Cambodia - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget

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around the walls. Good coffee and drinks list, including

local sombai (rice wine infused with fruits and spices), plus

the usual café fare and a few Khmer and Western mains

($4-7). Try the delicious iced coffee and the simple but

very satisfying Khmer chicken rice. Daily 7am-9.30pm.

Peace Café St 26 T 092 177127, W peacecafeangkor.org.

Rustic little garden vegetarian café serving up a good

range of Western snacks, salads and light meals (around

$4) plus cheaper Asian mains and various breakfasts.

Daily 7am-9pm.

Sala Bai Taphul St T 063 963329. Hospitality school

which opens to customers for training purposes; the

inexpensive, daily-changing menu features a mix of

Western and Khmer dishes according to what students

are learning to cook at any particular moment (lunch set

menus $9/11). Reservations advised, and sometimes

closed July-Sept. Mon-Fri 7-9am & noon-2pm.

★

DANCE AND MUSIC

Siem Reap is a good place to take in a

cultural Khmer performance of classical

dance, often known as “Apsara dancing”,

packaged with dinner by several of the

hotels and bars around town; try Temple

Bar , La Noria or Angkor Village .

2

★

Asana Between St 7 and The Lane T 092 987801,

W asana-cambodia.com. Occupying the last surviving

wooden house in central Siem Reap, with piles of rice and

flour sacks doubling as seats upstairs, and a swinging

hammock-bed to lounge in below. Above-average prices,

but well worth it, particularly for the moreish sombai and

Asian-style cocktails. Daily 11am- midnight or later.

L'Explorateur Bar Victoria Angkor hotel. Siem Reap's

most enjoyable colonial-style bar, and the perfect place

for cocktails or an after-dinner coffee or digestif , either in

the period-style a/c interior or on the sultry terrace. Not as

pricey as you might expect (beers and coffee $3, cocktails

$7), especially during the daily happy hour (5-7pm). Daily

7am-11.30pm.

★

Sugar Palm Taphul St T 012 818143. W thesugar

palm.com. Attractively rustic pavilion restaurant under a

huge wooden house - perfect for a romantic candlelit

dinner. The menu focuses on authentic Khmer fare with

a short but inventive selection of dishes (mains $6-7) -

frogs' legs with basil, for example, or squid with black

Kampot pepper, plus flavoursome pomelo and green

mango salads. Mon-Sat 11.30am-3pm & 5.30-10pm.

★

Miss Wong The Lane T 092 428332, W misswong

.net. Alluring little retro-Shanghai-style bar. The excellent

cocktails (around $5) come with a pronounced Asian twist

- Singapore slings, lemongrass collins, apricot and ka r

lime martini and so on - and there's good food too. Daily

6pm-1am.

Red Piano Pub St T 063 964750. One of Pub Street's

more civilized drinking spots, especially if you can bag

one of the coveted street-side wicker armchairs. Daily

7am-midnight.

The Station Wine Bar St 7 T 097 850 4043, W thestation

winebarsiemreap.com. Chic, very gay-friendly modern wine

bar offering an unrivalled selection of wines, plus numerous

other tipples. Also hosts regular cabaret, drag and talent

shows. Daily 4pm-late.

X Bar Sivatha Blvd. Grungy rooftop bar that pounds

out hard rock and heavy metal until late, with live

bands on Wed and Fri at around 9pm and a DJ most other

nights, plus a big-screen TV showing live sports. Daily

2pm-3/4am.

Tangram Garden South of the centre T 097 726111,

W tangramgarden.com. This relaxed garden restaurant is

just a short walk south of town but feels surprisingly

peaceful and rural, especially after dark. The small but

perfectly formed menu (mains $7-8) features a mix of

good-value Western charcoal-grilled dishes (pork ribs,

genuine New Zealand steaks and so on) alongside

reinvented traditional Khmer dishes. Daily except Tues

11.30am-2.30pm & 5.30-10pm (mid-April to mid-Oct

open for dinner only).

Viva Hospital St T 092 209154, W ivivasiemreap.com.

Wildly popular Mexican restaurant serving up tasty cover

versions of all the usual Tex-Mex classics (around $5).

The restaurant's signature margharitas are cheap and go

down fast - as do many of the punters come closing time.

Daily 6am-midnight.

NIGHTLIFE

Siem Reap is a bustling place, with bars targeted at

foreigners opening up all over town, especially on the

notorious “Pub Street”: you can easily while away a week

or so visiting a different venue each evening.

Angkor What? Pub St T 012 731152. “Promoting

irresponsible drinking since 1998”, Angkor What? is the

dark heart of the raucous Pub Street scene - a grungy,

gra ti-covered Black Hole of Siem Reap into which

crazed punters insert themselves nightly in search of

cheap beer, loud music and members of the opposite sex.

Daily 4pm-3am.