"Kampot"

This province is located in the Southwest of the country, having an eighty kilometres coastal strip with the Gulf of Thailand. The provincial capital is named Kampot and sits near the base of the abundant green Elephant Mountains and the famous Bokor Hill Station. Compete to crowded Sihanoukville in the North of the province you may find quietness. Kep Beach, Rabbit Island, Bokor Hill Station, and countryside tours are perhaps the most popular day tours out of Kampot with tour operators offering very competitively priced tours. The Kampot area also offers several other attractions including pre-Angkorian ruins and caves, jungle trekking, bicycling tours, river cruises, island trips, fishing trips, isolated beaches, pepper plantations, bamboo train rides and some beautiful rural countryside.

The Best Restaurants in Kampot

Baraca

This Belgian-owned tapas bar serves inventive, surprisingly delicious takes on Spanish tapas influenced strongly by local flavors and products. This was some of the best food we’ve had in Kampot in a long time, and from a first-time restaurateur to boot. Try the bisch kampot, beef with pepper-lime sauce, strewn with fresh green peppercorns on the vine, and the holy squid, marinated in a deeply flavorful sauce and cooked up with fistfuls of holy basil — mop up the squiddy juices with lightly toasted baguette slices and you may be unable to keep a contented sigh from escaping your lips. Grilled pepperoni pinxto with pickled chilies was also compulsively eatable. 

The space has an appealingly eclectic minimalism, with mixed table sizes and heights, mustard yellow walls, and old Chinese biscuit tin light fixtures. The bar serves up a few kinds of crisp, bubbly cava, considered but somewhat pricey cocktails — try a passionfruit daiquiri when it’s in season — homemade limoncello, and Cambodia beer on tap. The gazpacho bloody marys are nothing less than addictive. One particular delight is the Baraca “dessert” — a shot of Thai rum paired with a sweet Indonesian clove cigarette. Skeptical? We were, too, but it’s a great way to end a meal.

Cafe Espresso

True coffee nerds will know they’re in the right place upon seeing Cafe Espresso’s menu introduction — “Sorry, we don’t serve ‘regular coffee.'” Arguably the best coffee in Cambodia, Cafe Espresso serves up a wide range of expertly prepared European and Australian-style espresso drinks, pour-overs, siphons, and even one of our favorites, the humble Aeropress. The cafe, which opened in 2011, sources regional coffee beans and roasts them in-house daily, for a strong, flavorsome coffee perfect for milk-infused espresso drinks. If that weren’t enough, Cafe Espresso serves breakfast and lunch, and the food is fantastic.

Particular standouts include the housemade muesli, with rolled oats, crispy rice, nuts, goji berries, candied lotus seeds, and rosella, served with yogurt and fresh tropical fruit, and the savory herbed corncakes with poached eggs, a fantastic fresh chile-spiked salsa, and sweet-smoky tomato jam. Lunchtime features simple, satisfying fare like pulled pork sandwiches and burgers, and many of the cafe’s dishes feature surprising middle-eastern flavors, like harissa. Check for daily specials. The Australian owners are welcoming and happy to dole out sightseeing recommendations, and the cafe is family-friendly, with a no-smoking policy indoors. The free wifi, large wooden work tables, and comfortable old shophouse style make this an ideal place to hunker down for a few hours with a flat white and a laptop.

Divino

Divino Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria doesn’t seem like much from the outside. The tiny restaurant has little in the way of ambiance and only a few tables, which can result in excruciatingly long wait times. But the food makes it all worth it; the place serves some of the best food in Kampot.

The owners, Marco and and Alessia, moved to Cambodia from their native Italy, where Marco worked as a chef for several decades. And he knows what he is doing — the Italian pastas and pizzas are superb. The daily specials offer a range of Italian specials that far surpass the usual spaghetti bolognese found on the menu of what feels like every restaurant in Cambodia. The fresh-made gnocchi was a particular standout, so light and pillowy it was hard to believe we weren’t in Italy, and the thin-crust pizza is superb.

Ecran Noodles

Ecran has moved to a new riverside location in front of Rainbow Bridge Hotel, but apart from the view, not much has changed. This casual noodle house serves up delicious dumplings — pork or veggie, fried or boiled — and hand-pulled Chinese noodles either fried or in soup. It’s always to decide between hand-pulled noodles and dumplings, so we suggest you get both. If you come at the right time of day, you’ll get to watch the noodle-maker at work stretching out pounds and pounds of noodles. Dumplings are $2.50 for 12, and noodle soups $2.50, and beers are $1. Ecran Noodles also has a location in the Kep Crab Market.

Tertúlia

Tertúlia serves authentic Portuguese food, professionally plated in a way that would never have been seen in the Kampot of yore. The menu is filled with fish and seafood dishes, including Bulhao Pato clams, octopus salad, and the traditional Portuguese slow-cooked seafood dish, seafood cataplana. Meat eaters need not worry, though, steak mirandesa and beef cheeks in a red wine reduction are also on the menu. Mains cost between $7.50 and $12.50, and they also have a nice selection of Portuguese wines.

The restaurant is excellent by Kampot standards, but our gritty clams reminded us that we’re still out in the sticks. A meal for two goes for around $40, depending on how much Portuguese wine you imbibe. Be warned that it’s cash only.