Luxe City Guides Goes Cambodian, Gets Reviewed

IN elegant prose, foodie blogger Phnomenon tries his hand at lit crit as he examines the Luxe City Guide to Cambodia. Even though his metier is Cambodian cuisine, he admits agreeing with the guide's assertion "you're unlikely to be swooning over Khmer cuisine". Though, according to him, this is probably your fault and not the foods. Most of the best food in Phnom Penh isn't traditional Khmer cooking. Here is his his list of winners included in the City Guide. Keep in mind, these are atuned for the Luxe palate. For a more exhaustive list, check out the Phnomenon:

Maxine's (Snowy's) : Laudable bar owner Snowy pulls off a Fiji-sized coup by suddenly being considered an upscale bar instead of a wooden hovel leaning precariously into the Tonle Sap. Possibly the only bar in Luxe's history to not have running water in the bathroom. Snow, I salute you.

Pop Café: There's three other great Italian restaurants around Phnom Penh that I'd head to before Pop - Le Duo, Luna D'Autunno, or La Volpaia, probably in that order. Pop does beat all three on convenient location for upmarket travellers (post-Happy Hour stumbling distance from FCC), but that's about all.

Sugar Palm: Probably gets a guernsey solely by virtue of being located on St.240 and being empty because it's about five times as expensive as a much better Khmer restaurant anywhere else in town.

Previously: Khmer Food isn't Bad, You're Just Crap at Eating It, Gastrocambogooglocartography,
Eating Spiders in Phnom Penh