Tag: Siem Reap

4 Best Eateries in Siem Reap
Siem Reap is not just the gateway to Angkor Wat. It is also a great place for foodies.

That’s it if you love food Siem Reap offers a wide choice of food and cuisines for every taste and budget. From local Cambodian specialities to pizza, French Cuisine, Indian, Grill, Sushi etc….

There are thousands of restaurants and bars located in the central area of the Old Market and the new Night Market. Every street and every small alley is covered with restaurants.

While we were in Siem Reap, we visited several of these restaurants. I like to eat different foods, variety is very important. I am indeed a foodie, I love food.

Here are 4 great restaurants in Siem Reap.

1. New Leaf Book Cafe

This is not just a great cafe where you can enjoy a great breakfast (including bacon, eggs and hash browns) and deliciously tasty local Cambodian food. It is also a bookshop and event space.

It is a great concept because it is a non-profit restaurant. They invest their profits on educational programs in Siem Reap Province. You are dining for a good cause. I recommend the full Breakfast (2 eggs any style, crispy bacon, hash brown, mushrooms, grilled tomato and homemade toast) or one of the local fresh salads.

Dom loved the full breakfast, I tried the Mango Salad and the Minced Pork Salad. They were both very delicious, fresh and a mix of flavoursome local herbs.

Prices are very reasonable. Every time the bill came to a total of approx $10 for two people. They have a good variety of vegetarian options.

2. Tangram Garden

This is a great spot away from the tourist area. They have private dining gazebos set in beautiful tropical gardens. The menu offers a selection of Khmer dishes and a selection of Western Grill dishes. They also have vegetarian options.

We opted for the Grilled New Zealand Beef Fillet with red wine sauce, mash potato, crunchy vegetables and garden salad. It was absolutely superb. The meat was grilled to perfection, tender and juicy. The mash potato was fluffy and delicate on the palate and the vegetable and garden salad added a touch of freshness to the richness of the red wine sauce.

The meal was accompanied by a glass of rich red wine. It was a great dining experience, a little bit over our budget but totally worth it. The bill was approx $22 for two people.

3. The Indian

This is a great Indian restaurant in the heart of bursting Siem Reap Tourist area, near the Old Market. The menu is extensive offering a wide choice of curries and other favourite Indian delicacies. Plenty of vegetarian choices as well.

We visited this restaurant three times during our stay, we loved the food so much. Twice we opted for two vegetarian options to share (Lentil Curry and Spinach & Potato in creamy sauce one time and Chick Peas curry and Spinach & Potato in a creamy sauce the other time), steamed Basmati rice, plain Naan Bread. One time we chose the Mutton set menu with Mutton curry, fried vegetables, yoghurt and mint sauce, steamed rice and Naan Bread.

We enjoyed every time but the vegetarian options were tastier. Prices are very reasonable and they have cheap drought beer. The bill came to approx $12 for two people every time.

4. Lim Kim Cheng

This restaurant is as local as it gets. It is right in the Old Market and it offers local Khmer dishes at a cheap price. The menu is basically a book with pictures of the dishes they offer.

Try the Khmer curry or the fresh mango salad with shrimps. The waiting time can be a little long at dinner since it is one of the cheapest places to dine in the tourist area, but if you go after 8pm most of the people have already eaten. No problem at lunchtime.

We ate here twice and both times the bill was less than $10 for two people.

Related articles across the web

Related articles across the web
- Siem Reap: Markets & Museums
29/03/2015
Photo of The Day: Fresh Juice Stalls in Siem Reap

One of the many juice stalls scattered along the Old Market area in Siem Reap.

You can keep cool under the sun with delicious juices/shakes at only $1 a pot. And at night they magically transform in Cocktail stalls, selling delicious cocktails at $1.50. Double Bargain!

13/03/2015
Photo Of The Day: Rose Petals

Baskets of rose petals drying in the sunshine along the banks of Siem Reap River.

They will be used for different purposes, one of them is for colourful pout-pourris. We love colours!

07/03/2015
Angkor Wat: planning our visit

Siem Reap gateway to Angkor Wat, the largest religious archaeological site in the world or at least in South East Asia.

I had wanted to visit this place for years. It was finally happening.

Siem Reap, a central Cambodian town. Quite chilled and laid back but incredibly hot and dusty.

We had been there for few days and because of our laziness or because of the exhausting heath, we delayed arranging our visit to Angkor Wat. We also had no tight schedule – or more likely no schedule at all – so we just took it easy.

We had looked around researching how people normally visit the site.
Hostels/hotels can help you arrange the trip with a tuk tuk driver to take you around from temple to temple.

Prices start from approx $15 onwards depending on the length of the circuit you want to do and how many hours you want to spend at the temples. Tuk tuk can fit max 4 people so it is a good idea to find someone willing to share the transport to reduce costs.

The site is about 7 Km from the town center and it covers a square area of several kilometers.

