Currently, the Chinese have opened more and more Chinese food and beverage restaurants in Cambodia, especially in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville province.
In the 2000s, there were not many Chinese restaurants in Cambodia. But after the influx of Chinese tourists to Cambodia in the late 2010s, before the spread of COVID-19, Chinese people themselves invested in opening large restaurants and beverage outlets to serve and provide services only to Chinese people, but now some of those outlets also attract Cambodian visitors.
These scenes can be seen along many main roads, such as Monivong Boulevard, the road south of Naga Casino, and many streets in the Boeung Keng Kang district. At this time, Chinese food shops, from soups, barbecues, drinks, coffee and tea to pastry shops, are expanding, and some of them are run by Chinese people who sell goods that are all Chinese products. These shops target both Chinese people in Cambodia and Cambodians. Some shops are doing well, while others have closed due to loss-making business.
A Cambodian citizen in Phnom Penh said that a few days ago, his children were so excited that they went to a Chinese soup shop. Each soup costs more than $10. But what was strange was that all the drinks in the shop were Chinese. He said that the prices were reasonable and the staff were also Cambodian. Most drinks, from orange juice, beer, canned goods to purified water, are Chinese products.
A young man, who only gave his name as Rattha, said that generally, if the shop is run by a Chinese owner, whether it is a large air-conditioned shop or a street barbecue, the cans and supplies, including toilet paper, are almost all made in China.
Rattha said, “Chinese shops are now very abundant, from noodles to soups, grilled vegetables, grilled goat, everything. And different… and the prices are reasonable now.” The fact that Chinese people are coming down to live in the ordinary life to collect income in Cambodia from the general public like Cambodians in Cambodia is one thing, but in Southeast Asia, such a new social phenomenon is also happening.
According to a report by the Nikkei Asia newspaper, Chinese restaurant chains have shown a three-fold increase in ASEAN in the past two years. The same source said that the presence of Chinese food and beverage outlets since the rise of coffee shops has increased dramatically in Singapore, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian nations. The newspaper described that people in Southeast Asia are catching up with the Chinese.
According to the same report, in 2022, there were about 1,800 Chinese restaurants in Southeast Asia, but in 2024, this number increased to 6,100.
