Familiar Food

Upon checking out from the first hotel, I was a tad rather puzzled as to why they declined my Visa credit card. They tried thrice and it still couldn't get through. That Visa card worked perfectly fine all week at other places. The Amex had to rescue me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have enough cash to pay the bill.

Work was done and now comfortably ensconced at the Raffles Hotel, I asked the cashier to try the same Visa card. It worked. It has been working since. GRRRRR. When I travel, the credit cards that come with me are just a Visa (with chip) and an Amex. Never saw the need for a third card. I think I might just have to bring 3 cards along nowadays.

At the dependable and familiar Raffles Hotel, the restaurants serve a fairly good vegetarian menu. However, for Cambodian standards, the prices on the menu are quite expensive. At USD35 for a 3-course meal (5 courses for USD49), we're talking about Singapore prices. But thankfully, ambience, service and the food are pleasing. There is a choice of western or khmer dishes. I picked western, had a soup of pumpkin and sweet peas, and mushroom risotto. The soup's comforting. The risotto could have been cooked for a shorter time so that it's less mushy. The mushrooms used weren't exactly brown field mushrooms. These mushrooms would be better used for soup dishes. Used in a risotto, they lend an acidic sour flavor to the dish. Still, it wasn't too bad. I skipped dessert.

Since the hotel has this fabulous range of single malts at prices that are cheaper than at hotel bars in Singapore, the table felt compelled to go down the list. In fact, I matched the drinks to my food. Heh. So, obviously I skipped dessert so that the sweet Balvenie 12 y.o could work its magic to complete the evening.