Best place to punch someone
Paddy’s Fight Club, #63 Street 294
There’s something soothingly therapeutic about assaulting a punching bag for as long as you can. The endorphins that accompany maximum physical output turn stress into bliss and pain into hot-and-sweaty pleasure. But bags don’t hit back, and a true challenge requires a live opponent. The old fight-master Paddy Carson lives in Siem Reap now, but his crew of young trainers are jovial and patient and happy to walk newcomers through the basics. They don’t mind getting punched, either, so go ahead and lace up the gloves, big guy, and give ‘em your best shot.
Best place to see a cage fight
Old Stadium
Mixed martial arts got a late start in Cambodia, but over the last couple of years the local sport has made big strides. Phnom Penh now holds weekly cage matches in two arenas. The best one is run by CTN on Sunday’s at the Old Stadium. The quality of fighting is superior to elsewhere, as are the production values and English-language announcing. Best of all, entrance is free, fighters and trainers are accessible, and beers outside are less than a buck.
Best coffee (Russian Market edition)
Blingbling Coffee & Wine
#16 Street 456
The secret of Blingbling is starting to get out. The small, independently owned restaurant opened a little more than a year ago with a modest kitchen and the city’s finest java from Feel Good coffee. Toul Tom Pong has long been a neighbourhood short on quality caffeine pushers. Blingbling is the long-awaited answer. The restaurant sources its beans from Feel Good, and its baristas were all trained by the finest coffee roasters in the capital. Like any good neighbourhood shop, Blingbling runs crazy specials, too. At the moment, a large, frothy, steamed-to-perfection caffe latte is just a buck.
Best Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Bubbles Tea & Ice Cream
#70 Street 113
The genius of salted caramel began like so many other flamboyant culinary concoctions — in the cultural traditions of provincial France (salty butter caramels are a native treat in Brittany). It found its stardom, however, in the hard-eating territories of the USA. San Francisco chocolatier Michael Recchiuti began selling fleur de sel caramels in 1998 (French fleur de sel is a hand-harvested sea salt collected off the coast of Brittany). A decade later the kickshaw was on menus everywhere from Starbucks to Taco Bell. Now it’s in Phnom Penh at Bubble’s, a cutesy American outpost that specialises in artisanal teas and small-batch ice cream. Bubbles-style salted caramel is a 5-layer stack of homemade vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce spooned into a black sesame waffle cone, with the top layer a volcano of caramel that comes spilling over the edges. It’s sticky, finger-licking goodness down to the last, crunchy bite.
Best restaurant to mend a broken heart
L’Orchidee, #82 Street 454
Many a night in this garden restaurant we’ve sat watching couples, groups of friends and families move in and out of its burgundy walls, us at our usual table, drowning our loneliness in Bier Picon only to find out later that lonely can swim. There’s something about this place that’s the purest form of café culture: the food comes when the food comes, drinks come faster and any cracks in the soul are filled in the end with chocolate mousse and the good company of the owner. The staff has stayed pretty constant over the years, as have the regulars; a good mix of Westerners and Khmer seeking an accessible classiness.
Best truck-stop food
Alley Cat Café, #42 Street 19z
Dallas and the folk at Alley Cat are like something you would find between Tucson and Tucumcari, and between Tehachapi and Tonapah. Alley Cat even sits hidden on the back roads for that matter; we come for the Navajo Fry Bread and stay for the bacon. Plus you get left the hell alone or you can chat if you want; just don’t be an ass about it. Another selling point is that the food is industrial-grade hangover hazmat.
Best quaint queer quarter
Space Hair, #66 Street 136
Space Hair is a salon-slash-hangout, for queer bois and gurrls with flashy hair, which serves a mean cocktail. The staff are fun and outgoing and, for the long and complicatedly quaffed, Space Hair won’t break your budget. Fancy getting a bit tipsy, playing with some Paris Hilton knock-off pups and dying your hair lime green? Go for it! There’s no shame in getting friendly and funky. On some Friday and Saturday nights here, you may find some of the fierce sisters who work the stage at Rainbow Bar getting their bad selves sorted.
