of eating out as usual.

We left the lort chaa stall and headed home thereafter - my cousin was [and still is] a conscientious type who was probably worried about looking after young School of Vice. About half a kilometre on our way back he suddenly blurted at me: 'Oh, no!!'

I said: 'what’s wrong?!'

'I forgot to pay for our lort chaa meals!!!' He said.

'What should we do now?' I asked him.

'Well', he smiled guiltily and said: 'it's too late now; the vendor would have gone off somewhere else by now!

Years later, but not so long ago I met this cousin again and I reminded him of the debt we still owe the lort chaa vendor. We went to a similar mobile lort chaa vendor by the Mekong. The lort chaa was excellent and the riverside atmosphere was unforgettable; except that is, my cousin forgot to pay again for the meals!!!

Fortunately, School of Vice was by this time no longer a dependent minor and decided to pay for our meals in full, plus a grateful 'Thank you' to the vendor for the opportunity to redeem our past misdeed, or at least, an opportunity not to repeat it!!...

Anonymous said...

this guy is cool. i like the way he travel in asia including cambodia and sample its cuisine. it's like getting to eat and making the video on youtube at the same time. i actually like watching this kind of video, especially he's in cambodia to sample many different kinds of khmer food. good guy! keep up the good work. keep coming back to cambodia and show more video of my country cambodia. thank you.

Anonymous said...

i love khmer lott chha!

Jendhamuni said...


I wouldn't want to follow School of Vice to dine anywhere. In case he'll take off without paying ;)

Jendhamuni said...


I'm sooo hungry. Almost always the only item I order in Khmer restaurant. I don't know how to cook, but toooo hungry for Lort chaa!!!

Jendhamuni said...


Dear School of Vice,

I pray that this bowl of noodle is not salty. I had some sort of curry noodle [no other option]somewhere near the United Nations couple days ago and I must say that the taste is unforgettable! Sooooooo salty! Almost passed out after I ate. My food and especially soup must taste like plain water ;)))) Okay, okay, Jendhamuni and her attitude problem again, especially towards elderly ;)

School of Vice said...


Salty food is generally not good for health. People with high BP tend to like eating such food with high sodium content, whereas Caucasians tend not to use much salt at all in their cooking.

So it's probably a good thing for you not to like having salty food.

I always like to add extra sugar in my noodle soup - almost always too sweet for everyone else's liking.

Fortunately, I rarely have the chance to eat noodle soup. Sugar - we all know - is the main cause of diabetes.

Jendhamuni said...


Hmmmm....
Sounds like someone is lecturing me on health topic ;)

For your info: I used to be a health educator, specifically for Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease ;)

Please do not ban me :)

Still your fan!

Anonymous said...

Well, well, well, What can I say?

A very good story of your Lort Chaa experiences, School of Vice!

A picture of someone eating Lort Chaa posted earlier and now my PP noodles? School of Vice, you are such an incredible guy, my friend!

By the way, I add a cube or two of sugar to my noodles as well. In fact, it is a norm in Phnom Penh that a little amount of sugar be added to noodles, especially PP noodles and that is one of the reasons why one always sees a small container or bottle with sugar in it on the tables of the noodles shop.

I guess it is time to visit Phnom Penh again for the Lort Chaa and the noodles!

Pissed Off

Jendhamuni said...


Dear School of Vice,

I have to agree with you on having extra sugar in noodle soup. It's a must for me. Otherwise, I won't be able to swallow. That I agree ;)!

PS: Do not forget, rice has a lot of sugar too! Remember, Jendhamuni was a health educator ;)))

Jendhamuni said...


Dear Pissed Off,

I thought you are going to make lort chaa. Where is it? I have been waiting ;) You and School of Vice should never ever bring this up. I'm dying for lort chaa. I would die, if I don't get to eat that within 24 hours ;)

Jendhamuni

Anonymous said...

Oh Come on, Jendha! You are a tough young girl so you can wait for a while, can't you?

Anyway, take care and thanks for all the good postings you have done on KI site!

Pissed Off

Anonymous said...

Dear Pissed Off,

I too can make a good lort chaa, in fact I made it very regular when we have our family gathering.
I even copy the lort chaa a la Lycee Sisowath with stir fried beef on top with egg.
Sometimes we are lucky to use waguyu beef a very tasty beef with special tender meat for the topping stir fried.

I use the term "when" not "if" for more predictable of our chance to meet in PP, where Pissed Off and I could organise a "lort chaa cooking" competition to celebrate our patriotic gathering.
What do you think?

Yeay Tep

Jendhamuni said...


Dear Pissed Off and Yeay Tep,

What a great plan! Hopefully School of Vice will let me share the table. Otherwise, I will sit with my alien friend, Kal ;)

PS: Mr. Pissed Off, I can be strong, but when it comes to lort chaa, I cannot!!!! LOL!