Who said that Phnom Penh only have temples and pagodas to offer? I was surprised when I realised that my initial assumptions about Cambodia were oh-so-wrong. Quite sure that most people were thinking the same thing before they visited the country.
Cambodia does have a fair share of cafes and restaurants in the city areas and I decided to do a little cafe hopping of my own.
To be honest, cafe hopping alone is actually not as fun as doing it with a group of people as I have a budget constraint.
Anyways, Sive recommended a visit to Brown 57.
Established in 2009, Brown is currently a popular coffee chain in Cambodia and the one at 57th Street is one of its bigger outlets.
There's also another Brown Cafe located across the street but I think that they only sell coffees and pastries and I was looking for hot food.
To be honest, cafe hopping alone is actually not as fun as doing it with a group of people as I have a budget constraint.
Anyways, Sive recommended a visit to Brown 57.
Established in 2009, Brown is currently a popular coffee chain in Cambodia and the one at 57th Street is one of its bigger outlets.
There's also another Brown Cafe located across the street but I think that they only sell coffees and pastries and I was looking for hot food.
So I checked Google maps before leaving the hotel and decided to take that 15-minute walk. Walking is definitely a nice (and cheap) way to explore the city. Of course, I was extra careful with my valuables.
First-time-walking-in-the-streets-of-Phnom-Penh experience aside (will include that in another post soon enough), let's take in the decor and the furnishings of this cozy cafe.
The cafe consists of two floors and a high ceiling, which is unusually spacious for a cafe. There are tons of locals and some foreigners around. Multiple plug points could be found in the cafe.
It was way larger than I've expected.
Various seating arrangements are available, including sofa chairs and barstools.
Unfortunately, they didn't have the cold drip that I wanted so I decided to try their Iced Vanilla Latte ($2.85) instead. They have three sizes: Regular, Large, and (not sure about this but I'm guessing G stands for Grande?).
Sorry serious coffee drinkers, I turn to cafe lattes sometimes, or even flavoured lattes.
Brown's Iced Vanilla Latte had just the right amount of sweetness and the vanilla didn't overpower the coffee or vice versa.
And a Spaghetti Carbonara ($4). Not sure why I was craving for pasta that morning, and I obviously couldn't say no to bacon. Still had trouble eating due to the recently fitted braces so I had to secretly cut it into smaller pieces cause it was embarrassing.
It's hard to go wrong with Carbonara but it was good.
They also serve other breakfast items and also some fusion food but I have to say that the majority of the food items are Western.
The total amounted to less than $7, which is quite standard when compared to Malaysian cafes. A cup of decent coffee in a Malaysian cafe could easily be the price of a main course.
The wifi was quite fast but I actually had a 10GB data plan on my SIM card (more on that later, which I didn't manage to finish btw).
I guess I spent a little more than 2 hours there as I was sketching and doing some research over Pinterest and gathering some of my thoughts, etc etc.
It was an enjoyable place to just do your work without much interruption and the staff were super friendly even though not all of them speak English well.
Brown 57
No. 13, St. 57, corner of Rue Oknha Chrun Youhak (St. 294), 12302 Phnom Penh
Website: Brown Coffee Company
