It Takes Two to Tango

It’s often the intangibles that make a restaurant successful, and while time will be the ultimate arbiter of success, Pacharan has got a lot going for it — superb location, artsy interior design, relaxed ambience, a chef from Barcelona. The place just feels hip.

Spanish tapas and wine restaurant, with views of the Mekong and Royal Palace. 389 E1 Sisowath Quay (entrance on Street 184), Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

If the raucous sneak-preview party was an accurate indicator, than a new hot spot appears ready to hit the Phnom Penh culinary scene.

Offering a delectable array of regional treats, an exhaustive roster of fine wine, and all the frantic flurry of a Flamenco guitar, Pacharan — the first authentic Spanish restaurant in the Kingdom of Cambodia — opened its doors February 25 and provided patrons a peek at some full-blown sketches of Spain.

Well-heeled businessmen and over-served journalists rubbed shoulders with diplomats and local restaurateurs at a vibrant fete presided over coolly by General Manager Andres Arias, who was born in Brazil and raised in Barcelona.

“This is a real Spanish atmosphere,” said Arias. “In Spain people go to bars and stand up drinking and chatting with their friends. It’s a fun, informal way to have active social interaction. There’s no schedule. Your night is always a work in progress.”

Twenty-six-year-old Arias most recently worked for Robert DeNiro (“He’s a nice fella, a character”) at Nobu, the actor’s Japanese-South American fusion restaurant in London. Just prior to arriving in Cambodia, Arias hosted a private function for music-diva Madonna.

“My idea is to make everybody feel like a star. We’re aiming to provide a new way of approaching the customer,” Arias said. “We know what serving famous people is like, and how demanding they are, so hopefully our customers will have a memorable time and come back.”

Pacharan, named after a berry-based liquor from northern Spain, is the brainchild of Arias, his longtime colleague Roberto Mata, and a management team led by FCC Operations Director Anthony Alderson and company president Steve Haywood.

The 65-seat restaurant, resplendent in tile, hammered copper and gleaming, polished hardwood, received its curvilinear design from Jerry Swaffield. Handling Pacharan’s dizzying selection of tapas, or Spanish “bar snacks,” and assorted main courses is 30-year-old Catalonian head chef Fernando Ballesteros.

“Everything is really remarkable,” said Arias, who admitted that most of those involved are working nearly around the clock to prepare for the restaurant’s upcoming launch. “As soon as people come in they’ll hear the music, see the art and the movements of the shakers behind the bar and they’ll see it’s pretty unique. All the effort and detail and innovation that’s gone into this is pretty amazing.”

Located prominently on the bustling riverfront corner of Sisowath Quay and Street 184, Pacharan doesn’t just offer views of the Mekong and the Royal Palace — it commands them. The casual outside seating, on a second-storey balcony, rivals any watering hole in the country for romantic relaxation.

“You really feel like you’re some place else rather than Phnom Penh,” said Mata, whose El Pirita restaurant is a mainstay of London’s Mayfair District. “The customer is surrounded by great wine and great service, and it really reminds you of places in Spain. We have that really great atmosphere.”

The simple elegance of Pacharan’s décor is mirrored by its menu. The dozens of tapas feature imported Spanish cheeses, like manchego, and illustrious Iberian hams, like serrano. Seafood dishes range from Galician-style octopus to an assortment of paellas. Available among the segundos platos, or main courses, are roasted suckling pig, sea bass and fillet of veal. Most tapas come in well below $4, with main dishes a bit more.

“It’s going to work,” said Mata, a native of Madrid. “Anywhere in the US or England it would make money. I’m sure about that. I just wish it was twice as big.”

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 When choosing a hotel within Phnom Penh, the location is not such a major concern as traffic while it can be bad during the rush hours can be easily avoided and is no worse than any other major city. Location in terms of attractions close by, should be a major consideration as this will allow you to enjoy a little of Phnom Penh’s nightlife and restaurants without being restricted to a hotel or having to take a taxi.

The river area is perhaps the finest location in that regard, as the quaint shop houses that run along the river offer everything from fine dining to everyday French or Khmer cuisine, in an unusual almost Mediterranean like setting with outdoor cafes and such. Being close to the river also allows you the opportunity to see first hand just how enormous the Mekong is.

Please note that some hotels accept limited types of credit card, we strongly suggest you check directly with the hotel prior to departure whether they accept the card you plan to pay with. 

Below we review all the major hotels in Phnom Penh, some are available for reservations online with special discounted rates and others not yet. We have also compiled a Hidden Hotel Costs of Hotels in Phnom Penh to show you some of the ‘hidden costs’ of the hotels where you may choose to stay.

