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Cuisine Wat Damnak
After leaving his post at Meric restaurant, in the former Hotel de la Paix, French chef Johannes Rivière opened what quickly became this town’s top eatery. It's housed in an airy, two-story Khmer bungalow adjacent to a Buddhist wat on the east side of the Siem Reap River. (Most tuk-tuk drivers know the way, but look for the blue sign with the cartoonish cooking pot.) Rivière’s multi-course, French-influenced Khmer menu changes nightly but may include grilled river fish with star fruit salsa, Tonle Sap Lake croacker fish served with stir-fried green jackfruit or frog braised with winter melon. Those with special dietary concerns should be clear about these when booking to confirm that these restrictions can be accommodated.
Kroya
Kroya, the Shinta Mani’s nouvelle Khmer eatery, features a dining room with a ceiling festooned with fantastical Angkor architectural renderings. Kroya, which means “food” in the Royal Khmer language, serves bountiful breakfasts including authentic French croissants and pain au chocolat, a legacy of a former chef who has gone on to open Siem Reap’s classiest eatery, Cuisine Wat Damnak. Dine inside with cooling air-conditioning or outside on one of the half dozen day bed swings. Either way, order the lemongrass chicken burger and pomelo-prawn salad. The Khmer chef may be local but his cooking is world class, as are his desserts.
Miss Wong
This old Shanghai–inspired lounge closed a gap between subdued hotel bars and Siem Reap’s backpacker club scene. The Kiwi owner trained his bartending staff who now possess an exhaustive knowledge of classic and creative cocktails. The menu includes dim sum, Singapore fried noodles and creative hot pots like a wine-marinated chicken thigh with cinnamon and star anise. Deservedly popular are the barbeque duck slider in plum and black bean sauce, served on a steamed Chinese bun with lettuce, tomato, onions and mayonnaise: it's like an American burger embracing the East.
The Living Room
A stylish stand-out for cocktails in Siem Reap is the sexy black and pink-hued library at the Park Hyatt Siem Reap, where guests can sink into Deco velvet love seats and admire the stunning pink elephant textiles hand-loomed by Weaves of Cambodia. This cooperative of land mine victims is overseen by American weaver Carol Cassidy and offers a fine example of the luxury goods with philanthropic origins increasingly produced in Siem Reap.
The Sugar Palm
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