BBQ SUKI
The Cambodian BBQ experience is not to be missed and this restaurant out on the temple road is a dining adventure definitely worth trying. Perhaps western hygiene values should be left at the door while I’m a celebrity get me out of here wannabes are let loose to forage through the selection of raw meats and vegetables on offer. Especially, look out for the mushrooms. Once over the initial shock that you are expected to fry your own meat and cook your soup you will be ready for anything. Sit back and let your waiter fire up your table-top BBQ while you spend the evening cooking tender pieces of meat or seafood, spearing and turning it with chopsticks and cooking up a speciality broth. This Cambodian delight has two names: phnom pleung, literally translated as fire mountain, or koh larn phnom, the cow that climbed the mountain. I’ll leave you to work that out . . .

PALM TREE RESTAURANT
The Palm Tree is located in the City River hotel across from Wat Preah Prom Rath and open from 6am-11pm. The dining area is designed to let in plenty of light and the plants inside and out provide an atmosphere of a garden setting. The menu is a mix of western and Asian and about what you would expect from a mid-range hotel; nothing stands out but everyone should be able to find something they like. From 6am-9:30am it offers a breakfast buffet with eggs made to order, a soup station, a variety of sides both western and Asian and a variety of tropical fruits. Your choice of coffee, tea and juices are also provided. The lunch and dinner menus have a fair selection of Khmer soups, salads and mains such as pumpkin soup, green mango salad and loc lak beef. There are many fried rice and noodle dishes with the most popular being fried rice with shrimp and fried noodle with shrimp.

Champey
Well put together restaurants with more than a modicum of style, and perhaps some local art on the walls, are two a penny. It’s the inside knowledge that counts when choosing a seat to feast, those little gems where the taste hens have truly come home to roost. This is one of them, a truly superb festival of Khmer food. The menu is respectably priced, but richly flavoured including some wonderful curries prepared in the “ancestral way” at the hands of dedicated Chef Miss Kim San. Champey prides itself on excluding MSG from its kitchen, and all meals are free from this culinary menace. The clean tasting food is as refreshing as the enormous smiles on his very friendly local staff who serve the two ends of this charming restaurant. One facing into a small and bustling alley, whilst the other end faces the old market, so why not try both?

Le Malraux
I think Andre Malraux would be proud of what Christophe has achieved with “Le Malraux”, crowning the north of Siem Reap’s restaurant district. I can imagine he would also admire the attention to detail that has gone into this impressive addition to the scene. At Le Malraux even a Chicken salad is prepared with a delicious level of finesse, and the Salmon tartar "est simplement délicieux". It's a true education in "Cuisine française", and a reaffirmation of all things Gallic. Moving along the menu with the aid of a big Khmer smile from one of his excellent team is an exquisite French Duck Breast. Or for the aficionados of Asian cuisine a delicately flavoured local Fish Amok washed down with a fine wine. On the lush street patio, by the ice cream bar, or inside the beautiful renovated interior fresh from Europe, it doesn’t matter; everything is as it should be.