The next 3 parts in this series would be on the various dishes ordered online using delivery services from Foodpanda in Cambodia, a true blessing in disguise for those working late and do not want to be walking around looking for food in time of a major pandemic. Photo by Erik Mclean from Pexels
Perhaps it was a blessing disguise but back in March when the lockdown in place, we had no choice but to start ordering food, grocery, vegetables, etc online and names like Foodpanda, Grab, Lazada and yes, McDelivery was fast becoming a household name. Before March, we had never had to order online for food because we either cook dishes at home or just drive out to “tapau” from outside.
Read Part 8 here
Back in Cambodia, whilst we still have plenty of choices when it comes to lunchtime and we usually eat heavily because we work late and we had to have to sustain ourselves till dinner. At times, we usually have dinner at a restaurant near the hotel (plenty of pages on their menu but the prices are not cheap).
However, over the weeks here, we decided that ordering food online grants a cheaper option (there are times we can get 50% off the price on the menu especially if it rains), more variety and usually it is safer & cleaner to eat it from the comfort of the hotel room.
Personally, ordering from FoodPanda is a breeze for me because although there are other online food providers in Cambodia, I am more familiar with FoodPanda’s app since I used the same app back in Malaysia.
And here are some peculiar ones that I have ordered other than the usual chicken briyani and fried rice.
This is probably the largest size of serving of cooked bak-choy with a good dose of garlic that I have taken but then again, also probably the healthiest one. And it was also cheap on the menu with just about USD1++ on offer for the whole pack.
I always find it difficult to get enough fresh vegetable dishes when outside Malaysia so when there is a good menu of cheap vegetable dishes, it is too good to be missed. After all, we all need some form of fibres at some point in time to keep the digestive system in good working order.
Fruit salad ordered from an Indian restaurant which was fresh and packed in huge portions. It was not expensive but then again, it is not enough to be the main dish as I know eating fruits alone would make me hungry again later at night. Ordering online makes things difficult when it comes to sizing up the portions that will be delivered. Sometimes too little, sometimes too much.
Personally I prefer fresh fruits in the morning but given the fact that I don’t take breakfast and for lunch, we don’t get the opportunity to eat fresh fruits (unless it is fruit smoothies which come with tonnes of sugar). So we have to make do with fruit salads for dinner.
Actually this was a good dish which has the 3 main whammy – half-cooked egg, sweet pork meat and the juicy fatty slices of duck. The locals sure have the best skills when it comes to cooking eggs with eggs cooked at the right heat so that it is hard on the outside and soft in the inside.
There was an option for rice with pork, rice with duck meat or rice with both mixed. I hardly take duck meat when in Malaysia so it is something I decided for a change since it is on the menu.
Another side dish from the Indian restaurant which unfortunately not so healthy – grilled chicken on a stick. It was a bit dry for me to enjoy although the restaurant also added a pack of sweet sauce to dip the chicken on. It was boneless and one can taste the variety of spices and curry powders.
To be continued…