Mi Char in Cambodia

mi char vendor

This is one of the common street food in Cambodia. You can see it being sold from mobile stalls on the street in the evenings at the Old Market in Siem Reap. Mi Char is basically the Cambodian version of maggi goreng! smirk

mi char

There’s actually two versions – one that’s made from a loh shi fun type of noodle and the more popular one made from instant noodles. The brand they use is Red Bear Chicken Flavored Instant Noodles. I noticed that all the mi char places in Siem Reap use the same type and flavor.

red bear instant noodles

It costs 4,000 KHR (Cambodian Riel) for each plate. That’s about 1 USD (RM 3) since everyone there uses a conversion rate of 1 USD = 4,000 KHR. USD is the default currency but you get small change back in Cambodian Riel.

mi char cambodia

Anyway, the mi char seller will cook one packet of Red Bear chicken flavored instant noodles and then fry it with some shredded cabbage and other vegetables. They’ll also put in the flavor sachet at this point.

fried egg

The 4,000 KHR dish comes with a fried egg! I was wondering if we kena conned e.g. got charged tourist prices, but everyone who came, even locals, were paying 1 USD for that, so it’s all good. Heh.

mee char

It’s a simple but delicious dish! The noodles are doused with chilli sauce before serving. We ate it sitting by the river watching the sun set in Siem Reap. πŸ™‚

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20 thoughts on “Mi Char in Cambodia”

    • Yup, it’s cheap for that portion, and even better it’s delicious! πŸ™‚

      Their instant noodles are good – we also saw a pork instant noodle in a cup at a supermarket (which is hard to get here) and bought their local Nestle Anlene milk equivalent – it’s called Bear Brand like Bali, and I like milk (force my love to drink it too for the calcium). There’s a tea and malt flavored produce like Anlene (enriched calcium for adult women) which is pretty good.

      The Cambodian soft drinks is cheaper than over here (although the ones sold on the street and in tourist areas like temples are not) – the Coke is 1 USD and so was this energy drink (also by Coke) called Samurai (not available here). Good caffeine content, that one..

      Reply
  1. I really like their simple hawker foods and traditional Cambodian cooking. My driver cum tour guide invited me to his wooden home on very high stilts where his wife cooked their traditional food. It was a great experience.

    At first I disliked their way of asking for US dollars and return the change in their currencies. In the end, I took pity on them.

    Reply
    • That must be a really nice experience buddy! πŸ™‚

      Wow! I’ve never been invited into a home in Cambodia before, would have loved to try their local cuisine. love their food too, especially “amok” – we were even tempted to buy the amok powder back.

      Their salted fish is good too – not as salty when cooked, but also something we couldn’t bring back. The interesting thing is that it doesn’t look “salted” e.g. still quite fresh fish.

      Yeah, their currency is messed up, no one sells Cambodian Riels and everyone uses USD over there for large purchases (which is anything over USD 5). The KHR is a failed currency. 😑

      Reply
    • Yup, it’s in the tiny little wok, wanted to show you that but he finished frying. πŸ™‚

      I still like the Cambodian maggi goreng better than the Cambodian roti canai. Haha! It’s pretty good though, and different from the ones in Bali – they don’t wrap it like that and it’s more like a pancake over there.

      I vote this the 3rd best street food we had dear! πŸ˜€

      Reply
    • It’s basically their version of Maggi goreng! πŸ™‚

      They use a chicken flavored instant noodles – it’s really good.

      Reply
    • Haha! Indeed!

      We saw Cambodia’s version of roti canai too.

      Unfortunately, no Cambodian version of teh tarik though. πŸ˜‰

      Reply
  2. I can’t believe I did not try this considering I am a HUGE maggi goreng fan. This completely went under my radar! I did not come across the mi char in my research πŸ™

    Reply
    • We saw it purely by chance too! πŸ™‚

      I was surprised that so many street vendors offer the same mi char with the same instant noodle brand so we decided to give one a try.

      It’s quite good!

      No worries, next trip bro!

      Reply
    • Yup, it’s Cambodia’s version of Maggi Goreng! πŸ™‚

      You know how all mamaks use Maggi Curry Flavor here?

      All the vendors there use Red Bear Chicken Flavor in Cambodia!

      Reply

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