Party Guide
The New Party Empire | Nightlife in Siem Reap
Posted by Potpot - 5814 Views
- May 6th, 2014
- in Cambodia, Destinations
- One Comment
If you think Siem Reap is all about medieval temples and war memories, then you are absolutely wrong. This is the party capital of Cambodia and definitely one of the hottest party scenes in all of Southeast Asia!
After languishing in political conflicts for so long, Cambodia has dramatically transformed itself into a bustling nation attracting the world’s tourists all year round. Most of those who are doing the Southeast Asian swing never miss to come to Siem Reap for the temples and the maddening street parties that unimaginably happen non-stop every night of the year.
Daytime in downtown Siem Reap is a normal busy commercial day for the locals while most of the tourists are out doing the temple run. As the day comes to a slowdown, the happening streets of Siem Reap transform into a huge party venue where accents from all over the world screams with the music. As the night gets deeper, the thumping becomes louder and the streaks of multi-colored laser lights becomes blinding.
Pub Street is where the action happens. Rows of European pubs, sports and dance bars drown its thirsty patrons with sophisticated cocktails, overflowing beers and fantastic wine. Hot, sweaty bodies gyrate to heart-pounding beats of international DJs and bands. Along this strip, Angkor What? and Temple Bar are the red light for wandering crowds of mostly young backpackers thirsty for cheap beer and wild parties.
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| Linga Bar is a delightful place to be, whoever you are. Photo Credit: www.lingabar.com |
Alternatively, a narrow alley at the back of Pub Street called The Passage is also creating traffic among those who wish to just lounge around with good house music and flights of martinis in a slightly niche crowd. Linga Bar is popular among the finest gay men but whether you’re one or not, it doesn’t really matter, it’s the sophistication of sure-slug concoctions and the feel-good ambience that count.
Check out the alleys that break out from Pub Street and be surprised with fabulous themed bars with lowered amps but never missing the fun factor. Asana Wooden House and Mrs. Wong are just a few of these chic drinking joints worth your night in Siem Reap.
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| Party like there’s no tomorrow. Photo Credit: www.shutterstock.com |
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| It’s fun. It’s wild. It’s Siem Reap. Photo Credit: www.tripadvisor.com |
If you are into the high-end scene, the Elephant Bar in Raffles Grand d’Angkor Hotel is most recommended. Here, it’s brushing elbows with upmarket tourists who are most likely billeted in expensive hotels around this area. For a loose feel yet keeping the chic ambience, FCC Angkor is just around the block.
Alternatively, another popular party venue is Mad Monkey Hostel’s beach-themed roofdeck bar. It gathers very young backpackers who are out for the night to really get drunk. Mad Monkey is one of Siem Reap’s most sought-after backpackers’ inn because of its bikini-clad crowd and party scene.
Cambodia’s history and centuries old temples become a memory and go down the drain as the night falls in Siem Reap. The endless partying has become the antidote to overload of temples. To the uninitiated, this small city on the northern region of once French-ruled Cambodia may be trapped in time. The truth is, a new Khmer Empire of unforgettable parties has risen and those who can’t keep up with it shall lie in ruins.
Betwixt and between the arthritic 40 and a horrendous body mass index of positive 30, escapism and yummyeology are my real-life double post-graduate degrees conferred with the highest honors. I lived nearly half of my life in fancy suitcases, jetsetting between reality and fantasy... read more
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Comments ( 1 )
Dear Potpot,
We are a new team taking Siem Reap by storm in the eatery business, providing the non-existing concepts and styles. We’d like to invite you, your writers and/or your friends to our venues to get a taste of our flavors. Now is a good time because from November we’ll finish grand opening them all including full social media presence in professionally made videos/photos & websites.
The businesses are mentioned below:
1) La Boca Loca TAPAS BAR, located in Pub Street alleyways, this town lacked a real tapas bar, we didn’t mind the guesthouses providing $1-$2 tapas, the way our team sees food is there’s ok & good, but then there’s correct. And we didn’t just stop with correct tapas, we’ve developed 8 types of sangrias, even a Cava sangria; we can act more of a wine bar than many wine bars in Asia, with 14 wines by the glass, we give you plenty of options of tasting and pairing with food, and currently working on our single malts collection. Next month (November) we make our 2 nights of grand opening, 6 months after we soft opened in May, but we don’t consider it late, one thing for sure is we are looking for perfection, again, we do it correct.
2) Pizza Roma, an Italian cuisine franchise we created early 2016 and franchised it to a few clients who ran them well, but we wanted to raise level, so this week we’ve opened ours, just to train & re-train our franchisee’s employees from time to time in our branch. And beginning early November, this main branch will be known for its daily lunch buffet of pasta, pizza & salads. Pizza Roma is already known for its continuous offer that became like a slogan, “buy 1 get 1 for $1”, which people came to understand as your second pizza costs only $1. In order for us to make an Italian restaurant franchise between the pizza giants, we had to be different in concept, our pizzas are closer to gourmet than being junk fast food pizzas, using quality ingredients from correct importers/suppliers/distributors instead of buying randomness in bulk from low quality close-by manufacturers. Grand opening November.
3) Paris Bakery, we currently have 2 of them, first one opened last year as a depot shop, that naturally grew into a factory, and from April 2016 we opened another branch which became the go to one while the other became more for manufacturing than retailing. What made Paris Bakery work and be the brand that hotels & restaurants look for when they want the best of the bread world for their clients is the fact that we are the only bakery with French bakers, headed by my partner & head baker Aymeric who owns 2 bakeries in France that run automatically. We have a lot of savory meals and dessert options between the breads. Beginning November we have a surprise for the world, transforming the whole bakery’s concept while maintaining the products we are currently selling.
4) Dakota Steakhouse, currently in construction/renovation mode, this one we’ll straight away grand open it without having a soft opening, it neighbors Pizza Roma’s main branch so we’ll grand open them together. What’s different about this one is our steaks are of Australian beef of all kinds of cuts, having the live cows slaughtered here in Cambodia and we’ll display & sell them either raw by retail, or for customers to dine in. We won’t have any frozen meats like other restaurants claiming fine-dining status, while we’ll be honest and be a steakhouse for the common man with reasonable prices, we have an exclusive discounted pricing deal from our friend the owner of the slaughterhouse because we will only use their products.
Please feel free to contact and visit us because you are invited already, really looking forward to you visiting us in the near future. Awkoon chiraan (“thank you very much” in Khmer language).
Kind regards,
Mr. Raees