EATING
There are so many places to choose from in Phnom Penh to suit any type of budget.
If you’re after good Yum Cha, try Sam Doo Restaurant. The restaurant is very basic, doesn’t look flash, but the food is good, cheap and has nice friendly staff. We let our friends order for us here and the serves were massive, we ended up taking half of our food back with us.
Street 142 near the Central Markets
Riverside Bistro and Pub is a good place to people watch and enjoy the river views. They have an extensive range of Asian and Western foods on the menu. Try the Pancakes, they are huge.
Sisowath Quay (corner of Street 148)
Another landmark is the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC). It’s in a 3 story colonial style building along the Tonle Sap River with great views. The menu is Asian and Western and their pizzas and sandwiches are really good.
They also have photo shows and exhibitions, there is a Bookshop and a delicatessen on the ground floor
This place is a bit more expensive than most but its worth it just to sit there with an ice cold drink and watch the world go by.
Friends Restaurant
Friends is one of our favorite places. The restaurant opened in 2001 as part of a training initiative of the Cambodian non-government organization Mith Samlanh/Friends.
All the staff are former street kids who have been gaining first-hand experience in the hospitality business, serving customers, taking orders, cooking and learning about hygiene in the workplace. Since opening, The Restaurant has succeeded in becoming wholly self-sufficient and all profits are reinvested into the Training Centre activities.
They also sell a book there called “The Best of Friends, the Restaurant”, which has recipes of food you will find on the menu. The kids did the write-ups and drawings for this book and the cost is $US29. All proceeds from the book go back to the Mith Samlanh Friends organization. Great book and well worth it.
This restaurant is most famous for its Asian and Western tapas ($1 each) and snacks as well as its atmosphere and excellent prices. Its fun atmosphere, great food and fantastic prices have made this restaurant very popular among expatriates and tourists visiting Phnom Penh.
Nice icy cold milkshakes!!! And of course the food is great.
Prices: less than US$10
Address: House 215 Street 13, Phnom Penh Near the National Museum
Romdeng Restaurant
Romdeng Restaurant is the second of the Friends Restaurants. It promotes Khmer food and culture, so for some authentic food, give them a try. In designing and setting up this restaurant as many Cambodian made products as possible were used.
My favorite dish is the Khmer Chicken Curry. I wasn’t game enough to try the Deep Fried Tarantulas!!
Once again the food, service and prices are great.
Prices: less than US$10
Address: 21, Street 278, Phnom Penh
The Garden Centre Cafe
The Garden Center Café is located in a beautiful cool, tropical garden setting. You are surrounded by hundreds of potted plants which are also on sale. (They also have a landscaping business). The menu is extensive and very reasonably priced.
They have a huge Western Breakfast for $6 and good roasts on Sundays, (also a great place to go for a hangover hamburger and icy cold juice).
Address: Number 23, Street 57, Phnom Penh
Website: www.gardencentercafe.com/
Tell Restaurant
Tell Restaurant is one of our favorite restaurants, (they do deliveries as well). They have an extensive menu with a great selection of Western, Khmer, Asian and European meals. There is also a good menu of wines, champagnes and cocktails. Try their desserts, they are mouth watering.
You can sit outside in a garden setting or inside with air-conditioning. There are also private rooms. The meals are very big, so be careful what you order.
Try the Knuckle, very tasty and worth it just for the reaction when you see it, make sure you take your camera!!!
Prices: less than US$10
Phone: 023-430-650
Address: No 13, Street 90 Phnom Penh
Pon Lok Restaurant
We had such a fun night at this restaurant. There were 7 of us eating and we must have had about 20 staff looking after us and they all seemed so young. It is one of the funniest dining experiences I have ever had. We laughed, danced and joked around with the staff. It was hard trying to eat dessert with one feeding you, at the same time someone else was wiping your forehead with a cold cloth, someone else massing your neck and someone doing your arms as well.
Anyway the food was really nice, from the whole steamed fish to the deep fried prawns, no complaints from any of us. (average prices around US$10.
The restaurant is upstairs with one of the best views over the Tonle Sap.
319-323 Sisowath Quay
23 212 025
DRINKING
Elephant Bar Raffles Hotel Le Royal
The hotel was first established in 1929 and in its early days enjoyed patrons such as Royalty and dignitaries, adventurers and globetrotters. It was also a haven for journalists and foreigners during the 1970-75 civil war.
After a full refurbishment and restoration by Raffles the hotel reopened in 1997.
Happy hour goes for 4 hours (4-8pm) and all drinks are two-for-one prices. Free snacks and Great cocktails.
Street 110 Phnom Penh
FreeBird Bar %26amp; Grill
Coldest air conditioning in Phnom Penh and the bar stools are so comfortable. This is a very friendly place and they also have free Chill-con-carne on Saturdays from 2-4pm. We had home delivery from here, highly recommend the Buffalo Wings!!! Good value for money.
