emart24 — Penghouth branch, Phnom Penh. There are many emart24 branches across the city, so if this one is not your closest, search “emart24” on Google Maps and pick the nearest yellow sign.
Open 24 hours, every day. I go in the evening and often late at night. Late evening is my favourite — the food counter is still running and the store is calm.
Shelf items start around $0.50. Fish Cake about $0.50. Tteokbokki is roughly $1.50 small and $3.00 big. Under five dollars feeds two people.
Not much. There is seating at the counter and outside, so you can eat everything on the spot. Bring a laptop if you want — plenty of people sit and work.
Start here. Sweet and creamy first, gentle spice at the end. Get the big size if you are sharing, small if you are testing. If you truly cannot do any chilli at all, the original version is the safer order, but the rose is the reason people come back.
Fish cake on a stick, pulled straight from the hot broth tray. Cheap, warm, and the broth is the best part. Perfect while you wait for your tteokbokki.
Pick any packet off the DIY ramyun wall, use the hot water machine, add an egg. It takes a few minutes and you eat it right there at the counter.
Korean drinks, coffee, and a bakery counter. An iced coffee next to a spicy bowl is the correct combination and I will not be arguing about it.
Age does not really come into it. Every time I am there the room is a mix of students, people coming off work, and foreigners looking through the Korean shelves. It is chill and it is welcoming, and nobody makes you feel like you are taking up space.
Go once in the evening, order the big rose tteokbokki and one odeng skewer, and eat it at the counter instead of taking it home. That is the whole experience, it costs under four dollars, and it is the reason I have been back four times this week.
