Dining Out in Siem Reap Cambodia

There are literally hundreds of restaurants in Siem Reap, and for the most part, we ate well, and for not much money. Below are a few of the highlights.

Across from the Old Market is the iconic colonial Cafe Central (photo above). We sat outside and enjoyed a view of the market and the passers-by, as well as a couple of cocktails and a tasty lunch.

We had a nice lunch upstairs at the Sun Restaurant during a ferocious rainstorm. This is a beautiful restaurant with soaring ceilings upstairs and very good western and Khmer food.

Schnitzel in Siem Reap? Why yes! Trust me on this, you want this schnitzel at the Austrian Beer Garden-Old Vienna Kitchen. The restaurant is owned by an former chef and expat who has trained his staff to make some of the best Austrian food, not just “good food for Cambodia”, but anywhere.

In 2010 we dined at a place called Abacus and it was one of my favorite meals in Siem Reap. We returned this time and were not disappointed. The menu is mostly French; I had the perfectly cooked duck breast below and David had the steak with a starter of pea soup with a slice of foie gras in it. Service is excellent and they have a nice selection of French wine.

Below is my favorite breakfast at the Seven Candles Guesthouse, Num Bahn Choc, a vegetarian cold noodle dish with peanuts, herbs and freshly fried spring rolls.

Finally, this little guy below was inside a lamp at a lovely restaurant in an old teak house called Marum, which is run by an NGO and staffed by disadvantaged Cambodian young people who are in training in the hospitality industry. The food was very good, but the lighting so dim I could not get any good photos. I just love that you can even see his toenails in this photo. Gecko!
I don’t remember what we ate other than some delicious smoked eggplant dip, but the menu is filled with small plates with lots of Khmer and vegetarian options.

Restaurants not covered above, mostly because I don’t have photos, include a lunch at the Glass House Hyatt cafe which was pricy, but worth it because of the A/C inside and 99 degree heat and 99% humidity outside. There was a dinner at the famous Cuisine Wat Damnak, which left me unimpressed, but everyone seems to love, and there was a dinner at an Italian place on our first night in town which I barely remember due to jet lag.

You might also enjoy this post on Khmer BBQ, or this one on Chmakar, a vegetarian restaurant, from a previous trip.