In our continuing series of Hidden Hotel Costs which has already covered, Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila, we move to the capital of Cambodia and look at what you can expect to pay for some of the hidden hotel costs in Phnom Penh’s finest properties.

As in our other such surveys we have taken what we believe to be generic products which most hotels should offer clients and ones which guests may well be tempted to use. The Coffee is the price of a coffee in the hotels main lobby area. The coke is the price of a Coke or Pepsi in the rooms mini bar. The shirt is the cost of getting a mans long sleeved shirt laundered (not dry cleaned) through the hotels laundry. The club sandwich and fried rice are the prices of respective items through room service. The cost of the telephone call is the price the hotel charges per minute for a local call to a regular telephone (not mobile which carries a different price), this is very important because that is how you will be connecting to the internet if you use your own computer. The cost of the incoming fax is how much the hotel charges you for faxes they receive for you, most hotels do not charge if less than 10 pages are received at any one time but surprisingly we found one that did !

Hotels Coffee Coke (minibar) Shirt (laundry) Club S/wich (RS) Fried Rice (RS) Tell Call (local 1 min) Incoming Fax
           
La Parranda US$ 1.75 ++ US$ 2 + US$ 2 ++ n/a US$ 2.50 ++ US$ 0.50  1 Page = US$ 1 
           
InterContinental US$ 3.00 ++ US$ 3 + US$ 3 ++ US$ 6 ++ US$ 7.50 ++ US$ 0.10 FOC
           
Sunway Hotel US$ 2.50 ++ US$ 2 + US$ 2.80 ++ US$ 7 ++ US$ 6 ++  US$ 0.10 FOC (-10)
           
City Villa = = = = = US$ .03 =
           
Raffles Le Royal US$ 3.00 ++ US$ 3.50 + US$ 3 ++  US$ 8 ++ US$ 10 ++ US$ 0.30 FOC
           
Mi Casa US$ 2.50 ++ n/a US$ 2.80 ++ n/a n/a  US$ 0.12 FOC
           
Cambodiana US$ 2.80 ++ US$ 2.50 + US$ 2.80 ++ U$ 8 ++ US$ 5 ++ US$ 0.20 FOC (-10)
           
Amanjaya US$ 1.20 nett US$ 1 + US$ 3.75 ++ US$ 5.50 ++ US$ 3.50 ++ US$ 0.10 FOC
       
So why do we do these time consuming surveys you ask ? The reason is quite simple, in that we believe you can see a lot about the management of a hotel through its ‘hidden hotel costs’ and how the management views your comfort level and satisfaction. After all once you have checked into the hotel, the hotel has to a certain extent a captive audience, and while spending a little extra here and there may not break the bank, sometimes it can be just infuriating to feel you are being taken for a ride.

 Therefore we believe that if the hotel takes your comfort and welfare into consideration  into account then there should not really be any surprises in our surveys.

In conclusion we have coloured all the most expensive in each category in red and the best value hotel per category in blue.

The results are really quite staggering (as always with these surveys). The most worrying expense in the survey is at La Parranda who is the most expensive hotel for telephone calls charging a staggering US$ 0.50 per minute for a local call whereas the cheapest is at City Villa at only US$ 0.03 per minute and the average being around US$ 0.10 per minute, although the Raffles Le Royal also charges way over the top for a service that most frequent travellers will require, at US$ 0.30 per minute. La Parranda also stands out as the only hotel we surveyed to charge for incoming faxes whereas most hotels do not charge for this service at least under 10 pages per time.

The amazing Amanjaya Hotel stands out as being the best value in 4 out of seven of the categories, namely coffee, coke, club sandwich and incoming fax but surprisingly has the most expensive shirt laundry service at US$ 3.75 ++.

The highly regarded Raffles Hotel Le Royal stands out for the opposite reason as it manages to be the most expensive in four out of the seven categories namely coffee (shared with InterContinental), coke, club sandwich and fried rice (US$ 10 !!).

The other hotels were very much in the middle of the park with their prices.

While hoteliers can claim that their products are of a superior nature, better service etc, we hope with this survey, to select items that are as generic as possible. We hope you have found  this survey useful and we hope even more that it may have helped you save a little on your trip to Cambodia !  
 
 
 
 

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Modern casino security is usually divided between a physical security force, which patrols the casino floor and responds to calls for assistance and reports of criminal and/or suspicious activities, and a specialized surveillance department, that operates the casino’s closed circuit television (CCTV) system in an effort to detect any misconduct by both guests and employees alike. Both of these specialized casino security departments work very closely with each other to ensure the safety of both guests and the casino’s assets.

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