Cambodia & Tourism: Seekers and Park Hyatt join forces to spice up the nights of Siem Reap

What can one do in the evenings in Siem Reap? And above all, how can it be done with class and propriety? Here, night falls quite early and asserts itself as inevitably as it is implacable. The city then comes alive or becomes more intimate, depending on the mood chosen.

For many, sunset marks the beginning of a special conviviality, that long-awaited interlude (for those who know how to wait) when one goes out for a drink, or more, in company. For some, it is aperitif time or a drink with colleagues; for others, a friendly gathering or happy hour, that moment when being good at math is enough to get your share. The question remains: where to settle in order to savor this moment.

For many years, Pub Street—the famous bar street—with its beers at prices defying all competition and any form of abstinence, dominated the narrative of Siem Reap’s nightlife. Recently, another story has been quietly unfolding in places where creative mixology is preferred over diluted drinks, crafted aromas over random mixtures, precise gestures over piles of ice. It is within this evolving nightlife landscape that Botanical Expressions took place, an event held on May 29 to celebrate the launch of Botanical Spirit, an exclusive liquor born from the collaboration between Park Hyatt Siem Reap and Seekers, and to highlight the creativity of five local bartenders.

Siem Reap at night is therefore no longer just about low-cost, high-volume partying; it is also a more subtle, elegant, and experiential scene, where cocktail bars help reshape the destination’s identity.

Cocktail bars have a unique power: they transform a city into more than just a tourist stop—they turn it into a way of life. By infusing storytelling, rituals, refinement, and deep local roots, they elevate the nighttime image, attract new audiences, and create that “social value” travelers love to recount, photograph, and share.

In Siem Reap, this transformation is particularly embodied at Park Hyatt Siem Reap.

From hotel fantasy to staycation

For a long time, I had two dreams that seemed almost incompatible: living in Siem Reap and staying at the Park Hyatt—being both a resident and a visitor. The first came true a few months ago after four years in Cambodia, in Phnom Penh. The second was recently offered to me, as I was sent by Cambodge Mag to cover a cocktail competition at the hotel as a jury member.

I still remember my first encounter with this place in 2013. I was living in South Korea at the time and had come to Siem Reap for a few days during the rainy season—now called the green season—drawn by low prices and an irresistible desire to escape. One evening, while wandering, I dared to quietly step into the Park Hyatt to admire its central courtyard and take a few discreet photos. I was just a fascinated tourist then, almost intimidated by the majesty of the place, its tranquil beauty, its silent spirituality.

Today, thanks to what is called a “staycation,” I was finally able to live this dream from the inside. A staycation—combining “stay” and “vacation”—means taking a holiday without leaving your own city, for example by staying in an iconic hotel just a few streets from home.

It is a way of becoming a traveler again within one’s daily life, of changing perspective without changing latitude—or even attitude. And Park Hyatt Siem Reap is exactly the kind of hotel that makes this practice desirable, even irresistible: an urban refuge with architecture rich in history and aesthetics, where time seems suspended without losing one’s grounding.

In a city where one lives, it can be refreshing to become a tourist again, if only to better feel what others come to seek—that indefinable something that makes one forget a life that has become too predictable.

Park Hyatt, or elegance as a language

If I had to summarize my stay at Park Hyatt Siem Reap in one word, it would be elegance. A refinement that is never ostentatious or aggressive, but diffuse, constant, almost choreographed without appearing rigid. This elegance lies in the architectural lines, noble materials, subtle scents filling the corridors, soft lighting caressing surfaces, and fresh lotus flowers placed with almost ritual precision.

From the moment I arrived, I was welcomed with that special attention that distinguishes efficient service from true hospitality: smooth check-in, a welcome drink chosen from a menu, a brief but firm shoulder massage, and above all the feeling of being received with quiet generosity—as if they anticipated my desires before I could identify them.

The next morning, breakfast confirmed this impression. The Park Hyatt’s Signature Breakfast Experience, inspired by the energy and flavors of a Cambodian morning market, does more than nourish—it tells a story of place. Khmer coffee, fresh coconut juice, varied textures, artisanal details, wellness touches: the whole offers a remarkably mastered sense of place. True to my almost obsessive passion for eggs, I began with an egg-white omelet with sustainably sourced smoked salmon, before indulging in salmon eggs Benedict, both comforting and decadent.

