April 2026

Where to Eat in Kampot: Something for Everyone

By Jason for Discover Kampot

Where to eat in Kampot, from authentic Khmer food and local breakfasts to international restaurants and street food at Kampot Food Street.

Where to Eat in Kampot: Something for Everyone

Kampot has a genuinely impressive restaurant scene for a town its size. Chefs and cooks from across the world have set up here: Italian, Greek, French, Mexican, and more. Alongside that, some of the best Khmer food in town costs under three dollars.

For street food, Kampot Food Street is the newest option, with dozens of stalls under one roof. The riverside street food market, down the river, just past the old Governor’s Home, is the classic Southeast Asian street food experience: open-air carts, little plastic chairs, and dozens and dozens of choices.

The rest of this guide covers the best places for breakfast, Khmer restaurants, and Western dining.

Vegetarian? We have a dedicated guide to eating vegetarian in Kampot.

Best Local Breakfast

If you’re looking for an authentic experience, with all the chaos of a Cambodian market, Samaki Market is where you want to go. Mixed in with the clothing, gold shops, hardware stores, and more, you’ll find a selection of places serving traditional Khmer breakfasts. Expect a busy, mostly Khmer-speaking environment, and you’ll need to crowd in on a bench to find some room. But once you’re there, you can enjoy all the typical dishes for about a dollar:

Bye Sack Cheruk: pork and rice
Baw-Baw: rice porridge with chicken
Baw-Baw-Saw: rice porridge with salted fish
Kuy Tiew: noodle soup
Bye Chah: fried rice

Cafe Espresso is the breakfast recommendation for anyone who takes coffee seriously. They roast their own specialty coffee in-house, which makes this more than just another cafe serving breakfast. Come here for excellent Western breakfasts and shaded outdoor seating under the trees, whether you want a quiet start to the day or a longer brunch.

If you’re looking for European comfort food for breakfast, The Belgium bakery by the river is the answer. Just past Starbucks, in front of Vanna Restaurant. Pain au chocolat, almond croissants, raisin rolls. Open from 7:30am until it sells out.

Go early. The best things do not hang around.

Epic Arts Cafe is part of the work of Epic Arts, a charity that supports disabled Cambodians through the arts and inclusive employment. They serve Western, Cambodian, and vegetarian food, and eating here helps support that work.

This is one of the easiest breakfast or lunch recommendations around, especially if you want something calmer and more spacious than the market or the street.

Best Khmer Restaurants

You won’t find many tourists, if any, at Yean Long. But you will find a ton of great authentic dishes, each for about $2.50. This isn’t the sort of place where you’ll want to come by yourself and get just one dish and rice. You’ll want to eat Cambodian-style: communally. So, bring three or four people, order five or six dishes and try a bit of everything. They’ve got English menus, spelling mistakes and all.

A short walk out of town, near Espresso Cafe, is one of the most popular spots with locals. You can’t miss it: there’s a full cow roasting on the street corner.

A whole cow roasting on a spit at a street food stall in Kampot

It’s hugely popular with Cambodians but can be daunting at first. There isn’t much English spoken here, but the process is simple enough. Sit down, flag down a waiter, and order some beef. Half a kilo is 30,000 riel and probably enough for a couple of people. Your beef arrives cut into small pieces alongside a plate of vegetables, dipping sauces and a half-dozen condiments. Mix them to your taste. Pick up a piece of beef, wrap it in a cabbage leaf with some vegetables, and dip it in the sauce. There’s a table of cold beers beside you. Help yourself and pay for the empties at the end.

This is a Khmer-style meal: no rush. Just snacking, drinking, and socialising with friends.

If you want to try Cambodian food but would rather begin somewhere with a more familiar, western-style setting, start with 1960. Chef Darin came from Phnom Penh and went back to old Cambodian cookbooks to revive dishes that most restaurants stopped serving. The fish amok is among the best in town.

They play 1960s Cambodian pop music throughout. That’s where the name comes from. If you want to push further, the menu goes there too. Edible ants and tarantula are on the list.

Best Western and Cafe Options

Twenty-Three has built a reputation as one of the best places to eat in Kampot. The menu is small and changes constantly. Fresh from the market, leaning modern European with local ingredients. The twice-baked cheddar soufflé and hand-rolled pasta with Kampot pepper cream are the kind of dishes that make the place worth planning around. Bread and ice cream are made in-house.

Come here when you want a polished dinner that feels like fine dining, but at a price that would barely cover fast food back home. Book ahead. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

If what matters most is the setting, go here around sunset. Rikitikitavi sits on the upper floor above the river, with a breezy terrace looking out over the river toward the Elephant Mountains. Happy hour runs 5 to 7pm with 2-for-1 cocktails.

The sunset view is the best in town and the food is great too. The Loc Lac is a customer favorite.

At first glance, Bob Marley’s looks like every other Cambodian-Western fusion restaurant in Kampot. It isn’t. The BBQ is run by a local woman who has been at this grill for years. The beef kebab, pork ribs, and pork fillet are the ones to order. The pepper sauce alone is worth the trip.

The menu is extensive and the portions are generous. Not a BBQ person? You’re certain to find something you’ll enjoy.

If you want a break from Khmer food and are in the mood for Greek and Mediterranean flavours, Aroma is the place. The hummus and shawarma are made fresh every day, along with their own bread and sauces. Everything is from scratch. If you’ve been eating Khmer food all week, this is the reset you want.

Down a side street off the Salt Workers roundabout, Rasy serves fresh, handmade Italian pasta from a tiny street-side setup with just a few tables.

Come here for tortellini, ravioli, gnocchi, and other pasta dishes made by hand in front of you and served with her own sauces. In the same space you’ll also find Mama’s Chicken, which does some of the best roast chicken in Kampot.