Kep · Food

A covered market of about 1,600 square metres at the eastern end of the bay, where crab is landed, held alive in seawater basins and cooked over wood stoves on the spot with crushed green pepper. Liveliest from late morning into the early afternoon as the boats return; crab is sold by weight, so agree a price before it goes in the wok.

Vendors along the beach road grill squid, prawns and crab on charcoal braziers and sell them with rice and green mango, eaten on mats under the trees. This is what Cambodian day-trippers come for, and it costs a fraction of the market's prices.

The pepper comes fresh on the stem from just up the road and is in season roughly February to May; that combination is the entire reason Kep is on anyone's map. Ask for kdam chha mrech kchei, eat with your hands, and take the bib seriously.

The kitchens here follow the day-trippers rather than the guests, so the market is at its best between about eleven and three and much of it is shutting by eight. If you are staying the night, eat before dark or eat where you sleep.