Even lunch at the Glasshouse, with its more contemporary, fusion-oriented, and creative spirit—where nearly everything revolves around the croissant—extends this language of finesse and discovery. Park Hyatt does not simply sell rooms or meals; it creates an atmosphere—a way of inhabiting Siem Reap with distinction and a touch of playful audacity.

Hotel bars as accessible luxury stages

What is often forgotten is that hotel bars can be among the most democratic spaces of luxury. There is no need to book a room to step inside, sit down, order a drink, and enjoy, for an evening, a fragment of refined experience in an iconic setting. Proper attire may be required, though a certain relaxed style can be accepted if worn with confidence as “deconstructed chic.”

At Park Hyatt Siem Reap, this promise comes vividly to life. The Living Room Bar, where the experience unfolds through cocktails infused with Cambodian plants and spices, reimagined local ingredients, and distinctive Khmer talent, appears as the natural setting for both controlled and creative mixology.

Even more, this spectacular bar designed by Bill Bensley offers a décor akin to sacred theater. Large dark wood shelves pay tribute to the Khmer elephant, a symbol of memory, strength, and resilience. Here, the counter becomes secondary as one immerses in this interior stage—a place almost of contemplation or purification.

Botanical Spirit, the essence of the Kingdom

On May 29, Park Hyatt Siem Reap hosted a very special event, Botanical Expressions, at once festive, creative, and strategic in shaping the nighttime image of the Cambodian destination. It marked the launch of Botanical Spirit, an exclusive spirit developed by Seekers Independent Spirits for the hotel.

The signature of the evening, “The Essence of the Kingdom,” is particularly evocative. It is neither a stroke of marketing genius nor a divine inspiration, but a genuine statement of intent. Botanical Spirit is a tribute to Khmer terroir—its plants, its local craftsmanship, and the distinctive energy of the Kingdom expressed through its gastronomy, art and handicrafts, its cultural identity, and what I call “Khmeritude.”

Botanical Spirit does not seek to evoke the notes of classic gin. Without juniper, it cannot officially be classified as gin. It asserts its Cambodian essence by drawing exclusively on local ingredients: coffee husks, sun-dried Battambang orange zest, kaffir lime leaves, local coriander, galangal, cassia bark. The result is a bright, aromatic liqueur, gently spiced, complex without being pretentious, subtle without being subdued.

This creation deliberately rejects conformity and complacency. Too many destinations or experiences still try to make themselves desirable by endlessly reproducing already proven models.

Yet desire arises neither from banality nor from déjà vu. Botanical Spirit, on the contrary, affirms that an exceptional product must carry within it a landscape, a soil, a sensibility, and flavors deeply rooted in its country of origin.

This is precisely where branding comes into play. A destination is not built solely through logos or communication campaigns, but also through tangible, sensory, and memorable experiences—powerful enough to become stories. A signature cocktail, served in an iconic hotel, thoughtfully described, photographed, shared, and recommended, can then become a powerful tool for territorial positioning.

Botanical Expressions, or the Staging of a Destination

The evening’s program followed a meticulous, generous, and almost affectionate choreography: guests arrived at 4:00 p.m., followed by registration, welcome drinks, and networking, then a presentation of the collaboration and the jury members, the five participating bars and bartenders, and finally a group photo in the inner courtyard before beginning the live preparation and tasting of the cocktails.

The five competitors took turns at the same station, one after another, each given fifteen minutes to deliver a spirited performance featuring Botanical Spirit. They worked with basic tools and had access to a central station stocked with syrups, fresh ingredients, garnishes, glassware, and finishing elements. A brief quarter-hour to bring a unique recipe to life—develop it, finalize it, and present it to the jury—after explaining their inspiration, creative direction, and technical choices.

Everything about the evening reflected a staging that was both thoughtful and spontaneous, solemn yet joyful. Park Hyatt Siem Reap was not merely organizing a competition.

The hotel positioned itself as a central actor within the local ecosystem, bringing together bartenders, media, hospitality professionals, and knowledgeable enthusiasts around a shared celebration of innovation, creativity, and mastery of craft and technique.

