La Croisette — Restaurant in Khan Daun Penh

Slightly expensive place. I come here for morning coffee and eggs Benedict. I have also had one evening meal here. Good food. Lovely staff.

Have edited this today. Sadly down grading to 3 stars on account of a pot of tea I ordered. I'm British, have drunk maybe thousands of gallons of tea, I've drunk tea all over the world including India the source of Darjeeling tea.

It's a delicately perfumed light refreshing tea but the pot I ordered here for over 4 dollars was a tasteless pot of discoloured water.

They use one cup tea bags and put 2 in for a large pot. So I complained that the tea had no flavour and asked for new pot with extra tea bags because you cannot add more tea to an existing pot. It must be freshly brewed.

They refused unless I paid extra for the extra tea bags. They also stated that until this time no one had previously complained about the tea.

If I consider the mark up on a pot of hot water to make tea I considered this to be rather mean when really they could have satisfied me with a stronger brew.

The fact that no one had complained before is irrelevant Darjeeling tea is light but full of flavour. This was tasteless and clearly they did not care about satisfying my taste for tea.

My first paragraph of this review still stands but this has put my off the place a little bit because of what I consider to me a bit of meanness towards one customer who wants a pot of tea which has flavour and not a pot of discoloured water with no taste.

Maybe they have not had a customer who has tasted Darjeeling tea in Darjeeling. I have. I've drunk Darjeeling in Nepal, India, the UK, Australia, even Sri Lanka and it was aromatic, light but full of flavoured. ...

La Croisette at Phnom Penh Riverside

The sign out front says since 1997. In Phnom Penh years, that’s practically ancient history. Restaurants along the Riverside tend to swap hands faster than a pair of loaded dice in a back alley crap game. La Croisette? Still standing. Which means they’re doing something right.

This isn’t cheap eats. Thirty bucks here buys you what, back home, would barely cover a round of drinks and a starter. But that’s the deal, you come for the show as much as the food. The setting is prime time Riverside: traffic coughing by on one side, the muddy Mekong drifting on the other, and you in the middle, playing expat high roller with a craft beer or cocktail that actually tastes like someone went to culinary school and got straight A's.

The menu is singular, deliberate fusion without the confusion. Western standards with local kicks, cocktails balanced with the kind of precision you don’t often find in this city’s bars especially at the edge of the notorious red light and nightlife district. If you’re trying to impress a date, splurge on yourself, or just remind your wallet what pain feels like, this is the place.

Uniformed security keeps the Dickensian side of Phnom Penh’s street kids and hustlers from cutting in on your indulgence. It’s decadent, maybe even a little absurd, but that’s the Riverside in a nutshell: traffic roaring, river rolling, and you, caught somewhere between the two, enjoying a rare moment of relative 4 star tourist calm in the chaos.

Three decades in the game and La Croisette still knows how to hold the stage. Treat yourself for a change and enjoy the fruits...

The restaurant added VAT to my bill but they are exempt from paying it. It's a 10% increase to my bill.

Update:

Owner asked me to update. Here it is. I don't see anything that allows them to charge VAT and pocket it.

Extend supports granted to hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and travel agents companies: Monthly tax exemptions that had been provided to hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and travel agents registered with the GDT that operate in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Preah Sihanouk, Kep, Kampot, Bavet and Poi Pet, will be extended for three more months (from July until September 2021), while these businesses still have obligation to file tax declaration and use the E-VAT filing, monthly during this tax exemption period. The obligation to make monthly contributions to the National Social Security Fund (“NSSF”) will continue to be exempted during business suspension or temporary business closure. Continue postponing the implementation of Pension scheme for more 6 (Six) months, until end of December 2021. This postponement would be based on the ongoing evaluation of the actual situation of the...