Cuisine Wat Damnak

Cuisine Wat Damnak is one of Siem Reap's best known restaurants for contemporary Cambodian cooking, featured in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants' Discovery series. It is run by French chef Joannes Riviere, who has lived in Cambodia for more than two decades, speaks Khmer and has written a cookbook on the country's Indigenous food, together with his co-owner Nguon Vengchhay. Their approach combines Cambodian flavours with French technique, using ingredients sourced from farms and villages around Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and other provinces.

There is no a la carte menu. Instead the kitchen serves an eight-course tasting menu, with an eight-course vegetarian version, both of which change regularly according to what the markets offer. Past dishes listed by Asia's 50 Best Restaurants' Discovery series include a sour pork sausage salad with guava, lotus stems and cashews, and chhlang fish with spicy toasted coconut and rice. The regular menu may contain nuts, pork and seafood, garlic and chilli feature throughout, and most dishes use fish sauce, so guests avoiding fish are advised to choose the vegetarian menu. The drinks list includes international wines, cocktails made with local spices and draught beer from Siem Reap Brewpub.

The setting is a traditional Cambodian wooden house in the Wat Damnak area. Downstairs is a modern, air-conditioned dining room decorated with local artwork and handicrafts; upstairs is a fan-cooled room with a more traditional feel, and there is also a softly lit garden planted with tropical greenery and herbs. The restaurant only accepts guests aged 12 and over, so it is best suited to couples, friends and food-focused travellers rather than young families.

Dinner is served Monday to Saturday from 6:30pm, with last orders at 9pm, and the restaurant is closed on Sundays. Book online at least 24 hours ahead; for shorter notice, contact the restaurant by phone or email. Prices are in US dollars and a service charge and government tax are added. Payment is by cash in dollars or riel, or by Visa or Mastercard. Note that a special festive menu replaces the usual tasting menus from 21 December 2026 to 2 January 2027, and the restaurant is opening exceptionally on Sunday 6 December 2026.

The restaurant stands between Psa Dey Hoy market and Angkor High School in Wat Damnak village, a short tuk-tuk ride from the Old Market. Because the menu is long and leisurely, allow at least two hours for dinner and arrange your ride home in advance.