Category: Zeitgeist

Milky Way, the self-professed “boozy milkshake bar” on Street 308, seems like a novelty made for Phnom Penh’s thirsty expat crowd. The location is idyllic, situated among a growing set of slick eateries just around the corner from Bassac Lane, which makes it a perfect dessert stop. The peanut butter and bourbon milkshake is among the greatest alcohol-spiked ice cream fixes you are ever likely to encounter. Others include the Milky Drunk (Bailey’s, vodka and cream), Kahlua, Bailey and Oreo, and a Drunken Guinness. Mixing your poisons has never been so delicious. Milky Way, #39 Street 308.

Che Culo is Italian for “Lucky Bastard,” say the lucky bastards behind Street 302’s newest purveyor of food and firewater. They are lucky because they own a bar in Phnom Penh (don’t snigger; it’s a sweet little spot that you’d covet, too). Bar tables are tall and designed for standing. The booths are plush and intimate. It’s a Mediterranean layout made for mingling, tapas and cocktails. The owners are in Phnom Penh by way of Sydney, and the bar operates with big-city efficiency. The menu is short, half cocktails, half tapas. And the meatballs are wicked.

Che Culo, #6 Street 302.

Rehabb Bar & Grill on Street 174 is a connoisseur’s bar, the kind of comfortable, unpretentious place where the staff remember your name and your dogs are welcome. The kind of place where the bar snacks aren’t peanuts or pretzels but turnips. Yes, turnips (which, oddly, are pretty good; you wouldn’t think that of a turnip, though). The menu is broad, with soups, salads, pastas and Thai food. And, oh, the Thai food. One of the owners is Thai, and her mother is the master chef. If you didn’t know, now you know.
Rehabb Public House, #20 Street 174.

The Japanese are coming and they are bringing their quirky sake bars and eccentric eateries with them. The latest is Krahom, a small noodle bar in BKK I that specialises in beetroot. The menu is short, with only three dishes: soup, fried noodles and fried rice. The house specialty is red egg noodle made with beetroot juice. The seafood version ($3.50) comes topped with eggs and vegetables and accompanied with a side dish of sweet, hot chilli sauce. Beet flavour is undetectable. The dishes are not huge, but they are healthy. According to the menu, beetroot promotes many health benefits such as reduced risk of stroke, lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels. The internet lists even more – wink, wink.

Krahom Noodle Bar, #204 Street 322.

The Sla Boutique Hostel must look like heaven after days spent traveling on mini-buses and motos. Dorm rooms start at a mere $8. The sheets are starch-white, the kitchen dust-free, the low-back bar stools comfortable (and the mojitos just $1.5). The hostel caters to young travelers, but old hands will recognize the value. The place feels like home, with a shared kitchen for cooking and a big dining table for communal eating`. It’s the kind of place to turn strangers into friends and conversations into memories. Private rooms are available, too. Sla Boutique Hostel, #15 Street 174.

The room for swing-all-night dance halls is growing crowded. The latest, and certainly the most glamorous, is Epic, the decadent two-storey nightclub in Tonle Bassac. Outside, the car park is filled with the city’s flashest rides. Inside, a million watts of sound, light and video reverberate through the room. The music rolls from toe-tapping easy swing to heavy shake-it-all-night dance. Shake it you must. And shake it you most certainly will. Epic, #122b Tonle Bassac.

The capital needs more places like Little Italy, the infinitely quirky new Italian restaurant and curiosity on Street 19. From the golden throne chairs to the crushed-red-velvet sofa, the eatery is in turns baroque and sassy, sublime and outlandish, a hodgepodge altar to Italian movie stars and devil-may-care panache. The pasta is cheapish, at $5 or less a plate, and comes served spicy and perfectly al dente. The place feels like a back-alley bar in Florence where Italian models drink anonymously in laundry-day outfits and get loose. “Food, drink and scandal,” says the Tuscan restaurateur. And to that there is but a single civilised response: andiamo. Open 4pm to midnight. Little Italy, #110 Street 19.

Once an almost unknown residential hideaway, Street 9 has recently emerged as one of the city’s most secluded afternoon getaways. The newest member on the block is the Teav and Tevy, an upscale guesthouse-and-restaurant combination that epitomises the leafy gardens and tranquil lanes that define the neighbourhoods of Tonle Bassac. The Tevy serves an array of Asian dishes, the friend vegetarian spring rolls ($4) of note. The service is smart and friendly. Sounds from the spa permeate the gardens and the gentle trickle of water falling into the splash pool, complemented with a glass of Bordeaux, makes for the perfect evening comport. Tevi Restaurant, #30 Street 9.

Part motorcycle showroom, part watering hole, Hangar 44 is the newest edition to Bassac Lane, the quaint, gin-soaked alley in Tonle Bassac that is quickly evolving into one of the capital’s most talked about night-time destinations. The motorcycles, all custom jobs, come from Moto Cambodge, a local outfit specializing in two-wheel customisations. It’s the kind of room a bachelor mechanic would dream of. The bar-and-bikes combination makes for a boozy garage ambience, with polished cement floors, corrugated tin walls and metal grating throughout. The cocktails come in stainless steel mugs and the ashtrays are repurposed piston heads. The club slogan is painted across the front window in uppcase letters: RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT. And after a few drinks and a few minutes eyeing the black-and-chrome beauty in the showcase window, you won’t be faulted for fantasing about kicking her over and crashing wildly through the showroom glass. Hangar 44, Bassac Lane.

It would be easy to mistake the Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger for yet another nondescript international chain riding the Aeon Mall coattails. But ask anyone who has tried their breads and they will tell you: EK is likely the finest bakery in the capital. The difference is the ingredients. The shop uses only the best, and you can taste the quality in every bite. There is a shop in Aeon and another on Street 240 out front of the White Mansion Hotel. While the breads are the same at both places, Street 240 is far more accessible. Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger, Aeon Mall & #26 Street 240.