Raffles Hotel Le Royal
We didn’t score the Jacqueline Kennedy Suite at Hotel Le Royal (she stayed here in 1967), but I reckon the former First Lady would have been impressed with our room in any case.
Or should I say rooms: three of them in a huge colonial-style suite, with one wing for adults, one for children and a central living room – plus three big bathrooms, each with an original claw-foot bath. The view was down to the hotel’s two big pools, flanked by giant century-old trees glinting with fairy lights on our evening arrival.
By the way, there’s also a Charles de Gaulle Suite, and another named for Somerset Maugham. My girls didn’t know these famous former guests of Raffles, but as they strolled the black-and-white tiled corridors and climbed the grand wooden staircase, I could tell they sensed the hotel’s illustrious old-world vibe.
Old & New
That vibe has been expertly retained, even after a big refurb – three phases that kicked off in June 2019 and will be finished next month. Among the many changes, all 175 rooms and suites have been refreshed, including new Italian tiling and rain showers in the bathrooms; and the hotel exterior, recently a muted beige, has been restored to its original white.
There’s a new restaurant, too – a classic Parisstyle brasserie called Le Phnom 1929. It was a few days shy of opening on our visit, but that didn’t stop us eating up a storm elsewhere in Raffles. Each day started with a buffet breakfast: frosty glasses of Mumm champagne for the oldies, fresh juices for the kids, then countless bulging plates of impeccable Western, Asian and local favourites. One of our girls loved harvesting the honey from a slab of fresh honeycomb; another spent a formidable amount of time at the Peking duck station. I homed in on the Khmer noodle soups.
Then there was afternoon high tea at the Elephant Bar, an institution in Phnom Penh. While I gawked at the collection of 100 or more gins behind the bar, the girls tucked into tiers of perfect profiteroles, pastries and sandwiches. I reckon you could settle into this bar’s smooth leather sofas for a very long time. (And, over the past 90 years, I’m guessing a lot of people have!)
Out & About
Ready to see something of the Cambodian capital, we jumped in a tuk-tuk; Grab is available too, but kids go crazy over a tuk-tuk ride – well, ours did! After the smiling driver dropped us off at Wat Botum (and the girls finished giggling at the naughty-sounding word), we headed away from the river to the retail enclave of Street 240.
Keen on boutique shopping with an artisanal, fair-trade angle? You’ve hit the jackpot here. For everything from up-cycled jewellery to fashions made from vintage fabrics, try Rajana, A.N.D., Lotus Silk, The 240 and Watthan Artisans Cambodia. Tip for non-shopping Dads: Enso Café serves excellent Aussie-style coffee, farm-to-table treats, and $2 beers for when the better half gets entrenched in the clothes racks.
The Royal Palace is nearby, though it was unexpectedly closed when we dropped by because the royal family was on the move. We returned later and the girls ran amok in the expansive grounds, trailing after orange-clad monks and watching a traditional Cambodian music ensemble. The Silver Pagoda was a letdown though, its floor of 5,000 precious silver tiles largely hidden beneath protective carpets.
Dinner that night was just back from the river at Friends – highly recommended for its tasty tapas and alfresco setting, and also because it gives young people, including street kids, valuable hospitality skills. (My girls egged me on to order the Giant Creepy Crawly Bugs Burger, but I told them I preferred my spiders tossed through pasta.)
Subsequent trips into town involved exploring the Art Deco-style Central Market, strolling the Mekong boulevard, visiting a cat café, and more tuk-tuk rides to random spots on the map.
Highlights
Phnom Penh mightn’t be Asia’s most exciting city, but you do get a sense that it could become “the next big thing”. There’s a cool vibe zinging away under the surface.
What did the kids love most about it? Easy: Raffles! And I can see why. They were totally spoilt by staff members Sreymom and Sopheap. They got to have 15-minute mini foot massages right where they lay beside the pool. They found little gifts left in their room: a tray of macarons here, a couple of Raffles teddy bears there.
No wonder our youngest got in the habit of leaving written messages on any Raffles notepad she found, informing the staff that she wanted to stay forever.