The collaboration with Seekers felt particularly harmonious and aligned with shared values. More than a brand partnership, it was a meeting in service of the destination. On one side, an iconic hotel in Siem Reap, already associated with quality and high added value. On the other, a spirits house rooted in the destination, recognized for its deep appreciation of local ingredients. Together, they create not only a product but also a story now firmly tied to Siem Reap—one that allows the destination itself to be savored, in the literal sense.

Five bartenders, five stories

Five bartenders took part in this cocktail competition, some for the first time, each bringing their own world, gestures, sensitivity, and way of interpreting Botanical Spirit.

• Rom Touch began his career in 2017. He has built his expertise through creativity, discipline, and a strong sense of connection with customers. He is now the manager of Bar 43, known for its balanced and characterful cocktails, inspired by both classic recipes and Western mixology.

• Oudom Lee, from Laundry Bar, has been working since 2014 and has gained recognition for his ability to bring creative ideas to life through Khmer plants, even creating one of the most popular cocktails at his bar.

• Puthphearom Sor, from Dialogue, found his path in bartending in 2017 after a long personal journey. Since then, he has pursued a sincere quest centered on creativity, mixology, and new experiences capable of bringing happiness and smiles to guests.

• Kosal Soy, from Rossini Cuisine within the Temple Group, is a Captain Bartender with more than three years of experience and a particular affinity for Khmer signature cocktails as well as Italian-inspired classics.

• Finally, Seyha Sihak, from Mesa Restaurant, has been working since 2022 and also stands out for his inventive use of Khmer herbs and for a signature recipe that is already highly appreciated.

Beyond the competition, what moved me was the way each of these bartenders told a personal and emotional chapter of Siem Reap and contemporary Cambodia. Each cocktail was a small statement, sometimes bold. An aesthetic declaration. An attempt to give the territory a new voice—more personal, more confident, more memorable.

The beauty of the gesture and the generosity of the recipe

I was particularly struck by the elegance of the gestures. By that spirited dance where every movement matters to the point of sometimes trembling: the shaker lifted without harshness, the measure poured with concentration, the fleeting glance toward the glass to check its visual balance, then that final touch which transforms a drink into something almost magical.

I still recall that jasmine flower placed with almost religious slowness onto a large cube of ice, as if the cocktail deserved a blessing. I also remember the grated coconut, sprinkled with a hint of light irony before the first sip of a cocktail inspired by Nom Ah Kour Tnout, that traditional Cambodian steamed cake made from ripe palm fruit pulp, rice flour, and coconut—naturally sweet, delicately textured, and meant to be eaten immediately.

My palate is probably more Epicurean than hedonistic, although perhaps both. Hedonism, in its common sense, seeks immediate pleasure above all, sometimes without much concern for what follows. Epicureanism, on the other hand, pursues a more deliberate, measured, almost reflective pleasure: one that endures, respects both body and mind, and favors quality over quantity. In the realm of cocktails, this translates into a preference for distinctive creations with pronounced and lasting aromas, textures that settle and unfold, flavors that verge on the intoxicating or enchanting, occasionally flirting with the aphrodisiac, yet never descending into excess.

I do not seek the strongest cocktails, but those that know how to suggest—even assert themselves—rather than overwhelm, to seduce rather than impress, to tell a fragment of life rather than simply fill a glass.

Among the finest drinks of the evening, there was that generosity I value in both gastronomy and mixology: the feeling that a recipe conveys something beyond technique. It carries emotion, culture, memory, and an almost affectionate intention.

When Taste Buds Deliberate

The cocktails were evaluated according to a remarkably explicit weighting: 40% for taste and balance, 30% for the creative use of Botanical Spirit, 20% for creativity and storytelling, and 10% for presentation and finish. I found this hierarchy interesting, as it serves as a reminder that in cocktails, appearance should never take precedence over structure, nor narrative over drinkability.

I noticed that my evaluations did not always perfectly align with those of my fellow judges, which seems quite healthy to me. Taste remains a subjective domain, even when guided by technical criteria.

However, we agreed on the essentials: the cocktail by Rom Touch from Bar 43 emerged as the overall winner of the evening, while a second cocktail, created by Putphearom Sor of Dialogue, also captured our full attention.

The winning cocktail possessed that rare quality one seeks in a signature drink: an immediately perceptible identity, impeccable balance, and a sense of memorability.

It was not merely good or even delicious; it had the potential to embody something greater than itself. This is precisely why the winning cocktail will be added to the menu of Park Hyatt Siem Reap, complete with its story, tasting notes, and mention of the competition from which it emerged. All that remains is to find it a name.

