Where to eat and drink in Phnom Penh
Not a directory. A short list of places I actually go, and the one thing worth ordering at each. If something drops off, it is because it stopped being good.
Last checked · 22 places
Nik the Greek
Eat · BKK1, Street 360 · Phnom Penh · $5–15
Order: The souvlaki plate, pork, three skewers, and let Nik talk you into the semolina cake
Nik and his wife run the only real Greek restaurant in the country out of a small room on Street 360, and Nik greets every table himself, which half the reviews mention before they mention the food. Souvlaki plates, gyros, a moussaka that tastes like someone's mother made it, Greek salad with proper feta, and a square of semolina cake that tends to arrive whether you ordered it or not. Open since late 2024, ten in the morning to half past ten, noon on Mondays. Rated five stars by four hundred odd people, which in this city almost never happens.
Verified
Curry Pot TTP
Eat · Toul Tom Poung, Street 454 · Phnom Penh · $5–10
Order: Butter chicken with a garlic naan, and a plate of jhol momo to start
A Nepali family's Indian and Nepalese kitchen a few blocks from Tuol Sleng, the Russian Market branch of a small chain that started in BKK1 over a decade ago. Butter chicken and a garlic naan the size of a tray is the order; the momos, especially the jhol momo in soup, are the Nepali half of the menu worth crossing town for; dal bhat if you want the real thing. Halal, a long vegetarian list, open ten in the morning until eleven at night. The owner will talk travel with you if you let him, and he is usually right.
Verified
ហាងគុយទាវ អុឹងគីមស្រ៊ុន (Ung Kim Srun kuyteav)
Eat · Toul Svay Prey, Street 328 south of Mao Tse Toung · Phnom Penh · $1.50–2.50
Order: The pork kuyteav, and do not skip the sauce
A family noodle shop on Street 328 with no English anywhere and no need for it. Pork kuyteav, a broth that has been going since before breakfast, and a chili sauce that people on Google call the best in town without being asked. It is open for the morning only and closes at noon; on a Saturday you will wait fifteen minutes for a table and that is the review. Under two dollars a bowl. Khmer food pages list it among the five famous kuyteav shops in Phnom Penh and they are not wrong.
Verified
Baldwin's Bistro
Eat · Daun Penh, Street 240 behind the Royal Palace · Phnom Penh · $15–40
Order: The slow cooked duck leg with red wine sauce and mash; the hickory smoked tenderloin if someone else is paying
A small owner run bistro on Street 240, the boutique strip behind the palace, that bakes its own charcoal bread every day and serves it with smoked butter before you have ordered. The duck leg at fifteen dollars is the dish people come back for. The tenderloin, sous vide then smoked over hickory, is the signature and priced like one. Ribs cooked for a day, gambas pil pil, a beetroot millefeuille that should not work and does. Split hours, ten to half past two and half past five to ten, and it fills, so book.
Verified
Phteah Bay Phoum Khmer
Eat · BKK1, Street 370 · Phnom Penh · $10–15
Order: Cha krovanh sach chrouk, the Pursat pork stir fry with bamboo and mountain herb, and the Battambang fish with citrus and peanut
Provincial Khmer cooking in a proper dining room on Street 370, opened in 2024 by Hok Srey Hour with the Ministry of Culture behind it. The menu runs to three hundred dishes from Pursat, Battambang, Kampot, Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, most of which never make it onto a Phnom Penh menu. You get a glass of fresh palm juice on arrival and old Khmer records on the speakers. It is pricier than a street Khmer place and cheaper than it should be for what it is. Bring someone from out of the country here before anywhere else.
Verified
Chhay Heng Restaurant
Eat · Veal Vong, Sihanouk Boulevard at Street 125 · Phnom Penh · Under $5
Order: The beef soup, and let the table next to you guide the rest
An evening soup house on the Olympic Stadium side of town, Khmer-Chinese, open from three in the afternoon until eleven. It has been in the phone book since at least 2012 and has never claimed its own Google listing, which tells you how much it cares about being found. Cash, plastic stools, steam. I have not eaten my way through the menu; the beef soup and the hotpot are what the room orders. On the list because it is the kind of place that disappears if nobody writes it down.
Verified
Khéma La Poste
Eat · Daun Penh, Post Office Square · Phnom Penh · $12–25
Order: The steak frites with Café de Paris butter, or the free flow breakfast before eleven
The Thalias group's French brasserie in an 1890s freight warehouse opposite the old Central Post Office, with the brick and the tall windows left alone. The free flow breakfast, seven to eleven, is the best value sit down breakfast in the city at under fourteen dollars; the steak frites with the green butter is the dish to order when you are not counting. There is a cheese and charcuterie counter and a bakery at the front. Open seven to ten every day, which is why it ends up as the default meeting place for half the city.
