Insider Cambodia

The menu is clever and contemporary, with plenty of nods to the seasonal produce of the region. Picture: Susan Kurosawa

March 22, 2008
The Australian

TABLES: Susan Kurosawa discovers a surprising oasis in Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor Wat

WE have come to Siem Reap with two objectives. The first is, of course, to thoroughly explore the temples of Angkor Wat. The second is to try Khmer cuisine; will it be as spicy and fragrant as Thai, as layered and minty-peppery as Vietnamese, as French-influenced as the meals we have enjoyed for the past week in Laos?

We ponder such matters as we sit eating an unlikely schnitzel and spaghetti in a dining room so groovy it could slip into a lifestyle magazine spread with no need for further dressing. Between the ruins, the walking, the calf-strengthening climbing, the downtown sorties by madly weaving tuktuk and a new addiction to holy basil, we are having a day at rest. I am feeling supremely guilty; at any second, my high school principal, the stout-shoed Miss Claridge, surely will appear, tut-tutting about my bare legs and insisting I stand very straight and recite, in perfect order, the kings of the Khmer empire.

We are at Hotel de la Paix in the centre of Siem Reap; the architecture is faux art deco, very white and blocky in a Miami South Beach kind of way. Outside there are tuktuks tooting and dust whirling, but here all is as peaceful as the property's name suggests. The drawcard restaurant is Meric, its name taken from the renowned pepper grown in Cambodia's southern province of Kampot. Tables and upholstered chairs are arranged under cover along a cool colonnade off a central courtyard and there is further seating inside.

Noon temperatures are at the pointy end of the 30s so we opt for the arctic-chilled interior with its chocolate and mustard stripey decor, leather banquettes, columns and voluptuous deco lights. On the white-clothed tables sit perfect furled lotuses in tiny stone pots.

MENU SAMPLER

• Sesame-crusted prawns, papaya and ginger relish with feta cheese tahini dressing ($US8)
• Foie gras terrine on roasted mango and walnut crumble ($US12)
• Spice-crusted Australian beef tenderloin with braised puy lentils and port glaze ($US24)
• Baked New Zealand salmon with roasted fennel sauce and salad, finished with gnocchi ($US22)
• Sabayon gratin with exotic fruits and pina colada ice cream ($US7)
• Pomelo and rambutan salad with lemon basil gratinee ($US6)

(Dinner menu)

Tasmanian-born executive chef Cassandra Zukauskas's credentials include Sydney's Rockpool, South Africa's Makanyane Safari Lodge and a host of Australian resorts. Her Meric menu is clever and contemporary, with plenty of nods to the seasonal produce of the region (pounded green mango, peanut sauce, salads tossed with dragonfruit and zesty pomelo) but includes lots to satisfy travellers who are hankering for, say, a comfort stop of mint-marinated lamb rump with mashed potatoes on the side.

I order spaghetti with blue swimmer crab, lemon, green onion and chilli, $US10 ($10.75). It's a sizeable, confetti-coloured portion of halved cherry tomatoes, diced red and yellow peppers, wilted basil and curls of green onion tossed through the al dente spaghetti (spaghettini, perhaps, given the very slender straps) with shreds of sweet crab, a good dousing of lemon and a polite hint of chilli. It is very good indeed.

My partner goes on an eccentric journey in the direction of Morocco with his choice of Middle Eastern beef schnitzel with coleslaw ($US12). There are red and yellow spices and a hint of nuttiness to the tender beef's thinnish covering and the coleslaw is continents removed from the over-mayonnaised Australian barbie variety. Amid the shredded red and green cabbage are roasted pine nuts, currants and finely chopped coriander. The dish wears a jaunty hat of crisped parma ham and a side plate of fresh green beans with almonds completes a bistro meal that is more Melbourne than Marrakech.

We wonder if we consider the meal so fabulous because it is such a change from the Asian food we have been eating for weeks. I realise I have been craving pasta; at home, I long for gallons of chilli and spice. I travel with a squeeze tube of Vegemite yet rarely eat it in Australia. This has been security blanket food; tonight it will be back to the heart of Siem Reap for green papaya salad, coconut-rich soups and dishes flavoured with the real bite of Cambodian meric.

The thing to do after dining at Hotel de la Paix is to head for a swing bed on the side colonnade, facing the big old ficus and pink frangipani of the courtyard. You could dine on these four-person swaying lounges, too (staff bring the food on trays), or just drop in for a martini (chamomile and honey or lemongrass and kaffir lime) or a Perfect in Pink fresh watermelon, papaya, lime and carrot juice. We kick off our Angkor-dusted shoes and drink the best coffee we've had in a fortnight.

