Siem Reap Guide (April 2010)
An independent guide to eating, drinking and enjoying Siem Reap. Please note bars and restaurants change very quickly, I will update on my return. Restaurants
Meric@De La Paix
http://www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com/meric.php
Top end fine dining with a Khmer Twist. Allow time to have a drink in the bar
prior which doubles as an Art Gallery and is probably the most relaxed space in
town.
Villa BBQ
http://www.thevillasiemreap.com/
The Australian BBQ is held every Tuesday and Friday. Very reasonable all you
can eat BBQ fashion in the garden of this popular flashpacker residence.
Owner Anthony also runs very good small group tours to the more remote temples
alongside more local imaginative trips. If you would like to visit a local
village a 'village walk' can be organised with all profits going to help the
villagers.
Viroths
http://www.viroth-hotel.com/restaurant.php
Upmarket Khmer food served by the sister restaurant to this popular Boutique
Hotel
L'Oasi
http://www.oasiitaliana.com/
Excellent Italian cuisine, this lovely garden is a couple of miles out of town,
do take a map before getting into your tuk tuk.
Khmer Kitchen
Best of the bunch for cheap Khmer cuisine.
Le Bistrot de Paris
Very French, Very good. Value wines and good meats.
Kamasutra
Expensive for the area but a different take on Indian food.
All these venues are listed in the Drinking and Dining guide (Candy
Publications) available everywhere, with a useful venue map.
The Old Market
More for the experience than the food. A collection of stalls set up around the
market at night, rough plastic menus and chopsticks. It is actually a great way
to meet the locals.
Please do not give cash to the children who come around begging late at night,
or selling postcards, flowers etc. Should you wish to help you could visit the
offices of ConCERT
http://www.concertcambodia.org/siem_reap_org.aspx which will happily give
advice on making donations or buying souvenirs etc where the financial benefits
go back into the local economy and to registered NGO's (Non Government
Organisations) who are directly involved in poverty relief.
What to eat?
Khmer food is largely rice, fish, noodles and curries flavoured with herbs and
spices, with a bottle of chilli sauce served to the side. This makes it
uniquely flavoured, concentrating on flavour rather than heat. Beware its
addictive. (A Khmer cookbook makes a great souvenir, as oddly most ingredients
can be purchased in the UK.)
Loc Lak: Meat flavoured in a Khmer sauce, served with a fried egg and a pepper
and lime dipping sauce. (Quality varies dramatically depending on the meat
used.)
Amok: Fish or Chicken in a Cambodian coconut sauce, often served in a coconut.
Laab: Minced beef (or Chicken) cooked with lime juice and traditionally served
with roasted rice. (Excellent in Viroths)
Cambodian Volcano/BBQ: Served throughout the town, very popular with locals. It
consists of your own personal BBQ presented with red hot coals inside and a
lump of lard on the top.
You delicately spread the lard over the centre part, remove, and begin frying
the meat that is served alongside. This usually comes with a selection of
vegetables which are to be boiled in the broth provided which sits around the
side of the volcano. Its a fun DIY experience. Available all over town and at
the old market.
Temples
The main tours quiet rightly concentrate on the big three
Angkor Wat:- The main one.
Bayon (In the Angkor Thom group):-Intricate carvings of faces from the past
Ta Prohm;- Mostly in ruins overgrown by trees. A major film set.
These are covered by most tours in a hot exhausting day which then finishes
with a climb up Bakheng for sunset (Ludicrously crowded.)
Others worth doing are
Preah Khan (In the main temple area, but missed by the main tour groups)
Bakong* (In the Roluos Group) - 13kms East. Smaller but next to a working
Buddhist monastery and a river. Unusually easy to climb.
Banteay Srei* - 32kms North. Although small this is one of the most
extraordinary temples in Cambodia. Intricate carvings made in pink stone. (This
can make a nice half day in a Tuk Tuk, going through some traditional Khmer
villages.)
Beng Mealea - 70kms East. One of the more remote temples still largely
unrecovered from the jungle. (Enquire locally for the latest re passes for this
one)
Passes must be obtained from the main ticket office in the main group prior to
entry. They are charged by the day, three days in a week, or seven days in a
month. (Khmer people get in free)
If you buy your pass after 5PM for the next day, you get that evening free.
Other spots for sunset are Pre Rup, or heading off to Phnom Krom* 12 kms
South. This is a lovely evening Tuk Tuk trip to the lake taking around 30
minutes from Siem Reap. It is then a 25 minute easy climb giving spectacular
views of the lake below. Proceed through the monastery at the top to the temple
(Average) The sun sets behind and sinks into the lake. You may well have sunset
to yourself.
The sunrise spot is Angkor Wat itself. Most sunrisers head back for breakfast
straight after sunrise. If you stay you should have the temples largely to
yourself between 06.30 and 08.30 when the tour busses arrive.
* You will need to but your temple pass from the ticket office of the main
temple site.