Verified
La Volpaia
Eat · BKK1, Street 392 · Phnom Penh · $12–25
Order: Mushroom ravioli, then the tiramisu, which is the best in the city
Italian since 2007, closed in the pandemic, moved, and reopened on Street 392 in 2022 with white tablecloths and warm light like a small room in Europe. The mushroom ravioli in butter is what regulars order; the beef cheek is the thing for a long dinner; the tiramisu is the reason you book. Real Italian wine list, a guard for the street parking, open eleven to ten every day. Not cheap by Phnom Penh standards and priced fairly for what arrives.
Verified
Maloop Garden
Eat · Boeung Tumpun, Ta Phon Street, south of Russian Market · Phnom Penh · $5–12
Order: The soft beef curry and the seabass ceviche, then a coffee in the hammock
A 1960s villa and its garden turned into a small park south of Russian Market, by the people behind Kinin and Nesat. The swimming pool is a lily pond now, there are hammocks and a playground and winding paths, and on weekends a market or an exhibition. The food is better than a garden café has any right to be: a soft beef curry, ceviche, a wagyu and gorgonzola burger, jackfruit for the vegans, and frog and ant char kdao if you want to test a visitor. Five dishes for under twenty five dollars. Closed Mondays, and it floods in the rains, so check before you drive out.
Verified
Hole 19 Lounge
Drink · Riverside, Sisowath Quay · Phnom Penh · Bar prices
Order: A whisky and whatever the screen is showing
A golf lounge on the quay where the evening carries on after the simulator, with DJs, live sport and trivia nights. New in 2026 and small so far, which is partly the appeal. No food order to pretend to here; it is a room for a drink with a view of the river and a match on. Late opening, from half past four until half past one, earlier on weekends.
Verified
Wings & Beers
Eat · Toul Tom Poung, Street 440 at Street 135 · Phnom Penh · $6–15
Order: The unlimited wings, and ask for the honey mustard and the Thai chili on the side
A Filipino-Khmer wings bar near Russian Market, run by Tep Sreyphos, who people my age remember from television, and her Filipino husband. She made the ten sauces herself. Unlimited fried wings for about eight dollars, cold draft, a pool table, and on a good night someone singing karaoke badly and with total conviction. Go when you want to stop thinking about work. The Filipino side of the menu is real too: the sisig and the garlic rice are what the Filipino tables order, which is the tell. Go after six; the listings disagree about opening hours and the evening is the safe bet.
Verified
Boat Noodle (Siam)
Eat · BKK1, Street 63 near Independence Monument · Phnom Penh · $3–7
Order: The charcoal grilled chicken off the pavement grill, with sticky rice and the garlic chili sauce
The name says boat noodles and the boat noodles are fine. The reason to come is the chicken grilling on the pavement outside, which you smell from the corner and cannot walk past. Open from seven in the morning, so this is breakfast for a lot of people on Street 63: grilled chicken, rice, a bowl of soup, done in fifteen minutes. Menu splits Thai on one side and Khmer on the other. Not the Boat Noodle on Sothearos, which is a different and older place.
Verified
Mashisoyo
Eat · Toul Tom Poung, Street 476 · Phnom Penh · $3–8
Order: Rose tteokbokki and a classic kimbap
Korean comfort food at Khmer prices, part of a small local chain. The rose tteokbokki, the creamy tomato version, is the dish everyone orders and the kitchen clearly knows it. Kimbap is three and a half dollars. Service is slow when it is busy and the room is plain, which is the trade for a Korean lunch under eight dollars in Russian Market. Delivery is most of their business, so dine in early if you want it hot and quick.
Verified
The Muffin Man
Eat · Toul Tom Poung, Street 476 at Street 155 · Phnom Penh · $3–9
Order: Blueberry muffin and the burnt basque cheesecake; an Aussie meat pie if you are hungry
An Australian-style bakery near Russian Market with a better story than most restaurants. Dorm Dieng, from Siem Reap, one of eight children, did hard labour in Thailand before a Barossa Valley baker taught him the trade. He opened in Siem Reap in 2020 and this branch in late 2024, hires from poor villages and employs people with disabilities, and answers his own reviews. The muffins are two and a half dollars and genuinely good. The meat pie is the most Australian thing in Phnom Penh. Open seven to ten every day.
