K&R Asian Adventure: Pavillon d’Orient Hotel & Le Planteur Restaurant

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When someone unabashedly recommends a hotel to you and it is also rated very highly on sites like TripAdvisor, you sit up and take notice, then you book it immediately. As we were telling people of our impending trip to Asia, someone could not recommend Pavillon d’Orient Hotel in Siem Reap to us enough. He and his wife were going to book a stay at one of the more expensive places in town for their trip, but saw the great reviews for this hotel and opted to stay here instead. He said they did not regret it one bit, that it was easily the best decision they made. Now we totally understand why and will also be wholly recommending this hotel to anyone visiting Siem Reap, Cambodia. Other than the villa, this hotel was the most enjoyable accommodations of our trip.
Pavillon d’Orient is a boutique hotel located just outside the city center of Siem Reap. The grounds give it an oasis feel among a lively, bustling dusty cityscape – a nice retreat to escape after a long, hot day of hiking through temples. The hotel is made up of four mansions featuring private rooms with large balconies overlooking two beautiful pools and lush landscaping, an open-air check-in and lobby/library area, an open-air restaurant and bar, and a spa.Included in your stay is free airport transfer to and from the hotel. Upon our arrival in Cambodia, we were greeted with a van shuttle to Pavillon to took about 20 minutes. We were welcomed by very friendly staff, a cool towel, and refreshing lemongrass ginger tea that was amazing!Guest service attendants personally escorted each of us to our rooms helping with our bags. We were all staying in the building straight to the back of the property shown here. It was two story with approximately 8 rooms total. Our room was located upstairs at the end – Room 1 was the number.According to their website, being a boutique hotel means the small size and the limited number of rooms allows them to offer a genuinely personalized service. But there are still 4 mansions on the property featuring similar rooms and balconies. Our room was very spacious and bright featuring a queen sized bed, extra seating, desk, storage space, closet with a fridge and safe. While the mosquito netting was a necessity in Cambodia (we killed about 20 on the van ride from the airport alone), it actually added a bit of romantic ambiance to the room. The bathroom was also large with a jumbo soaking tub and plenty of counter / shelf space for our toiletries.The other side of the bathroom featured a walk-in shower with an awesome nozzle head, in shower shampoo, conditioner and soap dispensers. The bathroom smelled lovely all the time and I kept wondering what was making it smell so pretty – there is an automatic air freshener right beside the toilet that let out puffs of essential oils. Our room opened up to a very private balcony with additional seating. We loved opening up the curtains to allow all that light into the room. The hotel provides a citronella candle for your balcony as well since mosquitoes are such a problem in the area. I had to include an image of our friends’ room – Cindy and AC – the newlyweds had a beautiful rose petal welcome. The oasis surroundings on the property had lots of places for lounging and relaxing to take it all in or enjoy an afternoon drink. With how incredibly hot it was in Cambodia in March, we had to take a dip in the pool to cool off. Pavillon hotel has two large salt water pools. This one with a waterfall feature was closest to our room and was definitely the quieter of the two with no shallow end for kids. We hung out here a few times during our stay. Most of the boutique hotels in Siem Reap have their own restaurant on property so that they can serve you breakfast, lunch and dinner without you ever needing to leave. While we did wander out into town for a few meals, we enjoyed a lunch and dinner at Pavillon’s restaurant Le Planteur as well. Le Planteur is an open air dining experience with a view of the other pool and tropical gardens. To the right of the below image was the hostess stand and the counter area where they set up the buffet line for breakfast. Breakfast served daily was also by far one of the best hotel breakfasts we’ve ever had. They had everything from bread to toast and pastries to fresh tropical fruit, fresh jams, honey, homemade yogurt to hot fresh croissants, omelettes to order and a traditional Asian breakfast of congee. Cambodian cuisine has a huge French influence due to it’s history as part of the French colonial empire so the fresh croissants rivaled those I’ve had at some of the best French bakeries. Fact: Breakfast is served ALL-DAY!! Why is this awesome? Because on a morning when you wake up at 5:00am to roll out for sunrise with your guide, you probably won’t make time for breakfast beforehand. Being able to take a mid-morning break to refresh and have this amazing food waiting for you? It’s pretty great. At lunch and dinner, they serve lemongrass, kaffir lime, and ginger peanuts as a appetizers to snack on until your food arrives. Addicting is the word I would use to describe them. Yum! We were loving all of the exotic flavors found in Khmer cuisine not often seen in East Tennessee. Our first day in Cambodia, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Le Planteur for lunch before our Treak Village Tour since we were short on time. We were not disappointed. I had a squid stir fry style dish with onion, lemongrass, ginger, peppers. Very good, filling and fresh. Remington ordered the Kampot Pepper Fish with fresh ginger. So. Much. Flavor. He loved this dish. It doesn’t look like a ton of food, but don’t let that deceive you. This packed a punch and with the rice left him totally satisfied. I also snapped a picture of Cindy’s dish because it looked so good. This was actually an appetizer. I believe it was the Khmer Noodles with Beef, which was also served with two small samosas on the side. Cindy enjoyed it, but said the samosas were the best part. Just look at that amazing flower garnish though! Cambodians are amazing artists with their food. Going to Le Planteur for dinner was an even bigger treat – more special little touches that made it a unique experience like cool moist towels to wipe off your hands and face. Centerpieces on the tables were more of those beautiful lotus flowers folded like origami paper. Remington tried the Angkor Beer, which was a pale style ale. Meanwhile, I decided to give the local infused rice wine – Sombai – a taste. It was very similar to fermented wine like sake.via
Incredibly strong and potent, but with a singular flavor unique to Cambodia – they had interesting flavors like green tea – orange and anise – coffee. We had an order of the spring rolls to start. A classic Asian staple, a good spring roll can say a lot about a restaurant. These were just right. Perfectly crispy, not greasy at all. I tried one of the most quintessential Khmer dishes – Amok Fish. Amok is a preparation and cooking method where curry, typically fish curry, is steam cooked in banana leaves. This dish was creamy and rich loaded with Khmer spices. It was so filling I could not finish it all even though it looks like a small dish. Remington got the fried rice with shrimp, which was topped with a fried egg – something we had seen all over Thailand and Cambodia. He said that while the egg was over done, it was still a very good fried rice. The service during breakfast, lunch and dinner at the restaurant was outstanding. We felt like honored guests being waited on – the wait staff would quickly greet you with a smile, take your order, bring you whatever you wanted. They were incredibly attentive and eager to ensure you enjoyed your meal and your stay. In fact, the entire staff at Pavillon went above and beyond to make sure you enjoyed your stay as much as possible. Again, attentive is the best word to use. They never hesitated to find out how they could assist you. One of the best things about a stay at Pavillon? Your very own tuk tuk driver for your entire stay – the cost of transportation is included with your nightly rate and they will take you anywhere you want to go from sunrise at Angkor at 6am to nightlife in the city. Their clock technically stops at 10pm though so if you plan to be out later, just be sure to arrange that with them and know there might be an additional charge. Our driver was super friendly, always smiling and he was sure to have fresh water available for us. While the cost is included, feel free to leave them a generous tip at the end of your trip – they will appreciate it as they live off of very little money per day.via

