Phnom Penh Hotels and Restaurants

-
Hotel Plantation
Plantation
We stayed in two different hotels in Phnom Penh.  One at arrival for two nights before we headed to Siem Reap.  The other one upon the return before heading home.   We both prefer Plantation to Frangipani Fine Arts.

Frangipani Fine Arts

Plantation is kind of a resort in the busy centre of Phnom Penh equipped with nice rooms, tranquil environment, superb swimming pool and fantastic breakfast.

Plantation

Frangipani Fine Arts tucks away from  Street 178.  It is difficult to find.  Our taxi driver missed it.  The reality does not reflect close to the photos at the website.  Breadfast was not good.  Both hotels cost similar, between US70 and 80.

Plantation

Location wise, both are easily accessible.  Royal Palace and National Museum are just minutes away by walking.  Frangipani is close to many restaurants and a local market which offers views of  local life.  If we visit Phnom Penh again, Plantation will be our choice though the room is much smaller. It offers great facilities to relax and enjoy our holiday.

Our most preferred restaurant was Romdeng. It is part of the Tree Alliance group.  It helps street children to work, cook and run restaurants.  It turns miserable life into constructive and independent.

Romdeng is set in a beautiful colonial building.  Cuisine is authentic Khmer kitchen. It offers from almost forgotten Cambodian dishes to modern fusioned cooking.   Both the atmosphere and food were super.  Among all the nice dishes, tarantulas must be the dish they are mostly proud of.  We did not order it but took a photo prior to serving a table of Americans.

Romdeng - Crispy Spring Rolls with spicy persimmon dip
 
 
Romdeng - tumeric crepe with bananas and coconut ice cream

Friends the Restaurant also belongs to the Tree alliance group. It offers small dishes, tapas, so that you can sample many to satisfy  the appetite. Be you vegetarian, meat or seafood lovers you will find something suiting your taste.   There were many offers for drinks.  My mango passionfruit sundae was wonderful and cool.  Both restaurants were not expensive.  We paid US40 and US30 respectively, including drinks, for two persons.

Grilled Beef Filet, Daikon and Chive Flowers with Wasabi Mirin Vinaigrette
Khmer Spiced Fish Filet wrapped in Banana Leaf

Coconut scented red sticky rice with mango

Daughters of Cambodia
Daughters of Cambodia served our last meal.  Again it is a charity organisation. It reaches out victims of sex-trafficking and sex-exploitation.  Young men and women can attain new free life and work in their fair trade businesses and through social and psychological services. We enjoyed the soup, sandwich and dessert at the Sugar and Spice Cafe at Street 178. The cup cakes looked nice but did not taste good.  This was the only shortcoming.

Daughters of Cambodia - onion soup
Daughters of Cambodia - mango chicken baguette

Daughters of Cambodia - Spice Garden Chai Tea Latte

Daughters of Cambodia - English Banoffee Cheesecake




Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kbal Spean

-
Image
Kbal Spean is a unique archaeological site situated 50km from the Siem Reap.   Religious stone cravings sit on the river banks and bed, 150m stretch of the Stung Kbal Spean River.     Kbal Spean is commonly known as the "Valley of a 1000 Lingas " or "The River of a Thousand Lingas". Lingas are phallic representations sacred to Brahmanism.   It is a symbol of fertility.   Hundreds of them are carved into the rock of the river.   Other carvings include gods such as Vishnu , Shiva , Brahma and animals. To appreciate the beautiful carvings in the nature, one has to climb a trek for around 30 minutes.   Exhausted but worthwhile. Reclining Vishnu is often the theme of carvings.   Others include Shiva and Uma mounted on the bull, Brahma on a lotus petal and still others which I can't figure out exactly. Animals, lingas, yoni dot here and there.            Downdream ...
Read more

Hong Kong Heritage Museum - The Hakkas and Fishing Origin

-
Image
15 June 2012 HK Heritage Museum - Hakka Women It has been more than 10 years that I haven't been to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum .  Today, a Picasso exhibition brought me back.  Hmm, a Spanish artist associating with the Chinese heritage.  It's a special event of the French May .  It drew a lot of people to the museum, though a bit remote.  People, family speaking different languages crowded at the venue.  Picasso 's paintings shown were across his different periods.  Many photos of him and friends were also shown. Hong Kong Heritage Museum is unique in providing the history of Hong Kong, featuring Hakka (Guest family) migration, as a fishing village, the traditional Cantonese opera as the integral parts of Hong Kong's heritage, history and culture. During the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong of Qing Dynasty (18th century), people were encouraged to utilise wasteland for farming.  A big demographic shift of residen...
Read more

Marshal Zen Garden Beitou 北投少帥禪園

-
Image
Marshal Zen Garden was built during the Japanese-colonised period of the 1920's.  It was renowned for the hot spring and was used as the entertainment hub of the Japanese pilots during the end of the World War II. In the 1960's, it was used to confine Marshal Chang Xue-liang and his wife Zhao Di. We checked in in our hotel Double Inn and was driven there.  The environment is very soothing with a lot of green, flowers and typical Japanese set up. We first enjoyed our afternoon tea after travelling straight from Alishan to Chiayi to Taipei. You can visit the Zen Garden if you hold a booking of  the tour, hot spring or restaurant. It was very nice to enjoy the afternoon in its tea house  小六茶舖. It's cosy and the food was superb, good value for the money. NTD900 for two. Marshal Chang and his wife were detained at the Zen Garden for decades.  Though it was years ago, the exhibition of his room, photos and his life made me feel...
Read more