Review: Chinese Revolution
The Chinese House, at the north end of Sisowath Quay, recently changed hands, and now operates as Tepui Restaurant Lounge. It offers sophisticated dining from a kitchen influenced by Mediterranean and South American cuisines, with Asian accents. If that suggests the oft-maligned ‘fusion’ style of cuisine, rest easy because this newcomer is combining the different elements to produce inspired cookery.
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- 12431 reads
Review: The Lunch Box
The sandwich has conquered the world. Nations seem powerless to resist the gastronomic hegemony of a bit of protein and vegetable, stuck between two slices of carbohydrate. Fortunately for us, Cambodia has proven no exception, offering a variety of bready goodies from the humble Khmer street sandwich to the upmarket gourmet offering. That’s where Lunch Box, the café and sandwich bar on Street 282 come into the picture.
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- 9741 reads
A Double Star: Italian and Vietnamese Food at Stella's
“Stella’s” is announced like any run of the mill Phnom Penh eatery, heralded by the garish glow of an “ANGKOR” sign on a dusty side street (street 75, just north of where it Ts into Raffles hotel). Going inside, however, you will be congratulated on finding this place by yourself and anyone you are trying to impress with dinner: warm light falls on cool tiles in the outside seating area, dotted with potted palms and set back from the street by a lush yard.
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- 13370 reads
Review: Mama’s New York Deli
I drive a motorbike in this town and one of the things I miss is the scenery that whizzes on by. It’s my constant paranoia of being run over by a helmetless freshie boy or a plateless SUV barreling down the wrong side of the street which keeps my eyes glued to the road. Which is why i have been taking walks around town. It gives me a chance to check things out and also to keep up with my podcasts.
I drive a motorbike in this town and one of the things I miss is the scenery that whizzes on by. It’s my constant paranoia of being run over by a helmetless freshie boy or a plateless SUV barreling down the wrong side of the street which keeps my eyes glued to the road. Which is why i have been taking walks around town. It gives me a chance to check things out and also to keep up with my podcasts.
It was on one of these walks when I spied a new restaurant near my house and stopped on in. To my surprise, an old acquaintance opened the joint which her running the front of the house while her mom (Mama Ung) commands the kitchen.
We had a bit of a chat and went for a review a couple of days later.
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- 12610 reads
Get some pork on your fork! No thanks I'll have the roo
Six months ago, a small but ergonomic space, just to the right of a massage parlour on Street 144 resisted the urge to become another hostess bar. Instead, what was the Lilac Cafe become a vibrant new bar off the main Sisowath strip, called The Local 2.
It is 8.30pm on a Wednesday evening, and the sound of expat laughter beckons us in from the street. The clientele, we are told, are regulars and they bring with them some of the exuberance that we associate with the Riverside. They could be teachers, they could be NGO workers, entrepreneurs or any one of the individualists that reside here in this evolving city.
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- 7825 reads
Lunches in Laos
You work hard in the morning, and you are tired of the noon traffic jam that eats up half of your lunch break if you go home for having the meal there. There are a lot affordable and good choices in town.
1. Vegetarian Lunch Buffet
Its a small but very delicious local restaurant, offering the best of Lao and Asian food, but no animals were harmed during preparation. All you can eat for 20.000 KIP. It is located in a small street near Simuang Supermarket. after the Supermarket, just turn right and you will find it after 50 meter on the left hand. All
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Review: The Veranda, Kep
The Veranda is a high-end bungalow style resort on a quiet hillside location, just below Kep National Park. As soon as you enter the complex you’re aware of the class of the place. A stonework alley plunges dramatically through the resort and leads to a labyrinth of raised wooden platforms and walkways. It all feels very Greek Island – before Greece joined the Euro. Bungalows start at $40 and head north to $90. This is 5 Star luxury at 2 Star European prices. I’ve eaten at The Veranda restaurant several times, and never come away less than pleasurably satisfied. I was in Kep at the weekend, and wondered if the kitchen was still maintaining its superb quality.
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- 8981 reads
Review: Sovana in the AM
Sovana has the reputation with locals and expats as being the best grilled meats restaurant in Phnom Penh. Their grilled pork is legendary and its a place I always take the relative newbie to town for a safe khmer dining experience.
When it was mentioned of doing a review of Sovana, I scoffed at the idea saying that there were tons of reviews about the place. Anyways, the place is filled with expats all the time.
Then breakfast was mentioned.
Genius!
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- 9299 reads
Review: Shiva Shakti
A stone’s throw eastward from the Independence Monument, at #70 Sihanouk, Shiva Shakti offers a North Indian fine dining experience to Phnom Penh. The restaurant wears its Mughlai and Kashmiri influence not just in the food, but on its sleeve in the lovely dining room with carvings, statues of Hindu gods, and reproductions of Mughlai art lining the walls. The iced water swiftly served in a heavy copper cup helps set the expectation of an enjoyable evening’s gustation. My taste buds were tingling.
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- 11721 reads
Review: Sinan Restaurant - Cheap and Pretty Good
You decide to visit Friends Restaurant, with, well, friends but forget that they’re closed on a Sunday night. Where’s your emergency local choice for Khmer food? It used to be directly opposite. ‘Sinan Restaurant: Cheap and Best’ declared the fading Perspex signboard. It’s a bold claim, even in the land of broken English hyperbole. The nonpareil of the city’s dining establishments? The nondescript exterior suggested otherwise, a view by no means altered upon entering the place. I guess the lease must have run out because recently the business has decamped to a new location, just around the corner in St 172. So, is it now even better?
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- 11210 reads