Siem Reap
– where to eat

by Kay & Dave

We'd never been to Cambodia before, let alone Siem Reap, so we were a little apprehensive about what to expect of the cuisine. Kay's visit to Vietnam in the dim and distant past had been promising – the lingering French influence meant that it was still possible to buy good bread, and even cheese – but would the same be true of Cambodia, after the poverty and suffering of the last forty years?

As it turned out, we needn't have worried. In the four days we were there during our first visit in April 2006 we didn't have a single disappointing meal! Perhaps we started to suffer a bit of menu blindness on our later visits, but we still didn't go hungry by any means – although we did start to notice that some places offered a consistently high standard where others didn't.
 

See our reviews for:

Molly Malone's

"Bar Street"

"In keeping with our adventurous decision to stay at an Irish pub/guesthouse for this holiday, we went for fish and chips (Kay) and pork chop (Dave). Both were beautifully presented and cooked to perfection; the chips were some of the nicest we've ever had anywhere."
Read on...

Carnets d'Asie

Ph Sivatha

"We like to sample a variety of things if we can, rather than wade through a plateful of a single dish each. So we ordered five different dishes. Neither of us had ever had banana flower salad or palm heart salad before, but we were intrigued at the prospect."
Read on...

Pissa Italiana

"Bar Street"

"The wood-fired oven was producing a fair amount of both heat and smoke, so we hesitated to sit down there. Fortunately they've got tables out at the back, in a little alleyway running parallel to Bar Street. Sitting out there was surprisingly pleasant, with more of the air of a Mediterranean town back street than a South East Asian one."
Read on...

The Ivy

Psar Chas, western corner

"On our first visit to Siem Reap in April 2006, we went to the Ivy just to play pool and drink beer. The next time, encouraged by a look at the menu, we thought we'd try eating there too. It seemed a popular choice; on the Saturday evening when we decided to eat there, there were only two empty tables in the place."
Read on...

Soup Dragon

"Bar Street"

"The houmous was liquid; you needed a spoon to serve it, and it refused to stay on the pitta bread. The moutabel, on the other hand, was too dry and stodgy. Considering that you can get bigger, better quality portions at Molly Malone's just down the street, we felt rather cheated."
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Koala Bar

near "Bar Street"

"In a desperate attempt to salvage something from the meal, Kay asked for her baguette to be replaced by toast. We had just about given up on it when, fifteen minutes later, the waitress arrived and placed a plate at Kay's side..."
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