CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Sunset at
Fishmarket; roasted seabass at
Twen t y T hr e e ; t he diner- s t y l e
interior of Twenty Three; rice fields
on the town outskirts.TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / AUGUST 2017 41
THE FOOD
- From the outside, there is little to
distinguish Twenty Three ( fb.com/
23kampot; mains US$4–$8) from the
dozens of other restaurants housed
in the colonial-era buildings that line
the streets of Kampot. But the
unassuming eatery has flair where it
matters most: in the kitchen. Since
opening in May last year, head chef
Owen Kaagman has quickly carved
out a reputation in the town’s dining
scene with perfectly balanced dishes
such as the smoked mackerel pâté
appetizer and roasted seabass with
cauliflower puree main, which I
wash down with a glass of white wine
at lunch, followed by a decadent
chocolate-and-salted caramel pot
for dessert.
Trained in high-end London
restaurants including the Michelin-
starred Medlar, Kaagman now works
with two domestic stoves and
substitutes cold-climate vegetables
with whatever approximations he
can find in the local market. “It’s been
a massive learning curve in terms of
adapting,” he says. But while the
potholed streets of sleepy Kampot are
a long way from London’s fine-dining
scene, that’s just the way he and
co-owner Jeremy Ashby like it. “It’s a
beautiful, sleepy little town,” Ashby
says, “but it’s getting busier now; you
can see it happening.”
+ A sunset cocktail on the riverfront
at the centrally located Fishmarket
( fb.com/fishmarketkampot; mains
US$7–$30) is the perfect way to wind
dow n at t he end of t he day. Hu g h
Munro, who spent four years
refurbishing the 1930s Art Deco
building before opening the
restaurant early last year, admits the
town’s growth spurt has taken him
by surprise. “I thought we would beahead of the curve, but in the last six
months or so we’ve had five great new
places open,” he says a s g reen-hued
fishing boats putter along the river
beh i nd h i m. “A nd it’s on ly goi n g to
get better.”THE FUEL
+ Café Espresso (kampotcoffee.
wixsite.com/espresso; mains US$3–
$7) is a Kampot institution that last
year moved to one half of a cavernous
former salt-storage warehouse
outside the Old Market area where
most other tourist-oriented
businesses are clustered. “This is one
of the last abandoned industrial
buildings,” says Angus Whelan, who
owns the popular spot with his wife,