Category: Zeitgeist

Li Shishi is a revamped Little Italy with all the pomp and glamour and good Italian food, only in a bigger room with a red-carpet entryway and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. And there’s a stage now, too. Small, for sure, but big with the promise of open mics, comedy shows and pimped-out European extravaganzas. All of it with opium-den chic and the subtle flair of a day-glo feather boa. Li Shishi Restaurant Cabaret. Street 172 at Street 19.

The sultans of smallisimo have struck again. The place is Harry’s, and it’s the Norbert-Munns brother’s latest instalment to Bassac Lane, the capital back alley turned boozy-hip hangout. Downstairs the bar sells beer and wine and an eclectic mix of James Bond accessories: cufflinks, pocket watches, aviator shades. Upstairs is Harry’s martini bar, which serves the classic cocktail half a dozen ways, including a Chicago 1951 and a Winston Churchill. The former comes with gin-soaked anchovy-stuffed olives, the later with but a “glance” of vermouth. All are served in frozen glasses with a heavy-handed gentleman’s pour. Always shaken, never stirred. Because Harry would have wanted it that way. Harry’s Phnom Penh, Bassac Lane.

The number of dance floors at Pontoon, a long-time late-night Mecca for the capital’s dance club set, grew to three with the recent opening of Pontoon Vibe, the club’s new after-hours hip-hop room. The main action is still at Pontoon, and Vibe, like its sibling Pontoon Pulse, serves as a smaller, mellower room away from the crush. With its under lit faux marble bar, the new Vibe is reminiscent of the original Pontoon, when that club really was a floating pontoon on the Tonle Sap. With its steady dose of hip hop, it almost makes you pine for those old days of the dookie-rope and Kangols. Pontoon Vibe, Street 172 at Street 51.

In a city characterised by its never-ending spread of ambitious coffee sellers, it seemed only a matter of time before more decadent European indulgences took root. At Nuk, the new ice cream and coffee cafe on Street 154, that indulgence is the most Italian of culinary flourishes: the affogato ($3.80), one scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream on a bed of brownie crumble, drowned in a shot of espresso. It’s a delightful trio, a cold, crunchy sugar fix chased with a high-grade dose of hot java. Sure, there are other sweets on the menu, and fancy teas and creamy smoothies, but none are as decadent as the Italian trifecta. Nor as delicious. Nuk Cafe, #16 Street 154.

The wall behind the old parliament building is lined with makeshift al fresco eateries peddling deep fried meat on a stick and other goodness. Across the street, a burgeoning mid-market klatch is following suit. The Framed Art Cafe, an art and framing shop with half a dozen tables and a growing reputation for inexpensive fried meat and dollar draft, is the newest among them. The cafe’s walls are covered with ubiquitous watercolor landscapes and happy paintings, but also schwag-a-delic Cambodian Space Project posters and other pop-culture hangables. The menu is long and includes pastas and pages of local dishes. The deep fried seafood ($4.50) is everything you could ever want from a street-side cheap-eats place, and the fresh mango passion fruit freeze ($2) is yummy enough to be dessert. Framed Art Cafe, #14 Street 246.

Blue Dragon is the kind of bar Alain Delon would get a drink in after getting out of prison: quiet, with velvety French wine, the burnt-sugar aroma of Cuban cigars and a Detroit soundtrack. The location, on the square in front of the Royal Palace, draws a mix of outsized local characters and unsuspecting tourists. There is no menu. A friendly bartender works the room and can make whatever a serious drinker might order. In the evenings, as the sun sinks behind the palace spires, a friendly, mixed-language crowd drinks and laughs, unsuspecting bit characters in a cast of hard-boiled police detectives and hit men. The only thing missing is a get-away car. Blue Dragon, #291 Street 184.

From this side of the river, the new Sokha Hotel looks big. Up close, however, the 22-story, dual-wing behemoth looms like some giant gilded casino plucked from the Las Vegas strip. The split-level parking lot could land a 747. The ground-level swimming pool includes an Olympic-sized tile mosaic with Nemo and friends. The roof-top sky bar, with heretofore unseen views of the Tonle Bassac and Mekong rivers in parallel, is the main attraction. You’ll pay a bit extra for the privilege, but the service is good and the views are unmatched. Sokha Phnom Penh, Chroy Changvar.

In a past life, Artillery Farm to Table was known as Le Jardin, a kid-friendly French place with a lush garden and sand pit. In its new form, Farm to Table is a health- and consumer-conscious eatery with organic cuisine in the spirit of its namesake (Artillery), but with more meat options and a noticeable Spanish twist. The greenery is still lush. And the old sandpit is now a garden with all sorts of edible vegetation (which makes for some seriously fresh salads). It’s the kind of place you wish your backyard looked like, if you had a backyard. And they will even let you sit on the tractor. Artillery Farm to Table, #16 Street 360.

Naked Crab takes no credit for the spate of unclothed barangs trotting around the Kingdom. And no, you can’t get naked here either (the crowds are far too classy for that anyway). You can, however, take your shoes off and wiggle your toes in the sand, which adds to the whole Gulf of Siam seaside ambience. Naked Crab opened three weeks ago in the garden outside Maison Saint Tropez, the popular night club, and the central feature is dining tables with big umbrellas in the sand. The chef is Thai and the menu is a combination of Thai seafood and Chinese dim sum. A (good American slate) pool table gives the place the slight air of an upscale beach bar and the dance floor next door is an easy invitation to turn dinner into dancing the daylight in. Just keep your clothes on. Naked Crab, #31 Street 174.

Asasax, the painter and sculptor, was among the first artists on Art Street to create and sell original works. His gallery opened nearly 20 years ago at the junction of Streets 178 and 13. Former King Norodom Sihanouk was a fan of his work and he has shown internationally.  The new restaurant that now occupies his former gallery feels a bit like a throwback to those earlier days. The cement stools and rough-cut wooden bar give the place a do-it-yourself art studio feel, the colourful painted apsaras and sky blue benches an understated sophistication. Just opposite the National Museum, the low-slung eatery’s streetside tables offer a laidback vantage point from which to sip cheap draft, nibble away at tapas-sized pizzas and watch the tourists amble by. Le Museum, #19 Street 178.