Best headmistress of a man crèche
Nith Pochsok at The Red Fox, Street 136 & Sisowath Quay
Nith Pochsok, the long-standing barwoman at The Red Fox, and her staff have kept more than a few people from going completely nutso. Witty and fierce, these are ladies who can both bullshit and call-out bullshit with the best of them. Nith, along with the other interesting and well educated ladies down at The Red Fox, run a tight ship. They have to! They have one of the hardest jobs in town, but also some of the most loyal patrons. Nith and her crew are why The Red Fox is known the world over as a soft spot for hard-living folk to land on.
Best bathroom art
Sesame Noodle House, #9 Street 460
Reference Wolverine + This American Life and, well, there’s simply not much else to say. For ageing millennials like us, this loo experience combines pristine cleanliness, a tinge of nostalgia for road trips past and, well, Wolverine. The whole experience of Sesame is quite charming; action figures on the bar, very good Austin-style music, noodle bowls that sort of got our nearly 80-year-old grandfather to dig tofu. And Keiko, the owner, is pure concentrated AWESOME. Her husband looks like Wolverine’s thinner, more urbane younger brother and is not to be messed with: he runs the Cross-Fit Box in the hood. You have been warned.
Best gay uncles
Jose and Mark @ Feel Good Café, #79 Street 136
In order for the human species to thrive, we need the ‘gay uncles’ of the world to make it more bearable. Whether it’s brewing that outstanding cup of coffee, bringing a plate of ribs or just waving hello as you roll up Street 136, Jose and Mark are simply the best gay uncles this city could ask for. These two inject more than a breath of fresh air into the humidity of the city; Mark and Jose have become a part of the heart and soul of 136, always bringing life, compassion, coffee and a sense of possibility. Wepa!
Best ice-cream for under a buck
The Snacker, Russian Market
1000 riel-a-scoop, dairy-free coconut ice cream that’s as addictive as anything; the passion fruit and green tea are particular favourites of ours after fighting traffic (clears the exhaust off the pallet real quick). And the entertainment provided by tourist cliques coming in and out of Russian Market and folk who can’t find their keys and need either a locksmith or a locksmith with a hammer simply can’t be beat. Just a little corner stand in teal and yellow, with cold water and sometimes, if you’re super lucky, pumpkin pie.
Best place to escape the city
for 500 Riel
Ferry to the Mekong side (the journey begins at the jetty near NagaWorld)
Grab a ferry for 500 Riel and an (optional) bottle of cold water for the same. Where else can you live your Colonel Kurtz upriver Mekong fantasies for 25 cents (or less)? This is by far Phnom Penh’s cheapest – and easiest – nautical escape route. What do you do once you get there? Who cares?! By the time your 20-minute ride is over (excluding time-warping-camouflage-face-painted hallucinations), you’ll be a different human being anyway and all plans will be off. No, really. See you on the other side.
Best place to be reminded you’re a man
Tokyo Barbershop (aka Man-Centric) #22a Street 278
Seeing a man having his ear hair plucked while sprawled out fully conscious on a barber chair can be slightly jarring. It just takes one smile from the lovely Tokyo Barbershop female crew and all your inhibitions will disappear faster than you can say ‘no more questioning my manhood’. Yup, you have arrived! Man-Centric – aka Tokyo Barbershop – offers man-chilling in a man-salon at prices that won’t break your (questionable) man-sized wallet. They also get huge points for an awesome Mad Men-esque logo that makes this place easy to spot. Haircut-pedi-mani-massage-pamper-repeat. Fed grapes optional.
Best place to feel like you’re shopping in East Germany
Pencil Supercentre, #15 Street 214
Even your most historically challenged backpacker can name at least one of Cambodia’s former communist allies. But can that same backpacker lead yo u to where time stood still in aisle 3? One-part department store, two-parts grocery store, all-parts Dresden 1986: Pencil, the only Phnom Penh shopping experience that can take your children’s sugar-loaded breakfast cereal and make it feel colourless and proletariat (in a good way). Consistently friendly staff (none named Dagmar) and a large, very reasonably priced wine selection that was clearly chucked over the wall before Hasselhoff ruined it for everyone. You’ll leave wishing you had a mullet and a Trabant.
Best foreign food for a
fiver on a Friday
Cadillac Bar and Grill,
#219 Sisowath Quay
Wander down the riverside on a Friday and you’ll soon be repeating a series of zombie-like rejections (mostly to yourself): No, thank you; not today; I just bought one; that’s not really your baby; my guide book says not to give you anything. Then it shouts at you. Hand drawn in crayon and stuck to a sidewalk sign: $5 all food all day. You wait for someone to tell you it’s Thursday. Fortunately that foolish thought passes and you’re inside this comfortable casa ordering a 10-buck plate of American goodness for a fiver. Cadillac was here before Rolls. Enjoy the ride!
Best disco to take you to Reno
without leaving Cambodia
Darlin Darlin @ NagaWorld,
Hun Sen Park
You’re in your Friday best, fists overflowing with chips. You work your way through the casino lobby then suddenly she hits you: Beyoncé. But where is she? You make rapid hand gestures to a girl in uniform: first word, second syllable, sounds like ‘Darlin Darlin’. You thank her for the compliment but fear she might just like you for the handsome ransom you took from the tables. You say ‘Reno’, she says ‘I know’ and the next thing you know you’re in a house band pumpin’ gamblin’ junket lovin’ happy place. Darlin Darlin. Yes, there’s an echo in here and it sounds like disco party bliss. Hit me baby one more time!
Best place to party like it’s 1999 (OK, maybe even sometime before that)
Vito, #8 Street 214
Vito took its inspiration (but not its Don Corleone name) from the realisation that not everyone wants to go down the street to Nova and watch really hammered 20-somethings chug hard booze and dance to music that needs a lot of hard booze. Alas! Vito was born. With the DJ busting out his best (older) Euro beats for the crowd of mostly (older) Euro expat elites, your inner Godfather will be curiously searching for the corner table that says ‘Reserved for Vito’ – that is, until you’re interrupted by Abba and your dancing shoes will be strapped on till dawn.
Best live music venue
1st: Slur Bar
If you’ve yet to seize your 15 minutes of fame, here might just be the place to do it. A steady stream of international talent has been rolling across the Slur stage since this French-owned, Peap Tarr-painted sports-and-tapas-bar-cum-platform-for-bristling-musical-talent first opened its doors. In the almost two years since,it has hosted everyone from the cream of the local punk scene to London dancehall legend Tippa Irie (a certain distinguished editor even rode her motorcycle right up to the stage once). Aiiiiiigghht!
2nd: Equinox
3rd: Doors
Best band
1st: Cambodian Space Project
The Cambodian Space Project is coming off an enormous 12-month period. The run began in Detroit, US, where Kak Channthy and Julien Poulson, the band’s two founding members, hooked up with Motown guitar legend Dennis Coffey, who not only dug the band’s spaced-out sound but wanted to record and produce the duo, too. The result of that collaboration was Whiskey Cambodia, CSP’s third full-length album and by far its richest work to date. In Motown tradition, the band has also added dancers, The Spacettes, to their stage show. In September the band released its first 12” vinyl LP, Radio Cambodia, and just last month the group debuted its self-produced musical, Hanuman Spaceman, at the Kampot Traditional Arts School. It’s been an ultra-productive year, and it’s no surprise they get the nod.
2nd: Dub Addiction
3rd: Songkites
Best band name
1st: Cambodian Space Project
No one embodies this year’s Best Of Phnom Penh theme – ready for take-off – more than psychedelic surf rockers The Cambodian Space Project. Runners up in both band categories last year, CSP just capped an incredible 12-month run (see Best Band) with perhaps its most ambitious project to date, Hanuman Spaceman, a rock opera loosely built around the life story of lead singer Kak Channthy, and which literally pushes the aeronautical metaphors to interstellar distances. Let the monkey madness continue, we say.
2nd: Dub Addiction
3rd: Songkites
Best musician
1st: Philippe Javelle
A multi-instrumentalist, Phillippe Javelle was long known as the keyboarding half of the jazz duo Ritchie & Phil, a free-wheeling musical pair that stomped through the city’s music venues both high and low. In 2010 Javelle helped establish the capital’s first legitimate jazz room, the now-defunct Studio 182, and in the ensuing years he has continued to innovate around the high end of the capital’s music scene. A graduate of the Paris School of Music, Javelle’s Number One is keyboard, but he plays sax, accordion and numerous other instruments, and over the years he has become a fixture of the local music scene. He appears regularly and Doors, D-Club, Sofitel and Riverhouse.
2nd: Nikki Nikki &Conrad Keely (tie)
3rd: Euan Gray
Best open mic
1st: Equinox
Perhaps it’s the killer sound system, keenly watched over by veteran sound guru Anthony Mrugacz – the part-Texan/part-Polish proprietor who, if you’re really lucky (and so inclined), can occasionally be spotted draped over one of the upstairs sofas, near shirtless, enjoying a well-earned siesta. Perhaps it’s the never-less-than-epic line-up of Phnom Penh-based minstrels, including Conrad Keely, front man for the much revered US hard rock outfit And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Dead, and Sophie Rose, the city’s most rousing Irish songstress. Towering above them all, Andre Swart, a gentle South African giant, acts as a musical Sherpa second to none.
2nd: Show Box
3rd: Sharky Bar
Best DJ
1st: Illest
No one in Cambodia’s nascent hip-hop scene has done more for longer than hometown pioneer DJ Illest, (who has somehow managed to keep his real name out of the press for going on two decades now). In 1995 the self-taught turntablist hand-carried more than 200 kilos of vinyl with him on a flight back from Paris. He built a regular following at Riverhouse and Pontoon when the later was genuinely a floating dance floor bobbing in the river. He is now the resident deejay and main attraction at the city’s most popular night club (see Best Club), and his influence continues to reverberate in new venues like D Club and Epic.
2nd: Funkelastiks&Alan Ritchie (tie)
3rd: DSN
Best artist
1st: Kosal Khiev
Known primarily for his powerful spoken-word performances, Kosal Kiev has recently begun to emerge as a visual artist as well. His illustration style is drenched in the pen-and-ink discipline of convict artists and the human canvases with which they so often work. His story is well told: born in a Thai refugee camp, Kosal grew up fatherless in a California ghetto, where he nearly drowned in poverty, gangs and violence; he was deported to Cambodia in 2011 after serving 15 years for attempted murder. Kosal has long since righted the misdirected ways of his youth (he was 16 when he was arrested), and poetry and performance art, which he discovered in solitary confinement, have proven his saving grace. Since landing in Phnom Penh, Kosal has struggled, often openly, with adjusting to his new home and his own human frailty. But he has also soared, igniting a burgeoning spoken-word scene, winning numerous spoken-word awards, and earning a spot to represent the Kingdom in international poetry events. A flawed yet deeply genuine character, Kosal is the underdog everyone loves to root for. And root for him we do.
2nd: Em Riem
3rd: Peap Tarr
Best arts space
1st: Meta House
Ever a mecca for the city’s intelligentsia, Meta House – the capital’s long-serving German epicentre of the arts – successfully straddles spaces elegant enough to hos ta Handel recital, rock ‘n’ roll enough to accommodate visiting noise artistes, and conscientious enough to stage some of the fiercest debates in town (witness the round-table following the last round of convictions in the Khmer Rouge tribunal). Come here for the sensory stimulation, stay for awesome German grub – from bulging bratwurst to the spectacularly filling flame cake.Artistic endeavours, of every hue, await your attention on almost every available surface.
2nd: Java Café
3rd: Sasa Bassac
Best movie house
1st: Major Cineplex
It was a 4D film – my first – about a tornado. You know the sort. Lots of special effects, almost no script to speak of. Except the chairs moved. Not so much moved as shook, shuddered and wobbled as though Hell itself were about to come bursting through the floor. Then there were the blasts of icy air that hit you right between the eyes. And…is that really the smell of coffee being piped into the stalls?! All that was missing was someone standing in the aisles, lobbing ice cubes into the audience during the hail storm. Encore!
2nd: The Flicks
3rd: The Empire
Best Book Store
1st: Monument Books
The capital’s oldest book store is also its best. Founded in 1993, Monument Books does something that virtually no other bookstore does: sells authentic new books. It also houses the world’s most comprehensive library of Cambodia-related titles, offers the country’s greatest collection of periodicals, and, with print-on-demand, provides access to more than 1,000 newspaper titles from around the world, too. Tack on the strong coffee and plush Blue Pumpkin loungers, the chilly air-conditioning and toy store upstairs, and there’s simply no better place to shop for new reading materials. Best of all: the goods are all genuine, so you can shop with a clean conscience. Because writers need love (and money), too.
