Category: Zeitgeist

Inside Frost, the new snow-caved themed cocktail bar on Street 246, the interiors are stark white; the light a soft, cool blue. Seats are made from cubes of faux ice and covered with silky faux fur. Tempered glass tops a long white bar and silver chains hang from the ceiling, a salacious hint to after-hours cocktail pleasures. The two classics on the menu are the Amaretto Sour and the French favourite Ti Punch, both made with local sugarcane juice. The other dozen cocktails are built around fresh local fruits and generous pours, served in a funky assortment of glassware and designed to knock you off your barstool. Frost, #10 Street 246.

 

Pho is the de facto national dish of Vietnam, as iconic as pointy hats and Revolution Red t-shirts with the gold star. Cambodia — being a close, friendly neighbour of Vietnam – is, by geography, one of the best places in the world outside Vietnam to discover the dish. Fortune Pho on Street 51, and now in a new location on Street 288 in BKK, serves the soup Southern-style with slightly thinner noodles and just a hint of sweetness in the broth. The menu lists a dozen variations and just as many interpretations of the word ‘beef’. Try the No 2: raw beef and meat balls. It’s foreigner friendly (no intestines or other unrecognisable bits) and a bowl costs just $2.50.

Fortune Pho, #128 Street 51 and #45 Street 288.

 

Cupcakes are a thing now, if you didn’t already know. And not only are they a thing – hipsters eat ‘artisan’ ones, the Cupcake Cafe in NYC is the Mecca, there’s a thriving reality series dedicated to the topic – that thing has now taken root in Phnom Penh, where the capital’s own Cupcake Cafe (no relation, we’re guessing) serves up nearly two dozen styles of thick, moist, icing-capped cakes for a mere $1.5 each. And the cakes are delicious. You could easily eat two. Or perhaps even five.

Cupcake Cafe, #296 Sisowath Quay.

 

Luna d’Autunno, the well-known Italian eatery on Street 29, is enjoying something of a rebirth. For years a contender for the capital’s best Italian, the restaurant recently closed its doors for a couple of days to repaint the interiors and refresh the lush, outdoor gardens. If the previous Luna was old-world grace, the new Luna affects unassuming urban charm. Bottles of booze hang from the ceiling, art by Lisa Mam and Peap Tarr embellishes the newly whitewashed walls. A new chef has revamped the menu, too. Starters begin with manzanilla olives ($3) and bruschetta pomodoro ($3.50). Pastas, pizzas and risottos range from $7 to $9. The wine menu is deep and there’s even a short selection of grappa, if you’re in the mood.

Luna d’Autunno, #6 Street 29, 023 220 895.

 

The name Chado derives from Japanese and usually translates to ‘The way of tea.’ The new gleaming white two-storey Chado on Street 19, however, is far more Asian tea mashup than it is any homage to the ancient ceremonies from the land of the rising sun. Chado serves teas of the Taiwanese milky and bubbly variety, and even ‘hybrid’ concoctions that stray happily away from the drink’s decidedly Taiwanese roots. Think fruity black teas in cutesy plastic cups with tapioca pearls (the bubble), rainbow jelly and oversized straws to suck down all the sweetness. Chado’s menu includes a respectable selection of coffees and more than a dozen flavours of Italian soda, too, and staff promise that food and evening barbecues are just days away (December 6, to be exact). Add to all that the chilled-out Japanese-style seating, frigid air-con, decent wifi and buy-one-get-one-free grand-opening offer, and it’s easy to see how milk bubble tea is all the rage.

Chado, #197 Street 19.

Happy face smiles and kitty cat faces. Hohohaha Board Game Cafe, just a couple of blocks south of Russian Market, is a Korean incarnation of ice-cold air-con and boardgame afternoons. Monopoly, Bluckus and Chess, Life and Clue, Fits and DaVinci. The intention is friends and boardgames. And maybe munchies. The food menu is short, but excellent: fried rice or pork cutlet, with tea or coffee or K-pop-a-licious mango fruit smoothies. All available with kimchi. Sit. Hang out. Get comfortable. Play.

Hohohaha Board Game Cafe, #74 Street 456.

Great Middle Eastern has always been a lacuna in the Phnom Penh dining experience. No longer. Petra, the new family-run restaurant in BKKI, serves 100% Halal food and no alcohol. And not just shawarmas. The menu includes familiar hot and cold mezze plates like falafel ($4.50) and tabbouleh ($4.50), as well as larger plates such as mankush and saj (think feta, minced beef and cheddar). But beyond the food, Petra is an experience, four floors of Middle Eastern cuisine, culture and smoke. A shisha lounge on the top floor offers semi-private outdoor smoking areas. The middle level affords floor seating with silk cushions and imported fruit-blend tobaccos.

Petra, #8a Street 288.

 

Da Sandro Panini Bar could almost exist down a side street in Milan. Crisp and white, with painted brick-and-wooden counters, the month-old Italian deli does paninis half a dozen ways. The Olly ($4.90) comes with Buffalo mozzarella, tomato, lettuce and basil; the Alby ($6.90) with Parma ham and smoked scamorza. The tiny eatery on Street 63 is run by two Italian ladies and the primary ingredients are all imported from Italy. On any given midday, the two dozen chairs are filled with smartly dressed Italian businessmen. In addition to the flat breads, the shop does salads, toast (so you know it’s authentic) and a short but powerful dessert menu. And wine and caffeine, of course. Da Sandro Panini Bar, # 162 Street 63.

 

Cabaret makes a first impression with its size. Half a dozen tables fill the garden. A pool table and a handful of heavy wooden loungers occupy a lobby-esque foray where a substantial water feature sings the lullabies of a trickling stream. There’s more tables inside, through the brick arches. And a bar with hushed Frenchmen and their two-Pastis lunches. With so many tables, you’d imagine that food is important. And it is. The three-course set lunch costs $12 and includes a starter, a main and a dessert. Choices include spring rolls, both fresh and fried; pasta and fish, or beef tarter and a selection of desserts, all of which are every bit as good as the environment would suggest. Cabaret Restaurant, #159 Street 154.

 

For the uninitiated, crepes are the French anti-meal: a more-than-a-snack-less-than-a-meal pancake stuffed with brunchy staples such as eggs and ham or sugarcoated to tooth-aching perfection. Crepe Mania, the new creperie on Street 214, deftly works both sides of the pan. The menu comprises ‘salty’ and ‘sweet’, with standards such as the Monsieur (ham and cheese) and Madame (the Monsieur with an egg) on the salty side, and coma-inducing chocolate overdoses such as the Duchess (a banana, chocolate sauce and almond-stuffed pancake gratuitously dusted with powdered sugar) on the sweet side. Al fresco dining, brisk service and potent coffee round out the experience. Crepe Mania, #38 Street 214.