Photos: ‘Bug cafe’ serves up insect tapas in Cambodia

Ant spring rolls, silkworm taro croquettes and a "bug mac" -- Cambodia's first insect tapas restaurant is mixing cocktail culture with creepy crawler fare.

Updated on: Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM IST

Lifestyle

Share via

• 
• 
• 
• 

Copy link

• 

1/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

A tourist (L) holds up skewered cricket and spiders for a picture at the Bugs Cafe restaurant in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. Ant spring rolls, silkworm taro croquettes and a “bug mac” -- Cambodia’s first insect tapas restaurant is mixing cocktail culture with creepy crawler fare. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)

2/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

At the busy “Bugs Cafe” in the tourist town of Siem Reap, chef Seiha Soeun (L) stands over a sizzling wok in the kitchen tossing in crickets, grasshoppers, tarantulas and scorpions. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)

3/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

Patrons eating dishes of mixed insects at the Bugs Cafe restaurant. Sold at street vendors or in Instagram-friendly tourist spots, insects aren’t new to Cambodian palates. But they are usually served one way: fried, with dipping sauce, and maybe a cold beer. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)

4/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

“We have a different kind of menu,” Seiha said, adding that he practiced making the “bug mac” -- a patty of pureed ant, bee, silkworm and cricket topped with a slice of cheese and pickle -- many times to get it just right. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)

5/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

Tourists arrive at the Bugs Cafe restaurant. Insects are eaten by two billion people worldwide, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Besides being a cheap source of protein, insect cuisine is also a possible answer to rising concern over the environmental impact of livestock farming. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)

6/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

On a recent evening at the restaurant, French co-founder Davy Blouzard (L) greeted curious diners and explained the menu. “We want to show that it’s possible to make quality food with insects,” he said. There is sweet potato cream with bee larvae, silkworm and mango flambe, and even a cricket cheesecake dessert. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)

7/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

Diners eat a dish of mixed insects at the Bugs Cafe restaurant. As dinner orders picked up, tourists from as far afield as Britain, Poland and Malaysia all happily -- if a little squeamishly -- crunched away. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)

8/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

Servers worked the room wearing shirts emblazoned with the words “I HATE INSECTS”, with the “H” crossed out. British backpacker Joshua Bean, 23, said he knew he had to visit the cafe after seeing an ad for the unusual eatery at his hostel. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)

9/9

View Photos in a new improved layout

Updated on Nov 30, 2019 12:50 PM

Bean didn’t flinch at the “juicy” silkworms and an assortment of other insects piled up on his plate. “It’s not the kind of thing you get back home,” he said. (Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP)