Despite what my European and Aussie friends think, some people do appreciate a tinge of the American dining experience - and K-West is such a place. I mean, who is going to turn down a banana split when faced with one?
Lucky for my Aussie dining partner, K-West, pleasantly situated on the heavily trafficked corner of Sisowath Quay, does not pigeon-hole itself. It symbolizes a new Phnom Penh. A mixture of French, Khmer, and American cuisine, it capitalizes on layers of history. Feel like wonton soup followed by steak tartar and a brownie sundae? You got it.
On a balmy tropical night in Phnom Penh earlier this year, a glamorous fashion show took place. But while a catwalk in Southeast Asia might be expected to rustle with the sound of sumptuous silks, it was recycled plastics as "rubbish couture" that shimmered and swirled when the models stepped out in at this unusual event.
What woke me up I don't know. I just remember realizing there was someone in my house who shouldn't be there, and glancing over to see a robber almost within touching distance going through an antique wardrobe a friend had just left when she went back to Australia.
She saw me the same time as I saw her. I froze and waited for a knife or a gun, but thankfully she just ran into the night.
It's like walking on eggshells - the debate continues in the Cambodia Daily letters pages about loudspeaker-equipped egg vending carts. Are they too loud? Are foreigners too sensitive? Just what kinds of eggs are being sold anyway?
Expat-Advisory's intrepid Investigative Team hit the streets to get some perspective straight from the source.
What is your name?
'Barang'.
What do they call this kind of egg?
'Pong Mouen Ang Psoum Kreung Piseh' [Grilled chicken egg with special ingredients.]
How long have you been selling eggs?
One year.
How much does one egg cost?
Cambodia can brace itself for a jolt of world-class boogie when two of Australia's most acclaimed blues acts play Cambodia in December.
The Backsliders,Australia's award-winning, all-star blues ensemble, will make their Cambodian debut when the band plays the FCC Angkor on December 7 and December 8 at the FCC Phnom Penh.
In addition to the Backsliders' two shows, New Zealand singer-songwriting powerhouse Paul Ubana Jones will play four shows at the FCC in December. Jones will play the FCC Angkor on December 10 and 11, and the FCC Phnom Penh on December 14 and 15.
Isabel Calvert loses no sleep in her quest to find the finest brew in Phnom Penh.
Wow! Best Coffee? What an assignment! Considering the extraordinary number of coffee spots in the cities, picking out the best coffee is a mammoth task. Here are a few humble offerings found in Phnom Penh.
This week a woman came forward claiming to be the first female survivor of Toul Sleng Torture Center ever located. Although Documentation Center of Cambodia director Youk Chhang says doubts remain about Chim Math's story and whether she was actually staff or a prisoner, Math insists she never worked at Toul Sleng and only discovered hell when she was sent there and has questioned whether the doubts might be triggered by feelings that women like her should not have survived. People familiar with Vietnamese documentation of S-21 after 1979 say the Vietnamese would not mistake staff for victims.
Months, years of speculation and rumors are over.
The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia's oldest English - language newspaper, has new owners.
New co-owner Ross Dunkley confirmed the buy to expat-advisory.com (EAS), but did not speculate on the $500,000 price tag for the paper being touted by local media.
Friday night at the Rising Sun is country music night. In fact, if the mood takes management, Thursday and Saturday nights might be heavy on the sounds of Johnny Cash et al as well. The pictures on the walls are from a past era in more ways than one - Minder, mods, scooters and The New Avengers.
But the Sun, as it is affectionately known, has stood the test of time for nearly a decade, and this English pub grub-style restaurant run by a long term expat Aussie never disappoints with its food.
Most days, Miz Nazeat is a humble fisherman, plying his trade on the Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac rivers of Phnom Penh. But when the police call, he takes up a second job. Nazeat is the man who finds bodies and hauls them out of the river.
The Japanese Bridge has become the capital's Lover's Leap. Every month, at least on star-crossed lover manages to evade police placed along its span and throw themselves into the fast-flowing currents of the Tonle Sap.