Verified
The Garrison
Drink · BKK1, Langka Lane, upstairs · Phnom Penh · $9–15 a drink
Order: Whatever the bartender is proud of that night; cocktails run nine to ten dollars
A Peaky Blinders bar up a steep staircase off Langka Lane, behind Wat Langka. Flat caps on the staff, a sports screen in the corner, a speakeasy feel without the password nonsense. It opened in late 2024 and has a sister room, Bar Penh, on Street 240. Six in the evening until late. Cash and KHQR. The bar to send people to when they have done the rooftop thing and want a room with some character.
Verified
Haru Café
Drink · Daun Penh, Street 222 behind ICS · Phnom Penh · $3–8
Order: The jasmine latte, or the Kyoto latte, and the Phnom Penh kuyteav if it is morning
A small Japanese-style café on Street 222 that opens at half past six, which matters more than it sounds in a city where good coffee before eight is rare. Jasmine latte under three dollars, a Kyoto-style latte that is their signature, and a proper Phnom Penh noodle soup on the same menu, so you can do breakfast and coffee in one stop. Quiet room, a private meeting room at the back. New, so small online, which is part of why it is still calm.
Verified
UHARU Coffee
Drink · BKK1, Street 392 opposite Chea Sim BKK High School · Phnom Penh · $2–4
Order: The iced Spanish coffee with condensed milk, or a hot bombón
Two months old as I write this, a small coffee counter on Street 392 built for the school opposite: open half past six to half past five, a short menu, nothing over four dollars, staff who remember you on the second visit. The iced Spanish coffee, espresso over condensed milk, is the drink to start with. Too new for anyone to have an opinion online, which is exactly when a place like this is worth catching.
Verified
Coffman Coffee
Drink · 7 Makara, Street 198 behind the G Mekong Hotel, Orussey side · Phnom Penh · $1.50–3
Order: An iced espresso, black
The Cambodian branch of a Thai espresso chain that roasts its own beans, tucked behind the G Mekong Hotel near Orussey Market since 2017. Nothing about it is fashionable. The coffee is consistently good, the staff are the reason people keep going back, and it is cheaper than almost anything in BKK1. It stays on the list because a city needs a place like this more than it needs another concept café.
Verified
Temple Coffee, Street 51
Drink · BKK1, Street 51 at Street 294 · Phnom Penh · $2–8
Order: The Temple cold brew, or the iced palm sugar latte; the lok lak if it is a meal
Open twenty four hours, three floors and a rooftop, antiques stacked on every surface, live music most evenings. It belongs to the Temple group out of Siem Reap, founded by two brothers who started as moto taxi drivers. It is where people end up at two in the morning because nowhere else is open and the wifi holds. The cold brew and the palm sugar latte are the drinks; the food is honest café food and the beef lok lak is fine at midnight. Not quiet. That is the point of it.
Verified
Beans & Co Coffee Society
Drink · BKK1, Street 310 at Street 57 · Phnom Penh · $2–6
Order: The iced Beans & Co coffee, or the coconut latte
A small local chain with a BKK1 corner at Street 310 and 57, pouring Arabica from northern Thailand and calling it specialty, which is a stretch but the coffee is clean and cold and under three dollars. The coconut latte is the drink regulars order. Opens half past six and does a full Khmer breakfast menu, so it works as a morning stop rather than a place to sit all day. New enough to have almost no reviews, reliable enough that it does not matter.
Verified
Korng Meas Restaurant
On the road · National Road 5, Kampong Chhnang, on the way to Battambang · Phnom Penh · $1–3
Order: Whatever is in the pots at the front; this is a lunch stop, not a destination
Not in Phnom Penh, and on the list anyway. A big, clean, local Khmer restaurant on National Road 5 in Kampong Chhnang, the place to stop for lunch on the drive up to Battambang: clean toilets, room for the car, fast service, food that tastes like someone's province rather than a highway. Open from half past five in the morning until nine. If you drive that road for work, you already know it. If you do not, now you do.
Verified
Holy Crab, Kep
On the road · Kep crab market, three hours south · Phnom Penh · $10–15
Order: Crab with green Kampot pepper, and the grilled squid in lemon and pepper
Not in Phnom Penh either. The one clean, upmarket table on the Kep crab market strip, built out over the water, where the crab comes in off the boats in front of you and goes into a pan with green Kampot pepper. The grilled squid in lemon and pepper is the other plate. It costs more than the shacks either side and you can see where the money went. Open half past eight to half past ten every day. Sit facing the sea and stay for the sunset.
Verified