SUKA MAKAN: A RETURN TO ARAB STREET @ CLEMENTI SUNSET WAY

Here we are again, in Arab Street Turkish Restaurant along Sunset Way. The thing about favourite restaurants is that we keep coming back. The reasons have to do with the food - it must be delicious - but also the service. Here, we are made to feel at home. The owners and staff treat you like special guests, and are genuinely happy to see you return.

Whatever you order on the menu you get, and then you get extra on the house. Mushroom soup was served first, compliments of the chef. Then a humus dish with vegetables. That whets your appetite for the main courses.

Mushroom soup

Humus with vegetables

On this occasion, we enjoyed a lamb pide (Turkish pizza) and cheesy chicken and rice served in a tagine (brass bowl). That's more than enough to fill the stomach, and this is washed down with Turkish mint tea, which they know has been a favourite of ours. That special service keeps you coming back!

Lamb pide

Cheesy chicken rice in a tagine.

There's a trick of pouring tea
without getting scalded.

With owner Max & staff Abdel Rahman

ARAB STREET TURKISH RESTAURANT

Blk 106 Clementi Street 12 #01-38

Singapore 120106

restaurant arab street turkish & western (@arabstreetturkishwestern) • Instagram photos and videos

SUKA MAKAN: LE MANOLIS @ POST OFFICE SQUARE, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA

This has to be Suka Makan's restaurant of the year. While schlepping around Phnom Penh's Post Office Square, I discovered this old school French restaurant at the corner of what has to be the city's grottiest looking building. Located just opposite the old Post Office was a square block that used to be The Grand Hotel, later Le Grand Manolis after being bought by a Greek businessman.

Le Grand Hotel gained some notoriety in the 1920s after it housed the young Frenchman Andre Malraux, who had been arrested for stealing reliefs from Banteay Srei Temple near Angkor Wat. Pending trial, he and his wife stayed in this hotel before he ran out of money and pushed off elsewhere.

See, no Richard Clayderman here!

The Old World decor of Le Manolis restaurant which occupies its northwestern corner of the Grand complex looks like it's still existing in the Belle Epoque. One might even imagine Andre Malraux still lounging here for a smoke and drinks. This represents the height of French elegance, oozing atmosphere and class from every pore. It even has a decent classical vinyl collection, sure sign the owner has good taste.

Mediterranean squid,
with garlic and parsley.

Burrata with melon and Parma ham.

Baked mussels with cheese and garlic.

We had a leisurely Sunday lunch, which turned out to be the finest on our trip to Cambodia. Ordering tapas rather than main courses was a good choice, if only to sample the variety of dishes on offer. Here are the photos, of what was perhaps and most likely our most memorable meal of the year!

A steak tartar salad.

Japan oysters, half dozen.

That's when we'll be coming next!

Watching the world go by.

LE MANOLIS

No.6 Preah Ang Eng Street (No.13)

Post Office Square

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

French Restaurant in Phnom Penh | Le Manolis Wine Bar

Old World charm. 
Paris or Phnom Penh?

You can see this "hotel" (Belleville) and it's environs in the 2002 movie City of Ghosts starring Matt Dillon, James Caan and Gerard Depardieu.

Matt Dillon is taken for a ride

to Le Manolis (Belleville Hotel)

SUKA MAKAN: PHNOM PENH STREET FOOD / PART II

Phnom Penh night market

We've been to fancy restaurants, cool cafes, stellar sky bars (okay, just one) in Phnom Penh, but what continues to amaze it its street food. If we had stayed longer, we would have tried many more stalls (maybe except those selling edible insects), and we would have loved them all.

Coconut ice cream - three scoops of choice,
coconut strips and coconut water
to wash it all down!

Here is the second part of our street food adventure, and the photos tell it all. 

We had a great time!

Grilled pork on Sisowat Quay.

Just 2000 riels (50 cents) a stick!

Nothing beats beef noodle soup
for breakfast in the Central Market.

Washed down by ice coffee!

Another great fried rice to take away.

The banana fritters must be tried.

So, Lim Kee Goreng Pisang,
eat your heart out!

SUKA MAKAN: SORA BAR @ VATTANAC CAPITAL TOWER, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA

Here's an admission: I've never been to a sky bar before. Ever. Until Now. Saturday evening (26 September 2026) seemed like a good time to change that. Sora Bar is located on the 37th storey of Vattanac Capital Tower, just two blocks away from our hotel. We headed to it at 5 pm as it opened, allowing for the short interval before sunset.

There was an overcast sky over Phnom Penh. This was the monsoon season, and it had drizzled a little earlier but now it was dry. The weather was cool, and it was the perfect time to view dusk even if we could not actually see the sun set. 

Looking north along Monivong Boulevard,
the Raffles Hotel le Royal looms
in the foreground. Going there the next day.

Looking south, Monivong Boulevard
bisects Phnom Penh, displaying
the old and the new.

There were cocktails and I had a mocktail. The food was Japanese, and we had wagyu beef skewers and a sushi roll. Nothing fancy, as the reason here was to capture the atmosphere and the view over Phnom Penh, a city that had virtually no tall buildings when we first visited in 2008. Now, parts of it looked like Bangkok. Squint a little, and I thought I saw Manhattan. 

Here came the drinks.

The mocktail matched the colour of my shirt!

Soon the sun set, and the view was just as stunning. Heading indoors, we also viewed the east side of the city and the Tonle Sap River before it joined the mighty Mekong.

SORA BAR

37th Floor, Vattanac Capital Tower

66 Preah Monivong Boulevard

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Sky Deck in Phnom Penh | Sora Rooftop Bar at Rosewood