2nd: D’s Books
3rd: Bohr’s Books
Best Hotel
1st: Raffles Hotel Le Royal
Nothing quite speaks to King Father Norodom Sihanouk’s pre-war halcyon days like the soaring French architecture of Hotel Le Royal, with its magnificent ochre exteriors, vast stairways, grand ballrooms and elegant dining halls, not to mention delectable cuisine. Built in the early 19th century, the hotel opened in 1929 and almost immediately captured the attention of the world’s high society. The hotel’s guest list includes such 19th century heavyweights as Somerset Maughan, Charlie Chaplin, Andre Malraux and Jacqueline Kennedy, who visited in 1967 and whose legend inspired the hotel’s signature cocktail, the Femme Fatale.
2nd: The Plantation
3rd: Himawari
Best Gym
1st: The Place
Cavernous work-out rooms. Air chilled effortlessly to sweatless, erect-nippled perfection.The finest high-tech fitness equipment that money can buy. And only the most beautiful of bodies on display. And that’s without mentioning the ‘mini-Olympic-sized’ pool. Yoga, karate, a spinning studio. Sign up. Immediately. Your body WILL thank you.
2nd: Fitness One Club, Himawari
3rd: Physique Club, Cambodiana
Best Spa
1st: Bodia Spa
Words such as ‘sanctuary’, ‘cocoon’, and ‘pampering’. Tut tut. Indulgence is the order of the day here – and don’t you DARE feel the need to apologise. Bodia tonic? Apsara indulgence four-hands massage? Natural jasmine rice wrap? Fruity vitamin facial? Bodia is something of an oasis on the city’s rough and ready Riverside: dip your toe in the jacuzzi while staff shower you with petals (really). Praise be!
2nd: U & Me
3rd: Bliss Spa
Best place to take your kids
1st: Kids City
Kids City has revolutionised life for Phnom Penh kids (and lots of parents, too) since opening in June last year. Nowhere packs more fun and educational activities into one place. Two floors of massive indoor jungle gyms cater to toddlers and young children. A science gallery and discovery centre provide hands-on educational learning. Ice skating, rock-climbing and laser tag all make for exciting physical challenges. There’s a Gloria Jeans serving caffeine and Blue Pumpkin for eats and treats. It’s squeaky clean, air-conditioned and the wifi is good, too. But if you have kids, you already know that. If you don’t, you should make friends with some parents pronto. There’s simply no age limit to having fun.
2nd: Le Jardin
3rd: Gasolina
Best place to watch the sun set
1st: The FCC
Once the preserve of the cream of the international press corps, it’s one of the city’s most cherished relics of the colonial era. Lofty eaves harbour the whispered echoes of wartime exchanges between correspondents; the urgent reporting into bulky plastic telephone receivers back to bun-haired copytakers on the far side of the ocean. The history is impressive. The unparalleled views of the swirling waters of the Tonle Sap even more so.
2nd: Eclipse
3rd: Le Moon
Best sky bar
1st: Eclipse
The Eclipse Sky Bar and its growing coterie of uptown contemporaries highlight an ascending level of quality to which a new generation of Phnom Penhoisie are growing accustomed. Eclipse sits on top of the 23-storey Phnom Penh Tower, and it’s the kind of place that makes you feel like you could be anywhere in the world. Starched white table cloths, heavy silver, high-end wine glassware; no detail has been overlooked. And its open-air, panoramic views of the capital are simply unparalleled.
2nd: Le Moon
3rd: Kolab Sor
Best nightclub
1st: Pontoon
Still the daddy after all these years, Pontoon has sailed a long way since its nascent days as a humble mooring at the slightly more suspect end of Riverside. Graced by names as monumental as Grandmaster Flash, Leeroy Thornhill and too many World DMC champs to list in 200 characters or less, Pontoon reigns supreme – be it decadent drag shows orpulsating hip hop, locally known and loved faces (Illest!) or international headliners.
2nd: Code Red
3rd: Nova
Best dance floor
1st: Pontoon Pulse
Fancy yourself part of the after-dark fringe element? If the main dance floor is just too bourgeoisie, darling, err on the more intimate side, where you can peek at international DJs from between beaded curtains or strut your stuff on the dancefloor just inches from the finest DJs in the city. Think boudoir, but with a dash of badass on the side. Be here. Be seen. Be SOMEONE.
