Zeitgeist: Confection Collection

L’Irrestible is a sugar and caffeine-pusher in the Russian Market area, a homey, split-level eatery with French-countryside charm and Cambodian soul. The coffee comes from Mondulkiri. A plunger is $1, as are most of the items on the menu. Pancakes and crepes, just a buck. The speciality is sweetness, and L’Irrestible makes its own line of homemade jams and syrups, which complement the cakes and pastries. Irrestibly. L’Irrestible, #174 Street 454.

 

Zeitgeist: Taco Truck

If you know anything about tacos served from a truck, then the only thing you really care about is where to find Annabella’s Hot Tacos (currently on Street 282 & 51; there’s a schedule on Facebook). If you haven’t heard, the history of the taco truck stretches back to late 19th-century Texas and the Lone Star chuck wagon. Charles Goodnight built a moveable kitchen inside a US Army wagon and fed men working the cattle drives. Taco trucks today still serve the same purpose – feeding the hungry working class — but with decidedly better fare. Annabelle’s serves from 11am to 2pm, but the meat goes fast. Get there pronto. Annabella’s Hot Tacos, no fixed address (It’s a truck, y’all; it moves).

Zeitgeist: The New Black

From the ‘60s-era deco villa to the Italian architects to the house-made ricotta, Black Bambu, the new gleaming-white upmarket eatery on Street 228, marks the latest entry into the capital’s upscale dining echelons. The restaurant is the latest endeavour of the chefs behind The Exchange, Tom O’Connor and Al Schaaf. The menu is short but elegant. Small plates include the aforementioned house-made ricotta with edamame beans, cherry tomato and roasted eggplant ($6.5), Lemongrass lamb sausage ($6.5), and grilled pear, goat cheese, bacon & onion confit ($6.5). Large plates start with a trio of mini Australian beef burgers ($7.5) and top out with a beef tenderloin ($19.5). Black Bambu, #29 Street 228.

Zeitgeist: Drinking games

At Demo, the new bar on Monoving down near the old lakeside, the name of the game is drinking. At every table there is a game of some sort -– a drinking roulette wheel, a drinking dart board, a drinking version of Jenga – all aimed at the singular task of bending an elbow. In addition to copiuous amounts of booze, Demo serves pub grub and sandwiches to help attenuate all the liquid amusement. Let the games begin. Demo, Monivong Boulevard, near Street 86.

Zeitgeist: Grog a-go-go

Grog a-go-go 
Samai Distillery is easy to miss, with big sliding wooden gates obscuring what looks like just another villa on just another Phnom Penh side street. Rum distilleries, however, are rare in Asia and Samai is anything but ordinary. The place feels much less like a bar and far more like a big workshop where rum is distilled, beer is brewed (Cerevisia Craft) and furniture and leather goods are handcrafted. Eclectic, no doubt, but it more than works. And the end result – the room, the booze, the music, the art, the crowds – comes together with rare grace and sophistication. Open from 7pm Thursdays only. Samai Distillery, #9 Street 830.

Zeitgeist: French intel

French intel
Filmmaker Rithy Panh has turned the ground floor of the Bophana Centre into a lounge made for lingering. Long held as among the capital’s most important art spaces, the Centre’s new cafe serves drinks and pastries between historical film footage and moderated discussions. Prices are aimed at the students who fill the space and gather for events. A Coke is 63 cents, Heineken $2, wine $3. Hang around long enough and you may even get to share a glass with the big man himself. Bophana Cafe, #63 Street 200.

Zeitgeist: Spanish flames

Spanish flames

A mainstay on the Spanish circuit, Latin Quarter recently revamped its menu and redecorated the backroom lounge. It’s the kind of place that demands filling with the aromatic smoke of Cuban cigars, with the clanking of too many Mojito glasses and the boisterous laughs of Spaniards at cocktail hour. The kind of place for sangria and tapas. For Argentinian Malbec and Iberian ham. For celebrating, if not a bull fight, at least life. The new tapas menu offers unique interpretations of traditional flavours. On the light side there is tomato and tuna in olive oil ($3); on the heavy, roasted meat cannelloni ($6.5), a thin crepe filled with shredded beef and chicken, garnished with slices of parmesan and smothered in a soft cheese sauce. Latin Quarter, corner of Streets 178 and 19.

Zeitgeist: Sweet mochi

Sweet mochi

Leave it to the Japanese to discover frozen desserts that need no freezing. Mochi balls are scoops of ice cream coated in sticky rice that, through the magic of Japanese food science, stay frozen even at room temperature. The sticky rice gives the mochi a sweet, chewy exterior. But inside, it’s all frozen, creamy happiness. Balls are $1. Kane Mochi deals in other sweets, too: straight ice cream (2 scoops for $2), sundaes, banana splits and other sundry sugar fixes. Even the massive ones are less than $5. Kane Mochi, #3 Street 302.

Zeitgeist: Bourbon Divine

Lone Pine, California, is a whiff of a town just north of Owens Lake on US Route 395, which stretches from the Canadian border down through the Sierra Nevada. The Lone Pine Cafe – Phnom Penh version – could have easily been plucked off the town’s Main Street. A friendly mom-and-pop diner, the cafe specialises in cuisine Americana: think Philly cheesesteaks, gumbo and po boys; pastrami & rye, pulled pork and burgers big enough to sleep on. The beer menu is just as good (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Fat Tire, Hoegaarden), the bourbon list downright impressive. A bottle of Booker Noe uncut tops the list, but there are plenty of high-quality, small-batch sippers to choose from, including Baker’s 107, Knob Creek, and Woodford Reserve. Lone Pine Cafe, #14 Street 282.

Zeitgeist: Bring a book

Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses suits the rum well, for there is a certain sinful pleasure in drinking outdoors. At The Library, the windows open up to Bassac Lane and the room’s broad, wooden windowsills prove irresistible chairs in which to sit and watch life on the lane go by. Neighbourhood kids trot past with curious glances. The disco moto man stops to sell local snacks by the bagful. The lane now counts four drinking rooms as inhabitants and each one has its own angle. Rum is the preferred poison at The Library, a frozen daiquiri the preferred bullet. Made with fresh fruit, a jigger-and-a-half of Havana Club, a shot of Cointreau and a splash of secret sauce, the frozen concoction comes served in a martini glass, each one as unique as the fruit that defines it. Lime is thin and tart like a margarita, the pineapple a bit creamier. And both of them pack a clean rum punch. The Library, Bassac Lane.