A Night at the Arunreas: Inside the Former American Embassy, Phnom Penh's Best Table and Bed

A stone's throw from the river, at the corner of Streets 51 and 228, a white building with Khmer-style pediments hides a singular history: a former American Embassy turned, twelve rooms later, into one of the capital's quietest and most sought-after addresses. Cambodge Mag spent the night.

Some hotels are chosen for their skyline, others for their history. The Arunreas belongs to the second category. The building, which once housed the offices of the American embassy, has kept the generous proportions, high ceilings and bearing of that era, unlike anything else in the neighbourhood. Just twelve rooms, spread across three floors, above a ground floor that, from first light, smells of butter and freshly ground coffee.

A façade that doesn't go unnoticed

On Pasteur Street, at the corner of Street 228, the white façade with red pediments stands out against the surrounding concrete. Ornate cornices, carved Khmer motifs on the front, frangipani trees in bloom on the pavement: the Arunreas — "the dawn" in Khmer — lives up to its name, with an entrance facing east. It's a ten-minute walk to the Royal Palace, and just as close to the riverfront, making it an ideal base for exploring colonial Phnom Penh without ever needing a car.

The Arunreas façade, at the corner of Streets 51 and 228 — © Cambodge Mag

The rooms: luxury without the fuss

Three room categories share the hotel's twelve suites — City Petite, City Grande, and the Majestic Suite, the largest, with its plunge bath and walls carved in an Angkorian-inspired style. Throughout, the same decorative vocabulary: dark wood, gilded wall sconces in Khmer motifs, thick rugs, white linen accented with maroon touches. A room you could easily spend the whole day in, sofa and desk included.

The Majestic room, plush comfort with Khmer touches — © Cambodge Mag

The bathroom, meanwhile, is almost a room in its own right: a carved sandstone bas-relief depicting apsaras, wide louvred windows, dark wood flooring and a suspended basin. Some suites even have an open-air bathtub, tucked into a stone recess lit by daylight filtering through the blinds.

A bathroom carved with Khmer motifs, with an open-air tub — © Cambodge Mag

The attention to detail carries through to the basins and lighting, designed for a quiet moment after a day spent exploring the city.

Suspended basin and apsara bas-relief in the bathroom — © Cambodge Mag

A suspended moment, as daylight still filters through the blinds and there's time to get ready before heading down to dinner.

One last look in the mirror before heading down to dinner — © Cambodge Mag

Khéma Pasteur: the restaurant that made the house's reputation

There's no talking about the Arunreas without talking about Khéma Pasteur, the French restaurant on the ground floor, which now boasts over 1,500 reviews and a 4.6 rating on Tripadvisor. Part bakery, part pâtisserie, part fine-dining restaurant, Khéma is as much the address of the hotel's guests as it is of Phnom Penh residents themselves, who come for a coffee or a business lunch, under display cases loaded with pastries and colourful macarons.

On the plate, the kitchen doesn't do things by halves: beef tartare served with seven small bowls of condiments, house-cured smoked salmon dressed with capers, lemon and a touch of caviar, foie gras terrine served with a crisp, vivid salad. Classic French cooking, executed with the precision of a proper brigade — several Tripadvisor guests don't hesitate to compare Arunreas dinners to the best tables in Paris.

Beef tartare and its condiments, served at Khéma Pasteur — © Cambodge Mag

Smoked salmon, capers and caviar: a carefully composed starter at Khéma Pasteur — © Cambodge Mag

A foie gras terrine and its salad, presented in front of Khéma's pastry counter — © Cambodge Mag

Breakfast: the house's true signature

This may be where the Arunreas scores the most points. The all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, served every morning in the same room, is unanimously praised by guests — and it's easy to see why once you see the spread: cold cuts, composed salads, colourful crudités, beetroot, fresh fruit piled into a tiered stand, pastries fresh out of the oven. The staff, in impeccable black uniforms, watch over every dish with quiet professionalism.

The breakfast buffet, generous and refreshed every morning — © Cambodge Mag

Regulars aren't wrong: many online reviews describe a breakfast "among the best ever had at a hotel," hearty enough to double as brunch for the entire day.

The buffet, in detail

Under the Khéma sign, along the glass-fronted wall where the bottles rest, the long buffet table lays itself out each morning like a still life: diced beetroot, sweet corn, grated carrot, mesclun and assorted lettuces, deviled eggs topped with tomato and chives, a composed salad with ham and comté. At the centre, a tiered stand of seasonal fruit — mango, dragon fruit, apple, pineapple — serves as the colourful centrepiece.

A couple of guests in front of the buffet, facing Khéma's glass-fronted wall of bottles — © Cambodge Mag

House-baked breads — sunflower, sesame, brioche — straight out of the oven — © Cambodge Mag

Salads, crudités and fresh fruit: the buffet in its full length — © Cambodge Mag

Deviled eggs and composed salad, among a dozen buffet dishes — © Cambodge Mag

Front-of-house staff setting up the buffet, in front of the rows of bottles — © Cambodge Mag

An address built with the city, not against it

What stands out, in the end, is the coherence of the whole: a historic building respected rather than altered, service consistently praised across review platforms, a location that puts the Royal Palace, the Independence Monument and the riverfront all within walking distance. You sleep well here, you eat even better, and you leave with the feeling of having lived Phnom Penh from the inside, rather than from behind the glass of a big chain hotel.

More information and bookings: https://arunreas.thalias.com.kh