2nd: Code Red
3rd: Heart of Darkness
Best tattoo artist
1st: Charlie at Black Star & Dr Ink at Atka Tattoo (tie)
No longer are fierce Khmer warriors and the most devout of Buddhist monks the only ink-stained flesh in the kingdom. Over the past few years, the calibre of tattoo artists in town has crept steadily skyward. Mystic etchings; meaningful mutterings in Khmer script; hell, the word ‘mother’ on one bicep if you really must. Etch your heart out, you rebel, you.
2nd: Sun Kang at Black Star
3rd: Nico at RSD 2
Best supermarket
1st: Aeon
Could it be the wide, boulevard-like aisles containing everything you ever missed from home and more? Perhaps the surgical sterility of everything on display, from oh-so-shiny fruit and veg to that thing you thought you’d have to live without until the next time Aunt Joan flies in from London for a weekend of ‘roughing it’.For us, it was the tiny air plants suspended in otherwise vacant sea shells.Dream it. They’ve got it. And yes, it tastes just like the one from home.
2nd: Thai Huot
3rd: Lucky
Best clothing store
1st: Russian Market
To borrow lovingly from the government’s own tourism website, which articulates it almost perfectly,‘This market became the foreigner’s market during the 1980s when most of the foreigners in Cambodia were Russians, hence the name ‘Russian Market.’ It is of far less architectural interest than the Central Market but has a larger, more varied selection of souvenirs, curios and silks. Like the Central Market, there are several jewellers and gold-sellers, but it also carries huge selection of curios, silks and carvings, it is one of the best markets in town to buy fabric.’ We second that.
2nd: Esquisse & The Close-Out Factory
Outlet (tie)
Best wine shop
1st: Red Apron
The final word in sophistication, Red Apron is perhaps one of Phnom Penh’s best-kept secrets. Popular with the über-elite, this ultra-modern urban lounge occupies a vast split-level space in the very heart of the capital’s arts district, just a stone’s throw from the Royal Palace. Plush white leather sofas and claret-red velvet chairs nestle between beautifully exposed brickwork and polished hardwood and tiled floors, creating the ultimate oasis in which to escape the frenetic pace of the city. Soft lighting and crisp white walls lend a certain minimalist allure to this first-class evening retreat.
2nd: Super Cheap
3rd: Winehall
Best restaurant
1st: Common Tiger
A tiger it may be; common it most certainly is not. ‘Contemporary world cuisine’ is the mantra; ultra-chic minimalism is the modus operandi. Here, classical meets modern; local produce assumes pole position.Dine indoors. Dine outdoors. Drool over the impossibly sexy café racers that occupy discretely lit corners. Curious to know what makes the restaurant tick? Peruse their online ‘culinary mind map’, which demonstrates exactly how a dish is crafted for Common Tiger. And the ribs? Oh, the ribs… *salivate*
2nd: Public House
3rd: Armand’s
Best brunch
1st: La Coupole at Sofitel
One of the ultimate foodie feasts in Phnom Penh is the indulgent Sunday champagne brunch at the Sofitel, when La Coupole restaurant fills with diners in the mood for decadence.Where to begin? Their sushi is spectacular, displayed in a large wooden boat overflowing with the freshest sushi and sashimi. Next door is a dedicated oyster station, where French Fine de Claires Oysters are served freshly shucked, with condiments. The cold seafood range features freshly cooked crab, langoustines, prawns and mussels. Platters galore of the tastiest, finest, cured and smoked salmon, trout and kingfish. The smoked Kampot pepper kingfish is magnificent, translucently thin, lightly smoked and edged with pepper. Finishing off this section is the boulangerie, an impressive variety of bread sticks and rolls, cut fresh and warmed in their oven on request.
2nd: Public House
3rd: Metro
Best burger
1st: Mike’s Burger House
Mike’s Burger House, the American fast-food joint tucked into the backside of a Sokimex gas station, is the kind of place to make homesick Yankees swoon. Mike returned to Cambodia after 30 years in California and he first began making burgers to please his new wife, who had developed a crush on the beef-and-bun favourites during a US vacation. Mike makes them the traditional American way: big fluffy buns, fresh tomato, crunchy iceberg lettuce, seared beef patty with a thin, charred outer layer and a soft, juicy centre. It’s the kind of burger you expect to find at some back-road mom-and-pop place along Route 66, a throwback to the era of drive-ins, V8 muscle cars and the great American road trip.