Street 240 Phnom Penh
The Gym
This is a sports bar with free pool table, darts and loads of TVs including two huge screens, great beer selection and pub style meals at reasonable prices.
Street 178
Pontoon Lounge
Well after many bars we finally ended up here at the Pontoon Lounge. Though I have no memory at all of being here, just photos to prove it. (well it was my birthday) Anyway from what I was told it’s a reasonably new place, an open air café by day and a fun lounge/bar by night. They also have a DJ Fridays and Saturdays. Shame I cant remember the place, never mind I will check it out again next year!!
Riverfront at the end of Street 108
Phnom Penh has some fantastic shopping which I will cover in my next report
]Cathy
Just Back Report Eating %26amp; Drinking in Phnom Penh
Cathy %26amp; Gary,
cheers for sharing your finds in Cambodia!
Good photos too. Especially the ones from on the bus. The things you see on the roads of S E Asia!
I%26#39;m going back to Cambodia in november ( didn%26#39;t get to P P last time). I see you had Marom as a driver in S R. How did you get on?? I%26#39;ve got him booked for 3 days this time.
Cheers
Just Back Report Eating %26amp; Drinking in Phnom Penh
Hi Mal, Marom is fantastic, such a nice guy, I will cover more on him when I do my Siem Reap reports.
Riverside Bistro and Pub is a good place to people watch and enjoy the river views, Sisowath Quay (corner of Street 148)
I dont think so, we go in riverside bistro in august 2006, and the boss propose us to buy our children : he is a paedophile and look children in his restaurant, so becareful befor going to diner in this place !!!!!
Well all I can say is over our last 2 trips to Phnom Penh we have been to the Riverside Restaurant about 5 times and it is a lovely place, it also comes highly recomended from our Australian friends who have lived in Phnom Penh for years, each time we went there we also took some of our Khmer friends with us and they are the sort of people who would never go into an establishment that had a reputation like you are suggesting.
%26#39;%26#39;Andy%26#39;%26#39; is the German boss of the Riverside bar (a chap that i have known for some considerable time) and he really is a person that is larger than life! he does have a foul temper(after a recent argument with him over his belief that i was trying to chat up all of his bar staff i have been barred from the bar) - i am actually engaged to one of his staff so i do believe that there is a certain degree of alcohol induced paranoia within this guy%26#39;s make-up, but as for being a person interested in children..... I DO NOT THINK SO! his regular alcohol induced temper tantrums are infamous in Phnom Penh and i could easily give a long list of names of persons that he has unjustly fired over the years ranging from bar staff to security staff and please do remember that this is a guy that i truly do not like but he is NOT a paedofile. However..... Andy is a large + overweight chap aged about 50 / 55 yrs and he is NOT the only western guy that works at the riverside bar -there is another chap(he enjoys cooking hint ...hint) from Europe of a similar age albeit he is smaller in stature and thin, Please believe me when i tell you that it is so very important to make sure that when accusing someone of criminal activities that you DO give accurate details of the person so that the person that IS guilty of these types of offences is not confused with the OWNER namely there job title i.e Bar owner / Resident chef as only one of them may have a previous conviction for offences against boys.
Hi there, I get the feeling that the person who made that posting could maybe be out to damage the business as he only resgistered on the day he made the post and hasnt posted anywhere since. Anyway we and a lot of others think its a nice place to go to. (Though Im glad we never heard the grumpy boss).
Just returned from PP and have to reccomend Monsoon Wine Bar near Wat Phnom and the riverside. Excellent pakastani food with a great selection of wines.
Also agree with Cathy and Garry about Friends restaurant, great tappas!
i have travelled a lot and met many people in my time,but never have i came across a man as horrible as andy the owner of riverside bistro.he is an overweight german who was born in austria.just like hitler.but the bar is swish though expensive,and the staff are lovely.
Hi Cathy,
Your site is fab.... has been very helpful in planning our trip to Cambodia.....
I know you prob dont know every hotel and establishment in PP and SR.....We are travelling with our children 9 and 10 and just want to make sure we are taking them to suitable places... we are arriving from HCMC by bus to PP and staying at Kambuja Inn in PP......We are only there 1 night.... then Flying to SR and Staying at Palm Village... Would appreciate your thoughts on where you think might be good for us to take them for a meal etc...
Thanks
daiisy
Sam Doo Restaurant - maybe the best cheep eats in Phnom Penh. Lonely Planet 2008 said the same so I hunted the place down and I was the only non-Asian there (a very good sign) I tried the Peking Duck (Great!), the Sam Doo fried rice (Excellent - so good I ordered a second round) which has shrimp etc., the steamed fish with ginger (good, but I would skip it next time) and Dim Sum. Price for two $18. So much food I waddled out.
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