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Lunches in Laos

By: Thomas Wanhoff Posted: March-03-2011 in
Thomas Wanhoff

You work hard in the morning, and you are tired of the noon traffic jam that eats up half of your lunch break if you go home for having the meal there. There are a lot affordable and good choices in town.

1. Vegetarian Lunch Buffet
Its a small but very delicious local restaurant, offering the best of Lao and Asian food, but no animals were harmed during preparation. All you can eat for 20.000 KIP. It is located in a small street near Simuang Supermarket. after the Supermarket, just turn right and you will find it after 50 meter on the left hand. All

Review: The Veranda, Kep

By: Charley Bolding-Smith Posted: March-02-2011 in
Charley Bolding-Smith

The Veranda is a high-end bungalow style resort on a quiet hillside location, just below Kep National Park. As soon as you enter the complex you’re aware of the class of the place. A stonework alley plunges dramatically through the resort and leads to a labyrinth of raised wooden platforms and walkways. It all feels very Greek Island – before Greece joined the Euro. Bungalows start at $40 and head north to $90. This is 5 Star luxury at 2 Star European prices. I’ve eaten at The Veranda restaurant several times, and never come away less than pleasurably satisfied. I was in Kep at the weekend, and wondered if the kitchen was still maintaining its superb quality.

Review: Sovana in the AM

By: Nyam Penh Posted: February-09-2011 in
Nyam Penh

Sovana has the reputation with locals and expats as being the best grilled meats restaurant in Phnom Penh. Their grilled pork is legendary and its a place I always take the relative newbie to town for a safe khmer dining experience.

When it was mentioned of doing a review of Sovana, I scoffed at the idea saying that there were tons of reviews about the place. Anyways, the place is filled with expats all the time.

Then breakfast was mentioned.

Genius!

Review: Shiva Shakti

By: Charley Bolding-Smith Posted: February-06-2011 in
Charley Bolding-Smith

A stone’s throw eastward from the Independence Monument, at #70 Sihanouk, Shiva Shakti offers a North Indian fine dining experience to Phnom Penh. The restaurant wears its Mughlai and Kashmiri influence not just in the food, but on its sleeve in the lovely dining room with carvings, statues of Hindu gods, and reproductions of Mughlai art lining the walls. The iced water swiftly served in a heavy copper cup helps set the expectation of an enjoyable evening’s gustation. My taste buds were tingling.

Review: Sinan Restaurant - Cheap and Pretty Good

By: Charley Bolding-Smith Posted: February-02-2011 in
Charley Bolding-Smith

You decide to visit Friends Restaurant, with, well, friends but forget that they’re closed on a Sunday night. Where’s your emergency local choice for Khmer food? It used to be directly opposite. ‘Sinan Restaurant: Cheap and Best’ declared the fading Perspex signboard. It’s a bold claim, even in the land of broken English hyperbole. The nonpareil of the city’s dining establishments? The nondescript exterior suggested otherwise, a view by no means altered upon entering the place. I guess the lease must have run out because recently the business has decamped to a new location, just around the corner in St 172. So, is it now even better?

Review: Ngon Restaurant

By: Nyam Penh Posted: January-28-2011 in
Nyam Penh

Ngon is a restaurant that I have been obsessing over for the past month or so. I have been to both locations in Vietnam and am wholly impressed with them both. Which led me to organize a party of 12 anonymous reviewers on opening night to sample as much of the menu as possible. This was probably my first mistake to review a brand new restaurant on opening night. But lets get to that later.

The 10 best places to have coffee in Vientiane

By: Thomas Wanhoff Posted: January-24-2011 in
Thomas Wanhoff

Laos is a relaxed country, times slows down here, you lay back and see what's coming down the Mekong river. One of the places I can relax the best are coffee shops. I usually take a book or my iPad with me and sit there for hours, enjoying the coffee, watching people and read a bit (and work sometimes as well). So this is my personal list of the best places to have coffee in Laos. Please note that Laos is a small coffee producer, but with excellent quality.

True Coffee

Best New Restaurants of 2010

By: Nick Ross Posted: January-22-2011 in
Nick Ross

An American-style steakhouse run by a couple of French foodies was always a mouthwatering prospect and so it has proved. Nick Ross pays homage to our newcomer of the year. New York Steakhouse. Photos by Quinn Ryan Mattingly and Khoa Tran.

Earlier in the year we ran a feature on New York Steakhouse. Here was a new 1940s-style Hollywood themed bistro and diner selling arguably some of the best steaks in Saigon and yet it was both set up and run by two French guys. It was an anomaly but it seemed to work.

Review: Happa

By: Nyam Penh Posted: January-21-2011 in
Nyam Penh

Upon walking into Happa, the first thing you notice is the big griddle that practically everything on the menu is prepared on. One of the great things about this style of cooking is that it tends to be very hygienic which is always a plus to see in Cambodia.
Now onto the food.

The Okonomiyaki with cheese and bacon (click photos) was a very polarizing dish for me. I like the combination of the smokiness of the bacon along with the very sweet oyster sauce that topped the pancake but didn’t care for the cheese at all.

Review: Cafe and Restaurant L'Oriental

By: Thomas Wanhoff Posted: January-17-2011 in
Thomas Wanhoff

The bright yellow painted walls of the building outside hadn't been there when I passed that street the last time, so I thought it might be worth a stop. On a wooden board, was mentioned the different kinds of ice cream on offer, and a quick look through the window made me confident enough to enter.

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