2nd: Meat & Drink
3rd: Java Café
Best pizza
1st: Piccola Italia Da Luigi Pizzeria
Piccolo Italia Da Luigi presents something of a cultural abnormality: a very South Italian and somewhat noisy pizza joint located in a quiet back-alley Phnom Penh neighbourhood, turning out excellent pizzas and antipasti with a side order of hand gesticulations. Pizza is the true backbone of the operation. There are 25 more than different kinds at last count, including a classic cheese-less marinara with tomato sauce, garlic and oregano, all the way up to a rather artistic Montanara with mozzarella, cream, bacon, onion, emmenthal cheese, walnuts, potatoes and salami.All pizzas come in one size: big enough to feed at least four nice normal people and at least two hollow-legged expats in a wine-drinking mood. This is definitely the thin-crust-and-blackened-on-the-bottom pizza of Italy.
2nd: Katy Peri
3rd: Limoncello Pizzeria
Best Indian
1st: Sher-e-Punjab
Perhaps owing to a relationship that stretches over millennia, Phnom Penh is abundantly supplied with outstanding Indian food. Sher-e-Punjab is among the oldest and what it lacks in décor or dazzling ambience, it more than makes up for with consistently excellent north Indian cuisine. Like any authentic home-style Indian place, the menu is a massive 200-plus dish affair, with all the standards and dozens of not-so-standard dishes and unique interpretations of old family recipes. Other places may have fancier pictures on the wall, or shinier silver serving plates, but no place does Indian better.
2nd: Mount Everest
3rd: Taste Budz
Best Mexican
1st: Taqueria Corona
The history of Mexican restaurants in Phnom Penh is a halting, discordant affair. It began in the mid-‘90s with The Mex: a small, Cuban-inspired shop-house at Independence Monument that cobbled together ingredients from Lucky Supermarket and served them rolled in store-bought tortillas. About the only decent dish was the breakfast burrito. Everything else was underwhelming at best. These days, the capital boasts half a dozen specialty Mexican restaurants, and Taqueria Corona, run by a passionate restaurateur from California, consistently rates at the pinnacle of an impressively delicious mix. It’s tops for all the right reasons, too. The menu is diverse, with tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tortas (Mexican sandwiches) and five styles of meat (and 10 kinds of tequila!). The food literally arrives in minutes. The meals are big enough to choke a starving ranchero. The tortillas are ever-so-slightly on the thick side (the way they should be). The tacos are smothered with cheese and sour cream. And the flavours are straight out of the Southern California barrios.
2nd: Alma Café
3rd: Viva Mexican Café
Best vegetarian
1st: Artillery Café
Reminiscent of Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross Station in the Harry Potter novels, Street 240½ has something of the preternatural about it. This winding passageway in the heart of the arts district is now home to ARTillery, a creative hub for artistic souls. ARTillery is a rare fusion of art gallery and organic cafe. The cafe serves raw and organic foods, plus artisan coffees and a healthy dose of art.
2nd: Duplex
3rd: Vego Salad Bar
Best French
1st: Topaz
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Francophile in possession of a good appetite, must be in want of fine French dining.So it is that Topaz tops the list of go-to dining options for the city’s ex-Parisian population. Think the hautest of haute French culinary creativity with a Southeast Asian twist, extraordinary gourmet succulence with unforgettable flavours and textures.A staple among the elite since 1997, it has maintained its ever-elegant dominion ever since. Beef is imported from the US and Australia’s Cape Grim; fin de Claire oysters and bouchot mussels come from France; the salmon isof Norwegian origin and the Sturia caviar, only the finest, hails from the Gironde.
2nd: Armand’s
3rd: La Residence
Best Japanese
1st: Sushi Bar
The pioneer of affordable sushi and a few other Japanese tidbits besides, since opening 18 or so months ago the Sushi Bar has filled a much needed space in the Phnom Penh culinary market. Since then it has retained its reliable status as the ‘go to place’ for that monthly fill of sushi, karaage and all things in between. And do not forget those mega-sized cans of Sapporo.
