9 Best Restaurants in Cambodia

Set in a traditional-style Khmer wooden house with French colonial tiles, floor-to-ceiling windows looking onto a garden with herb boxes, and smooth jazz music in the background, Lum Orng (which means “pollen” in Khmer) is renowned for its innovative contemporary Cambodian cuisine. This casually elegant fine diner, in a village on the edge of town, is owned and helmed by one of Cambodia’s most creative chefs, Sothea Seng, who can be found most nights cooking at his intimate Chef’s Table upstairs. The dishes reinterpret Cambodian specialties, both preserving and reinventing them, using the freshest of organic local produce grown in the gardens around the restaurant and at the chef’s farm out near Banteay Srei.

Cuisine Wat Damnak offers a unique journey for the taste buds with its five- or six-course set menus (changing every fortnight). Beyond the sophisticated indoor sala and romantic garden, the concept here is Cambodian food remodeled into creative modern dishes by French chef Joannes Riviere, whose knowledge of the area allows him to source rare ingredients such as shellfish unique to the Mekong and Tonle Sap lake, fresh lotus seeds, wild lily stems, and edible flowers.

If you're interested in learning more about Riviere's culinary philosophy and techniques, you can buy a copy of his cookbook here.

A social enterprise providing disability-inclusive employment, Epic Arts Cafe serves a selection of delicious breakfast and lunch dishes, including many vegan and vegetarian options, as well as desserts, cakes, fresh-fruit smoothies, and coffee brewed from Cambodian beans. There's a shop upstairs selling locally crafted products, sales from which support their programs.

Knai Bang Chatt Resort's Sailing Club restaurant has some of the freshest seafood you'll find on the coast and offers sailing lessons, kite surfing, paddle-boarding, jet-skiing, and more. Arrive in the late afternoon and linger until the evening, sipping cocktails, taking in the stunning sea views, and grooving to DJ beats on weekends.

The name translates as "food," and if you're after a Cambodian menu that appeals to the Western palate but is not without an adventurous element, this is an excellent choice. Try deep-fried frogs' legs coated with crispy rice flakes, or wok-fried local beef with tree red ants served with rice. If that's too much of a challenge, there's the duo amok soufflé of lemongrass and coconut paste with chicken and river fish, or the fun option of cooking fish or meat exactly to your liking on hot stones.

This top-notch open-air garden restaurant, out-of-the-way from the noisier part of the city, reflects the forward-thinking new generation of postdisaster Cambodia, represented here by the visionary young owner, Siv Pola. Everything is prepared with sensitivity, creativity, and great skill: try the Tonle Sap Fish, a carpaccio of snakehead fish fillet, marinated in fresh picked herbs, with a tempura poached egg.

Operated by M'Lop Talang, a non-government organization established to support disadvantaged children and their families, this vocational training restaurant demonstrates just how good the training is—the service is friendly and attentive and the food delicious. The menu ranges from Cambodian specialties such as amok trei, a steamed fish curry, to international dishes such as burgers, pizzas, and fish and chips.

The first proper restaurant to open in the post–Khmer Rouge period remains the city’s best destination for delicious traditional home-style Cambodian cooking in a beautiful wooden building. Owner-chef Kethana Dunnet was the country’s first celebrity chef, introducing some of the world’s best chefs to Cambodian food, including Gordon Ramsay, Rick Stein, and Luke Nguyen. Expect the best iterations of Cambodian cooking—everything on the menu is delicious.

Built in 1903, Chinese House (home to Tepui) is among the few colonial houses in Phnom Penh that remains in its original state. An impressive painting of a Chinese girl with ruby-red lips is the centerpiece in this sophisticated restaurant serving South American and Asian-fusion dishes, with specialties such as corn empanadas filled with beef picadillo and goat cheese cream, or red tuna tartare with wasabi emulsion. There is a lively bar on the ground floor.