I recently went back to Malaysia for the Christmas holidays, but my Mum decided we were to spend Christmas in Cambodia. I have actually been to Cambodia twice before but spent most of my time in Siem Reap, whereas this trip we spent most of our time in Phnom Penh.
The trip began with a much needed trip to the hairdressers, as living in London means my beauty needs are too expensive to maintain. My hairdresser from Kuala Lumpur (Ryan) has actually set up a fabulous salon in Phnom Penh called The Dollhouse - check it out if you're over there
http://www.thedollhousecambodia.com/ - and finally felt back to my usual self after some much needed highlights! If you need any other beauty treatments that Ryan's salon does, just ask him and he'll send you to the best places.
As far as shopping in Phnom Penh goes, it's very much the typical SE Asian touristy things that you would find also in Vietnam and Thailand, but my favourite market was probably the Russian Markets. Probably the best part of Phnom Penh (aside from it's interesting but tragic history), are all the gorgeous restaurants. Being quite the foodie myself I was really impressed with the variety of restaurants and cocktail bars.
The first night we were there, we went to this amazing cocktail bar called Bar Sito, in which the bartender's seem to put their own unique twist on cocktails. I had the peach mojito which literally had fresh peach in it, which was delicious. At only $5 US for a cocktail, I was pretty pleased, since I was still thinking in pounds. The bar had a great ambience, friendly staff, and was well located on street 240 (a street well known for its boutiques). Details for Bar Sito are available on their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Bar.sito.asia?ref=stream
We also went to The Exchange on our first night in Phnom Penh, which had brilliant food, despite the slow service. For my entrée I had a salt and pepper squid salad, which for a change wasn't deep fried. I felt this was a nice healthy change to the dish, and the squid was very tender.
I must admit, I wasn't really expecting to have such amazing ribs at this fusion restaurant but they were delicious. With a nice New Zealand Pinot Noir (Oyster Bay), they went down a treat.
The best restaurant we went to in Phnom Penh though is without a doubt is the Tepui Chinese House (
http://www.chinesehouse.asia/lounge.html), which ironically does not serve Chinese food. This rustic yet beautiful looking restaurant depicts an artistic Asian style of architecture but serves beautiful Spanish food. We ate tapas that night, and I would have to recommend the salmon tartar with wasabi emulsion. To accompany the food, we enjoyed a very smooth Argentinian Malbec. For dessert we all indulged in a chocolate, praline and salted caramel brownie which was served quite neatly in a champagne flute. Though my Dad ordered what he thought was going to be Key Lime pie, but turned out to be more like a lime milkshake served in a Martini glass, still tasted nice though.
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Private dining for two |
I do normally eat mostly local food when I'm in Asia but we were visiting friends who took us to all these brilliant Western or fusion restaurants, and I have to say they were mostly spot on with the restaurant choices. If you are in Cambodia, I do strongly recommend these restaurants if you fancy a night off from local food, or even just for the cocktails. These places aren't as touristy as The Foreign Correspondent's club, which frankly is tired, dated, and overrated as far as the food goes, but does have a pleasant view.