2nd: Fuji Restaurant
3rd: Yakitori Jidaiya
Best Khmer
1st: Malis
Only the finest Khmer dishes are allowed to grace the tables at Malis, which prides itself on pushing the boundaries of fusion food with traditional, original and new-age Cambodian cuisine. Its kitchen is home to Luu Meng, Cambodia’s only masterchef, whose artfully prepared dishes have graced tables around the world.The restaurant even has a philosophy: ‘Malis food is about the land and its people stretching back into the rites and traditions of a bygone age.’
2nd: Romdeng
3rd: Khmer Surin
Best coffee
1st: Brown Coffee
The interiors at Brown are just a little less contrived, the furniture a little more comfortable, than most other coffee shops in town, which makes Brown the perfect place to order a hot cup of caffeine and fritter your idle hours away surfing Facebook and catching up on the latest daytime fashions of the Phnom Penhois. The smoothies are rich and creamy, the chocolate brownies moist and rich and the cookies not too sweet. What’s more, Brown is Cambodian owned – no soul-crushing overseas multinationals here – which makes handing over your greenbacks just a little more easy.
2nd: Feel Good
3rd: Joma
Best local beer
1st: Cambodia
Frank Zappa once said: “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.” According to the Khmer Brewery web page, “It all began with a dream: a dream to create the best beer in Cambodia.” With all votes counted it would seem that their dream has been realised – for the second year running. Cheers!
2nd: Apsara Gold, Himawari Microbrewery
3rd: Cerevisia
Best place for a sugar fix
1st: The Chocolate Shop
Once a tiny chocolaterie, The Chocolate Shop on Street 240 underwent substantial remodelling earlier this year and it now does more than just to-die-for chocolates. It’s the de facto air-conditioned dining room of its sister property The Shop, which serves a short but focused list of positively healthy (and fabulously inexpensive) salads and midday plates. Which makes it criminal to skip the good stuff. Chocolate is sold by the gram and comes in a dozen varieties: in truffles, brownies, coffee and ice cream; with almonds, mixed nuts, dried fruits or Kampot pepper; in bite-sized marbles, shareable bars and half-kilo, coma-inducing statuettes. Choose your elixir.
2nd: Khema
3rd: Bloom Cakes
Best bar
1st: Bar Sito
In the span of a few short years, the style of Phnom Penh nightlife stepped out, turning from seedy and unimaginative beer bars to daring attempts at big-city sophistication. Bar Sito, if not the first, was certainly the boldest. With its inspired woodwork, dark corners and semi-private card chamber, the room in full would impress anywhere. The place feels like a roaring 1920s speakeasy in Al Capone’s Chicago, and you half expect to spot a table of wiseguys playing pinochle and planning airport heists. Outside there are no signs. The place is anonymous save for a slat peephole in the door. It’s shadowy and intimate by design. And when the cocktails are heavy and the klatch grows thick, there’s no better place to plot a capper.
2nd: Bouchon
3rd: Sharky Bar
Best happy hour
1st: Elephant Bar, Le Royal
Happy Hour at the Elephant Bar has been and likely always will be the best happy hour ever to grace Phnom Penh. No other place has the class. No other place has the history. And no other place in town mixes drinks as magically or as potently as the servers tending at the Elephant. Cocktails are strong but never too strong; the spirit portion always an expertly poured smidge past perfect. The liquor bites, but without overpowering other flavours. Happy hour generously runs from 4pm to 9pm, when cocktails, beers and spirits (single malts included) are half off. Normal prices at Le Royal are premium. Most cocktails are $12 or so. But the booze is always top shelf, as is everything at Le Royal. And after a glass or two, nothings seems as bourgeois as obsessing over the cheque. Enjoy the luxury. You deserve it.
2nd: The FCC
3rd: Show Box
Best cocktail
1st: Femme fatale @ Elephant Bar, Raffles
Jackie Kennedy visited Phnom Penh in 1967 and stayed at the Le Royal. The hotel created a cocktail, the Femme Fatale, in her honour. If wild strawberries are divine, cocktails made from wild-strawberry liquor, cognac and champagne are nothing short of heavenly. If it sounds like hyperbole, it’s not.
2nd: Chocolate martini @ Bouchon
3rd: Caramel apple martini @ The Exchange