We also considered riding bicycles to, from and around Angkor Wat. Some people do that. We thought it would have been fun and a little bit of exercise would have not hurt. However, we did not take in real consideration the vast distances and the scorching heath.

You can choose to visit Angkor Wat in one day, 2/3 days or several days over a week. One day passes cost $20 per person, 3 days $40 and one week $60. Since passes are non transferable, a photo is required for all passes. The ticket officers will take the photo at the ticket office.

The 3 days pass does not have to be used in consecutive days but it needs to be used within a week.

There is a lot to see. If you are a temple lover it is definitely worth visiting over few days.

The site opens at 5:30am for sunrise and it closes after sunset. It is possible to see sunset from Angkor Wat for free if you get there after 5:00pm they will let you in to watch the sun setting on the beautiful temple.

Now we had to decide how we wanted to do our visit. Dom had already been to Angkor Wat few times but for me was the first time.

One of our lazy days we were sitting at one of the shady tables of a bar trying to cool down with one of the cheap Angkor pints when we were approached by two young ladies, Lea and Anna two sisters from Vienna.

They were looking for a couple of people to share a tuk tuk to the Temples for the following two days.

We had a chat with the girls, they were going to do a two days visit to the temples.

I found out that the best temples can be seen in one visit so Dom and I were only going to do one day and I definitely wanted to see the sunrise.

Lucky enough, Lea and Anna were planning exactly the same tour I wanted to do on their second day to Angkor Wat.

We had known them for 10 minutes, they seemed very cool and fun girls to be with so we accepted their offer to join them in two days.

This is one of the beauties of traveling. The ability to make friends in the space of no time. It seems also that you meet the right people at the right moment.

Our visit to Angkor Wat was happening.

One has to remember Angkor Wat is a religious site. Even though it is very hot, it is good custom and respect to wear proper clothing. Keep your shoulders covered, a short sleeve t-shirt is good. Do not wear shorts above your knees for both men and women. No short skirts for women.

Be respectful and bring plenty water.

Click here to find out more about Angkor Wat.

06/03/2015
Photo of the Day: Ta Prohm

The other day we finally visited Angkor Wat. The most important Religious Archaeological site in South East Asia.

I have taken so many photos it will take some time to sort them all out. I will get there and make a post about this amazing site.

In the meantime here is a little preview. A photo taken at Ta Prohm. This Temple is one of the most famous of the site. It was made even more famous by Angelina Jolie and the Hollywood movie Tomb Ryder.

It is something spectacular, almost unreal how the jungle have grown.

Stay tuned for for the Angkor Wat post…coming soon

06/03/2015
Welcome to Cambodia: Siem Reap

Our Thai visa expired and we were not able to extend it a second time. We decided on a trip to Cambodia to visit the temples of Angkor Wat.

We traveled overland from Koh Chang to Siem Reap. It was a very long journey (approx 14 hours). The border crossing was exhausting. It was hot, very hot. We got to the border in Thailand and we were overcharged on the Cambodian visa.

They asked $45 each when it should have been $30! What can you say??? Nothing you have to pay!

After a long wait we got on a pick up that took us to the Cambodian border. From here we had to walk through to get to passport control. It wasn’t a very long walk, maybe 500-800 mt, but the heath was almost unbearable and the backpack was heavy.

I managed to fall down some stairs in the process and bruised my right leg and foot. Fortunately I didn’t break it!

There was a very long queue at passport control so we handed $10 to the police and they let us through…. VIP Treatment, they call it.

After another wait and a ride to the bus station, we finally catch the last bus to get to Siem Reap. We must have spent two hours to cross the border.

We arrived in Siem Reap late in the evening and went to straight to our hostel. Hosteling International Siem Reap. It is a cool place, nice clean room, friendly staff, good chill out area and cheap beer ($0.50 a glass)! Great location, next door to the Night Market.

We have not been to Angkor Wat yet. It is our mission for tomorrow, we will make it for sunrise.

Siem Riep is quite a nice city. It is quite small and a bit dusty. During the day is very, very hot. It cools down a bit at night but still hot. It’s hard to walk around during the day.

Luckily there are plenty bars and cafes to sit and chill with a cold drink. It is really cool to rent a bicycle and stroll around town. There are many rental places and you can get a bicycle for as cheap as $1 per day.

Tuk Tuk are the transport of choice for long distances or if you feel lazy or too hot. They are the best tuk tuk I have seen in Asia so far. Large, comfortable and reasonably cheap. They all sport really cool design.

There is a lot of choice for food: Cambodian, Western, Mexican, Pizza, Barbeque, Vegetarian, etc…. Something for everyone.

There is also lots of choice for shopping. Bring on the Night Market!

And lots of choice for Western style bars on busy Pub Street (little bit too loud and tacky for my taste).

The local currency (Riel) is accepted but all the tourists places have their prices in US Dollars. I was actually very surprised! Your foreign currency will be exchanged in US Dollars, so it is better to bring Dollars with you. The Exchange rates are usually quite fair.

06/03/2015