Don’t forget to visit the spa at Pavillon. They offer massage, body scrub and wraps, nail services to rival those found back home and all for very affordable prices. Someone posted a copy of the menu on Tripadvisor here. I got a tamarind salt body scrub that left my skin baby soft and smooth for just $15. If you stay for 3 nights or more, they will include a one hour massage for two for free.

The final touch that made this place extra special? Each night our maid left a scroll with a traditional Cambodian folk story written on it for us along with a handmade cotton Krama scarf for us to take home.

So what makes Pavillon d’Orient the perfect place to stay in Siem Reap?

• It is in a prime location for visiting the temples of Angkor Wat but still only a 5 minute ride to town
• It is a lush, private oasis from the hot, dusty city surrounding it
• Tuk tuk driver with transportation from sunrise to late night included
• Airport transfer included
• Amazing all-day breakfast and delicious food for lunch or dinner
• Outstanding affordable spa services. Free massage if you stay 3 nights
• Excellent service from making you feel welcome to offering dining suggestions and making reservations to assisting with tours. They helped us book our amazing tour guide for our day at Angkor Wat
• Spacious, clean rooms and bathrooms with private balconies
• Two pools!
• Extra unique touches that make you feel like a special guest
• Prices are incredible considering the charm of the hotel, the excellence in customer service and quality of the stay. You will not find a better deal.
• They are now offering an All Inclusive option with unlimited food and drink and minibar

At the end of our trip, it was nice to enjoy this beautiful boutique hotel experience and we can definitely not recommend it enough if you are going to visit Siem Reap.

Pavillon d’Orient Hotel

Road Number 60, Road to Angkor Complex, 00000, Cambodia
Tel: +855 63 760 646
http://www.pavillon-orient-hotel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pavillon-dOrient-boutique-hotel-184991014875097/timeline/?ref=ts

This is a “sponsored post.” We received dinner at Le Planteur one night in exchange for this review – but we paid for our hotel stay and the rest of our food. As always, all opinions are our own and we are honest in our reviews. If we don’t like it, we will tell you. Regardless, this blog only recommends products or services we use personally and believe will be good for our readers.