Author Archives: Lui-in-Penh

Living in Phnom Penh: Break Time!

Leave a reply

Yup, were having a few days holiday again so its break time. It’s the King’s birthday and the holidays extend up to three days. My daughter has been asking me why its three days and she has been musing whether the Queen Mother went on labor for three days. Ha! I don’t really have an answer to that.

We decided to stay in the city instead of running for a short vacation in the province. Mainly because the heat is unbearable! I hardly ever go outside coz I always get migraines. But during this break, hubby tells me we’re doing some more DIY projects inside the house. (and you can hear me groaning loudly in protest..) So, I think the holidays will be spent looking for foam rubber grips, painting our newly installed cabinets, cleaning.

The horrors!! This ain’t a vacation, if you ask me. But even if I’m dreading breaking into massive sweating, I’m still looking forward to spending time with hubby and the kiddo. I only wish we could  a coffee break every now and then..

Coffee Time - Brown Coffee Cambodia

Anyway, Phnom Penh-ites enjoy the long break! It’ll be awhile again till we have a long one..

Cambodia Snaptshots: West Baray in Siem Reap

1 Reply

cambodia snapshots

I’m posting another Cambodia Snapshot. Non-Food. Lol. I noticed several consecutive posts are all about food and I won’t have you thinking my life revolves around food. Hahaha! So I sifted through my photo archive for some Cambodia landscape shots and here’s one that grabbed my attention.

West Baray Siem Reap

West Baray in Siem Reap. Looks interesting right?

It’s a popular picnic place for Khmers. There are huts, hammocks, bbq and a random assortment of food vendors. What makes it more interesting though, is that, its not a beach, a river. Rather, its a man made reservoir built during the 11th century. There’s also the West Mebon temple ruins in the midst of all that water.

The snapshot was taken during the summer season hence the low water level.

I’m also linking up this post to Our World Tuesday Meme.

Our World

Cambodia Snapshots: Stairs to Phnom Santuk

Leave a reply

cambodia snapshots

Going up to see Phnom Santuk in Kampong Thom and its reclining Buddha and other shrines, you get to pass through these ornate stairs..This place is a popular pilgrimage site for Khmers.

Stairs to Phnom Santuk, Kampong Thom

Cambodia really has a lot of hidden gems. If only you go out of the way, or perhaps go where the locals go. If we played the typical tourist and relied mainly on the guidebook, then we’d never find these out of the way gems. We’d have ended up in some usual tourist trap and buying cigar lighters as souvenirs. I think places like this, though out of the way and not popular with tourists, are very much worth visiting.

Also an entry to Wordless Wednesday Photo Meme.

Talking Bread in Phnom Penh

Leave a reply

Yup. Today were talking bread. Be warned. This is an sugar heavy post.  Ha! I’m a ‘bread person’. I really really know how to appreciate my breads and pastries.And I normally devour a fair amount of sandwiches. If the bread is good.

When I first visited Cambodia in 2004 and stayed a few months, I was lamenting the lack of good and tasty bread. Sure, there were local bakeshops but I didn’t like what they had. Except for the French-style baguettes, I couldn’t really get into the breads available. Mostly because it has a very distinct coconut or palm oil taste and aroma.

It’s a different story now though. After all, almost a decade has gone by and now Phnom Penh is seeing a steady sprouting {lol! the word} of coffee shops, delis and bakeshops. And that translates to a happy cake and bread-eating me.

Tous Les Jours Phnom Penh Cakes

Tous Les Jours Phnom Penh Cake

can you resist the yummy?

So what’s our current bread hunting ground? For cakes, chocolates and pastries we love The Shop. I really like their chocolate cakes. But I do wish they’d have a branch somewhere in BKK or Toul Tompong area. For cheesecakes, we usually head over to Secret Recipe.

For breads and pastries {and really good croissants!} we love Comme à la Maison’s Deli. Some mini grocers also carry some of their products and lucky us, there’s one very near our house.

Coffee shops often have their own pastry sections so they are also a great place to check out. For starters you can walk through ‘coffee street’ St 51 in BKK and check out the coffee shop/delis. I love pastries in Brown Coffee especially their muffins and their sandwiches are also good. Blue Pumpkin, Cafe Fresco and Kiriya Coffee also has great selection of pastries.

Paul's Brewehouse Phnom Penh

eclair at Paul’s Brewehouse..

If you’re craving donuts, then visit Paul’s Brewehouse in BKK and in St. 187 {back of Vanda Institute}. And my current favorite place to stuff myself with bread? Tous Les Jours. The name might be hard to pronounce {for non-French speakers at least} but the bread in this South Korean euro-style bakery is really good. And the price is also good. I find their cakes very affordable and delicious!

Tous Les Jours Phnom Penh Sihanouk Branch

Also, a lot of coffee shops and deli places offer discounts after 5 pm or so. So take note of that. We got into the habit now of ‘shopping’ for pastries in the evening and they make great breakfasts.

Those listed above are the places I frequent, for now. And I’m pretty sure there are more shops to come. So what’s your favorite bread shop here in Phnom Penh?

Living in Phnom Penh: Suorsdei Chanam Thmei!

1 Reply

or Happy Khmer New Year!

You’d say, whoa! were halfway through the year and you’re just celebrating new year? Yes, my dear friends, Cambodia (as well as Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, India and Sri Lanka). You can check out this wiki article why these countries celebrate new year at this time.

Anyway, this is a very festive affair for Khmers, with most of them preparing an offering table brimming with fruits, drinks, flowers and snacks. A lot of them also hightail it to the provinces where celebrations are all the more festive.

For us, foreigners here its a quiet time. With the city less congested, and very quiet. Most businesses and markets are also closed. So this isn’t the best time to think of shopping or canvass for a supplier of wholesale catalog printing. No one will attend to you. Even most restaurants close for a few days.

Holidays extend for several days and right now I’m really catching up on… rest. See, I had to force myself to leave the couch and write this post. Oh, the things I do for this blog. Hahaha. We do have plans to go out of town but we’ll wait until the hordes come back and the seaside town almost empty for us to enjoy.

Khmer Curry and Nom Pang

Also, for the past two days, our uber generous neighbor keep giving us bowls of Khmer curry with French baguettes. It’s sooo yummy and a Khmer staple during the new year. Usually its eaten with the baguette (nom pang) or with fresh rice noodles (nom ban chouk)..

Food Trip Friday: Nature and Sea

Leave a reply

Nope I didn’t hightail it to the beach. Although I wish I could go run off and stay somewhere with sea and sand, with faint sounds of crickets and drum, for the rest of the summer. I just had to content myself with some food from Nature and Sea.

Phnom Penh is awesome in a way that you can find really fabulous food places in unassuming corners. This one, I didn’t even know it existed until my friend the Royal Queen of Wishful Shriking decided to bring me there.

Nature & Sea Restaurant Phnom Penh

It’s located on a roof top, so the place has a breezy, casual vibe albeit hard to find. But in case this makes you crave for some fish and yummy goodness, Nature and Sea is located in St. 278 near corner of St. 51, right across Wat Langka.

Nature & Sea Restaurant Phnom Penh

passion fruit shake…

Nature & Sea Restaurant Phnom Penh: Fish & Chips

Nature & Sea Restaurant Phnom Penh

My verdict? One of the best fish and chips I had here in Phnom Penh. The salad was very good aswell. We specially loved the dressing. This place is definitely worth going back to.

An entry for:
FTFBadge