Khéma Restaurant Pasteur — Restaurant in Khan Daun Penh

I had been planning to revisit Khema for a while, and I finally decided to go for brunch on a Sunday afternoon. They advertise a business lunch with a semi-buffet, main course, and a beverage for $17 and change, available seven days a week. Unfortunately, I should have left this on my “revisit” list for a little longer.

First impressions were underwhelming. The buffet was not tidied at all during my time there, with food seemingly prepared once and then left unattended. The remnants of desserts were scattered across plates and never cleared away.

Upon being seated, I found cutlery at the table but no napkins or tissues. Some tables had paper napkins, others had cloth serviettes, but I had to search for something to clean my hands before I could continue my meal.

The staff were genuinely trying, but there was a communication gap when I asked about the meat and fish of the day. It took a while to figure out what they were serving. I eventually settled on a steak poivre, but it seemed unnecessary for the staff to struggle with that terminology. A printed sheet with daily specials would have made this much easier, and simply calling it “pepper steak” would have sufficed.

As for the buffet, the soup was decent, but there were no more soup bowls or spoons once they ran out. The other buffet items, like salads and sweet dishes, were not replenished or tidied throughout the meal. It’s surprising that a place like Khema, part of the established Thalias group, would lack basic service essentials.

The cheese selection was bland, and while the cold cuts were okay, the tongs situation was a problem. Patrons had used the same tongs for both cheese and cakes, resulting in a sweetened cheese experience for me—definitely not ideal. It felt like half of the restaurant’s serving tools were missing.

The saving grace was the main course, a decently prepared pepper steak using locally sourced Cambodian pepper. The sauce was well-made, but this wasn’t enough to redeem the overall experience.

In conclusion, there were just too many avoidable issues that made the meal poor value for money. Clearer procedures and better attention to detail could have made a big difference, but as it stands, I won’t be...

There was a time not so long ago, when whispering the name Khema in Phnom Penh conjured a knowing smile, a memory glazed in butter and nostalgia. Between 2017 and 2020, it was the epitome of refined dining in Cambodia. Those days are over.

We returned, out of misplaced affection, to give the old institution another chance. What we found was a hollow echo of its former self.

Service, once attentive and precise, now floats in a fog of indifference. No notes are taken, not even for a semi-buffet concept where starters and desserts are free flow, but mains must be ordered. One might expect some form of structure. Instead, confusion reigns.

I ordered a Café de Paris steak, medium rare. It arrived medium well, tough and joyless a culinary shoe sole. I flagged the error, politely. The waitress offered nothing but an embarrassed smile, the universal gesture for “there’s nothing I can do.”

As for my iced chocolate? Delivered 25 minutes later, in a nearly empty dining room. Perhaps if someone had simply written it down…

The bread oh, the bread. Once the pride of the house, served warm with silky house-made butter, has devolved into a dry, soulless lump that crumbles in the hand. It tastes of surrender.

To be fair, the buffet starters and desserts remain passable. But at $17.90, one expects more than passable. One expects a meal. What we got was a pale imitation, a faded photograph of what once was.

Khema is no longer a restaurant. It is a memory in free fall. And leaving it behind felt less like exiting a dining room and more like paying silent tribute at the tomb of a lost...

Their lunch buffet is hands down the best bang for your buck restaurant in Phnom Penh. Elegant, clean and pleasant. White tablecloth and proper cutlery. Comfortable chairs. The buffet offers an amazing deal which I would go to almost daily if I didn't have to watch my weight. You get 1 item a la care like mussels or salmon or steak etc... taken your table. Plus the cold cuts buffet, soup, croissant and cakes and salads and several other items. You also get coffee included. All in 17$ per person including taxes. Amazing value and the food quality is surprisingly excellent in particular for the price. Feel like a fine dining restaurant with the price of an budget oriented buffet. They also have unlimited wine options for extra money at times. Their free flow brunch is also good. If you buy outside buffet hours it is still a very good restaurant but you will spend substantially more. Toilets are spotless and the kitchen is also very clean. Wine selection is pretty good. The only negative is that if it gets busy the service quality goes down quite a bit but if it's not busy you can expect the waiter to pour the wine for you and all the things that you can expect from a fine dining restaurant at a fraction of the cost. A really good choice for work or business lunch since there is always something...