Then we skulk guiltily back to our lovely little hotel, the Residence d'Angkor, as busloads of tourists roar past. We feel like truants but at least we are not coach potatoes.

All Tables visits are unannounced and meals paid for.

Checklist

• Meric, Hotel de la Paix, Sivutha Boulevard, Siem Reap, Cambodia. +855 63 966 000; www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com.
• Open: Lunch and dinner seven days.
• Cost: About $US80 for two for three-course dinner; about $US55 for lunch. Sides are $US3; meals come with a large bread basket.
• Drink: Perfectly palatable Sicilian house wine by the glass ($US5) or Asian-inspired martinis ($US6); mixed drinks, beer and full wine list also available.
• Reason to return: To try Zukauskas's seven-course Khmer seasonal degustation dinner menu ($US28).

Cambodia: off the beaten track

The temples of Angkor Wat are still one of the wonders of the world, despite the tourist crowds

03/12/2007
The Telegraph (UK)

Revisiting a much-changed Cambodia, Philip Sherwell explores the glories waiting to be discovered away from the tourist track.

The temple complex of Angkor and the nearby town of Siem Reap were very different places the last time I visited. That was in 1996 on assignment for The Sunday Telegraph to cover the kidnapping of a Briton by the Khmer Rouge, the murderous Maoist movement that had inflicted the horrors of the Killing Fields on Cambodia. Sadly but predictably, Christopher Howes, who had been working with a British organisation clearing landmines, was murdered by his captors.

Siem Reap in those days was a dusty backwater, its potholed streets best negotiated on the back of spluttering motorbike taxis that rarely got up enough speed to pose any danger of bodily harm.

Angkor was being rediscovered by the first intrepid visitors after nearly two decades in Khmer Rouge hands. By early 1996, the main cluster of temples was safe, but outlying sites remained off-limits unless one wanted to risk being blown up by mines or suffering the sad fate of Mr Howes.

In delightful solitude one early morning, I set off to explore the remarkable main temple of Angkor Wat, followed by the glorious bas-reliefs of Bayon and the barely touched remains of Ta Prohm, then the ultimate in Indiana Jones adventures.

How things change. Siem Reap is now a boisterous hive of activity, while the marvels of Angkor are thoroughly on the tourist track. The temples are still one of the wonders of the world, no less stunning for the crowds, but I hankered after the glorious loneliness of my previous visit.

So I headed 50 miles north, past paddy fields and villages of wooden huts on stilts little changed by the rapid development that has swept Siem Reap. Eleven years ago, this would have been a suicidal journey into Khmer Rouge territory, but my return offered new possibilities: outlying temples, cut off back then by minefields, were now accessible.

My destination was Beng Melea, a 12th-century temple built to the same design as Angkor Wat. For visitors disappointed by the busloads of camera-toting tourists at Ta Prohm, these largely undiscovered jungle ruins are a treat.

With the help of a young guide, I scrambled through the site to the chirupping chorus of cicadas in the same stunned reverie I felt when I first wandered around Angkor Wat.

First he showed me a sign on a mound next to the overgrown moat enumerating the 21,000-plus mines cleared from this site alone.

Inside the compound, thick, gnarled trunks and roots thrust through the masonry with such abandon that the stone and wood seemed indivisible; branches and vines stretched, embraced and bent around the ancient masonry like tentacles.

Back in Siem Reap, I found another compelling reason to embrace rather than bemoan the changes of the past 11 years - the award-winning glories of the chic new Hôtel de la Paix. Its art deco façade - think South Beach Miami transported to South-East Asia - graced the cover of Architectural Digest magazine last year.

The original hotel served as a rice storage depot during the era of genocidal communist purdah under Pol Pot. The elegant new structure is a mix of traditional Khmer, art deco and contemporary influences. The rooms have polished Makha-wood floors, woven rugs, platform beds and terrazzo tubs. Fountains and ponds fill the open spaces.

But although La Paix is an enticing oasis, the last thing the hotel wants is for you to insulate yourself from your surroundings.

It offers guests the chance to support community-based activities and good causes and the revival of Cambodian arts and culture. Options include a sewing training centre, rice sponsorship, educational support, hospitals and children's centres.

As the recipients of the book, bikes and other items from the hotel scheme can vouch, progress is not all bad.