Chocolate – Cambodge style

Liz / / No Comments

One of the best examples of ‘east-west’ fusion I’ve experienced in a long time was some Kampot pepper chocolate I recently tried from Street 240’s Chocolate by The Shop.

The pepper originates from Cambodia’s Kampot province, and back in colonial times was highly prized by the French, who even used it in restaurants back in Paris. Its production fell by the wayside during the Khmer Rouge era but it’s now undergoing a renaissance as Cambodians, expats and tourists alike re-discover its highly fragrant and delicious taste (it really is better than ‘ordinary’ pepper!).

The geniuses at Chocolate by The Shop have mixed crushed Kampot peppercorns with quality Belgian chocolate to create a taste sensation with serious bite. Fellow chocoholics and pepper fiends should definitely give it a try!

Shoptalk: Kravan House

Liz / / No Comments
My latest purchase from Kravan House – a king size silk bedspread

 

Silk shops can be found on almost every corner in Phnom Penh with most carrying similar wares, some slightly more tasteful than others. A small silk shop called Kraven House manages to combine taste with reasonable prices (and it’s also run by an NGO as an added bonus).

It stocks a mixture of ubiquitous silk bags and scarves with some more unique items. I particularly covet their coin purses and jewellery rolls with a funky Indian-style print and beaded embroidery. They also stock stripey cotton scarves which are well worth checking out.

The shop is so small and unassuming that I hardly even remember its name and mostly just refer to it as ‘Favourite Shop’. It also seems to be a favourite with buyers for western retailers. A friend has seen people from shops like Cambodia House in Sydney’s Woollahra stocking up on wholesale orders here, which they can then make quite the profit on in a world where silk and anything with a ‘Made in Cambodia’ tag is a bit more precious and rare.

Kravan House, 13 Street 178, Phnom Penh

A new place for a dim sum fix

Liz / / No Comments

On the weekend I tried out the dim sum at the newly opened Yi Sang restaurant at Almond Hotel, another Luu Meng venture (the guy behind Malis, Topaz, Cafe Sentiment and more). Compared to the city’s only other dim sum restaurant (that I know of, and not counting the InterCon) – Sam Doo – the restaurant looked more like a ‘real’ dim sum place yet sadly, minus the trolleys.

The dishes were really cheap (between US$2 and US$3 a basket) and the barbeque pork buns and prawn dumplings definitely hit the spot. Unfortunately though a few things we tried to order (like the barbeque pork in rice noodle rolls) were greeted with the dreaded ‘no have’. We also ordered some sesame balls which strangely didn’t appear though the waitress kept saying they were five minutes away. In the end we just cancelled them.

With the bill for seven of us working out at less than US$6 a head for a dim sum feast and copious amounts of Chinese green tea in a clean, spanking new setting, it now makes me question why we spend so much more in some of Phnom Penh’s grottier old Chinese diners!

Image via Almond H0tel