Region: Southern Cambodia> Province: Sihanoukville> Location: Victory Beach

Victory hill

This is the centre of the backpacker quarter above Victory Beach and has a good selection of places offering cheap fare, along with a couple of newer and flasher places. This remains the most popular backpacker area in Sihanoukville.

Ku-Kai Japanese Restaurant - Ku-Kai is all about fresh food
Victory HIll - Sihanoukville

This restaurant is a great addition to the Victory Hill dining options, located just across from Mealy Chenda. It's owned and managed by a Japanese couple, who prepare each dish in a very small, very clean open kitchen. Presentation and high quality are paramount, and their menu has something for most tastes: fresh sashimi and sushi, tempura, vegetables and savoury meat dishes. For a sample of what's in season, try one of their daily specials. Sake makes a good seafood accompaniment at 12,000Riel per bottle, and beer is available at reasonable prices. There's no trace of the nostalgic kitsch one often finds at expat-owned, memorabilia-filled restaurants. Instead, Ku-Kai is all about fresh food served with a minimum of distraction.
Type of Food: Japanese /

La Trattoria - For those who've a craving for simple Italian food
Victory Hill - Sihanoukville

More a pizza shack than a Trattoria, this restaurant has a cheap, cobbled-together feel. Still, its wood-fired oven pizzas are nice, and they've some splendid pastas, too. They're served with a French flourish by the Martinique-Vietnamese owner and her French husband. On the downstairs level, the low, stained-wood ceiling can feel either intimate or claustrophobic depending on your mood. There are few barriers here: diners can literally sit next to the pizza chef as he kneads dough by hand. The television, when in use, appears to be more for the benefit of the chef rather than diners, so can drown out conversation. It's best to walk up the rickety steps to a creaking terrace, as it's more spacious upstairs. Heat can rise from the oven below, so it's best experienced with an evening breeze. Both owners speak mediocre English, so using any French at all will receive a smile of appreciation, and a barrage of French instead. Good meals, and affordable too, for those who've a craving for simple Italian food.
Type of Food: Italian /

Le Bar'Ang - The best views
Victory Hill - Sihanoukville

Located above the newly-renovated Corner Bar, Le Bar'Ang boasts the best panoramic seaview on Weather Station Hill strip, however intersected it may be with power lines. It's a comfortable place, especially for Francophiles. Their fare is affordable and fabulous: intense flavours are combined in novel ways, with French attentiveness to presentation - especially when the owner is present. The selection is limited to western food, with French of course predominating. Portions are sizable by Asian standards and cooks are very generous with the olive oil. Service ranges from over-enthusiastic to confused, as staff speak little English and no French. Sometimes, however, it's necessary to avert one's gaze from motodops below who tend to use the Papagayo sign as a toilet.
Type of Food: French /

Mash/Melting Pot - Good range of Indian
Victory Hill - Sihanoukville

Mash offers a broad menu including a healthy selection of Indian dishes, though considering it took them half an hour to make two sandwiches, we hate to think how long it might take them to whip up a curry. The sandwiches were fine though. Give the bacon to Elvis (their dog) to gain a friend for life.
Type of Food: Indian / International /

Papagayo - Tapas!
Victory Hill - Sihanoukville
Tel: (012) 194 4976;
papagayoshv@yahoo.com

Papagayo is a welcome addition to the eating and drinking options on Victory Hill. Boasting just about the only tapas we've seen in Cambodia, they're actually pretty good, and with comfortable lazy chairs and very friendly staff, chances are you'll go through more than just one plate of them. Pool table also available. Recommended.
Type of Food: International /