What a rip-off! As I travel a lot internationally, I often like to take food tours when I am in a city for the first time to learn about the local cuisines and customs. On this past trip, I was in a few different countries in Southeast Asia and took four food tours in various cities over about three weeks. Most of the food tours I did were fabulous. Unfortunately, this one was not. I did lots of food tour research before arriving in Siem Reap and was very excited about this particular tour. Our tour was booked over a month before arriving. Although the tour was already expensive, I opted to book a private tour for my husband and me so it would be more personalized (doubling the already very expensive price tag). It should be worth mentioning that this tour was by far the most expensive food tour I did in Southeast Asia but given how great it appeared, we were happy to pay it. The guide arrived to pick us up right on time and asked us to sign a liability waiver in our lobby before departing in the tuk-tuk on our tour. We thought this was a little strange given that it was just a food tour but we obliged. We then departed into our tuk-tuk for our tour. As we boarded our ride, we were told we would be eating 3 noodle dishes throughout the night. Given how diverse and interesting Cambodian food appears to be, we were surprised to hear we would be focusing mainly on noodles but went with it nonetheless. Our first stop was a neat local place where the guide ordered 1 small noodle dish and a fried vegetable cake. Both dishes were very good but we found it a bit odd that we would be sharing the food 3 ways as the guide was eating too. Every other food tour I have done has left me uncomfortably full so I honestly didn’t worry about the small amount of food offered as I assumed there would be so much more delicious food coming. We were very pleased with this local stop and excited to continue on. On our second stop, we went to another noddle place where the guide ordered a small noddle dish, spring rolls and a pancake with bean sprouts. Again, to be shared. It was at this stop that we ran into two other food tour companies (I guess it’s the place to go). Other tours had more food with guides that were way more engaging. My husband then asked our guide about some signature Cambodian dishes such as chicken curry or Lok lak. The guide smiled and said yes, those were the most famous dishes in that region. You’d think if that was the case, we would sample those but that was not the case. At Stop 2, the noodles were just okay, the spring rolls were tasty (I wish we had more of them or could sample the non-fried version that other food tours were also sampling), and the egg bean sprout pancake was mediocre at best. We were then asked if we wanted to go to the Made in Cambodia Market. We were told there would be no food options there but we could walk around. Not knowing we would be stopping at this market, my husband and I actually visited this very small market earlier that day so felt there was no need to go back especially if we would not be sampling any foods there. We asked to proceed with the food tour and skip this stop. Our third stop went to a place that offered a noodle fish soup (hard for sharing 3 ways). In my opinion, this noddle dish tasted pretty bad. There were long moments of silence as the guide was not very engaging. By this point, my husband and I were so unhappy and almost asked to go back to our hotel. The guide then asked if we wanted to go to an evening street market and try bugs/frogs/worms. Honestly, we were originally game to try this but were both in such a bad mood at this point, we didn’t have the energy. We agreed to go to the market in hopes the night would turn around. Just as we arrived and started walking the market, it appeared a storm was about to start. I asked our guide what the rain plan was and he shrugged and said the tuk-tuk had plastic sides that may help a little from getting soaked. I’m not sure that’s a great plan in the rainy season. We decided to walk back to the tuk-tuk so we didn’t get drenched. A little dessert stand caught my attention on the way back and I asked the guide about the desserts. He didn’t know about any of them but did buy me one (costing about 30 US cents). My husband and I tried to eat it but neither of us like it and threw it out. The end of the food tour is supposed to culminate with a beer. We asked the guide if we could get a different drink (even something non-alcoholic) since neither of us felt like drinking at the point but he said no so we went back to our hotel. Food is SUPER cheap in Siem Reap (my guess is our menu for the entire tour cost only a few dollars for both of us). To put it in perspective, we ate at one of the best-reviewed restaurants in Siem Reap the night before and ordered 3 appetizers, 2 drinks, and 3 entrees for $16). It is shocking I paid $128 USD for 2 people for a tour that had no rain plan, didn’t offer many local specialties, provided a guide that knew very little about food (he said he usually does bike tours), AND we were still hungry after the tour and had to go buy dinner. The worst part-the guide handed me a QR Code and asked me to write a review while he was watching even before we got out of the tuk-tuk at our hotel. Stay far away from this food tour.

very well organized and a top guide (Mony).

a very nice tour, experience . definitely a must do