Signature cocktails as a branding tool

A great signature cocktail is not just a drink. It is a cultural symbol, a narrative shortcut, a promise condensed into a glass.

The Singapore Sling, created at Raffles in 1915 by one of Asia’s bartending pioneers, Ngiam Tong Boon, does not simply refer to a mix of ingredients. It evokes a certain idea of Singapore—its history, its colonial past, and its staged tourism identity.

Other destinations have also understood that a cocktail can tell the story of a place through its ingredients, its practices, and its imagination. In Mexico, many establishments have made mezcal or tequila the heroes of creations that go far beyond the Margarita, bringing together smoked agave, chili, local citrus, fresh herbs, and edible flowers to capture the landscape, terroir, and culinary culture of the country. In Northern Europe, some bars showcase forests, wild berries, local honey, or foraged herbs gathered throughout the seasons to evoke climate, light, and a particular relationship with nature. In all these cases, the signature cocktail goes beyond a simple recipe. It becomes a small staging of place, a way to let people taste a city or a country without relying on postcards.

A signature cocktail contributes to destination branding because it makes identity absorbable, tellable, and shareable. It allows visitors to leave not only with a photograph, but with a taste, a sensory memory tied to a moment of relaxation, well-being, and a story they can pass on.

And when this cocktail is served in a distinctive venue, visually striking and embedded in memorable architecture, the power of the experience is amplified.

On another level, signature cocktails also contribute to a form of soft gentrification. They transform practices, shift cultural codes, attract new clientele, raise expectations in terms of quality, design, and service, and gradually reshape the perception of a neighborhood or a city. Of course, gentrification is an ambivalent phenomenon. But in the case of Siem Reap, it seems that the move upmarket driven by signature cocktails can enrich the urban landscape rather than homogenize it, provided it remains connected to local ingredients, local talent, and Cambodian identity.

The goal is not to replace popular nightlife with detached sophistication, but to add a new layer to the urban narrative. To show that Siem Reap can also be a destination for refined mixology, creative hospitality, and cultivated nightlife.

Bars as sensitive ambassadors of a destination

Cocktail bars can now assert themselves as sensitive and sensory ambassadors of a destination. They tell the story of a place through its herbs, roots, citrus fruits, spices, textures, talents, and aesthetics. They also embody a certain idea of the present: a vibrant urban scene, confident in itself, capable of engaging with international codes without losing its local accent.

Hotel bars therefore play a particularly interesting role to interpret. They are more or less open and visible, structured, often carrying a certain idea of service, while welcoming diverse and often cosmopolitan clientele with varied intentions.

One can walk into the Park Hyatt for a simple drink, for a meeting, for a pause, to celebrate something, or simply to see whether the beauty of the place truly lives up to its promise. And it is precisely this accessibility that makes it a powerful tool for cultural diffusion.

By offering spirits enthusiasts—or even those interested in non-alcoholic cocktails—the opportunity to experience, without excessive intimidation, a special and memorable moment (or not) in a particularly refined setting, hotel bars help democratize a certain idea of sophistication. They transform luxury into language, design into atmosphere, and the cocktail into a mediator between the destination and those who come to experience it in a different way.

What if each community created its own cocktail

As a sustainable tourism consultant, this evening reinforced a broader conviction of mine: mixology can become a powerful tool for territorial and community valorization.

One can imagine that, in the future, each local community could develop its own signature cocktail, based on its agricultural products, its stories, its plants, its taste memories, and its inherited or reinvented practices. Such an approach would strengthen the links between agriculture, craftsmanship, hospitality, and storytelling, while reducing the symbolic distance between local products and premium experiences.

At its core, a well-crafted cocktail is a small synthesis of the world. It contains spirit, diversity, harmony, and generosity. As I like to say: “Life is a cocktail. It is all about spirit, diversity, harmony, and generosity.”

Siem Reap by night will surprise you

Seekers and Park Hyatt have chosen to spice up Siem Reap’s nights, both literally and figuratively, by launching an exclusive spirit and embedding it in an evening where mixology, design, storytelling, and hospitality come together. Park Hyatt Siem Reap did not simply organize a cocktail competition. It staged a vision: that of a destination capable of elevating its brand through taste, gesture, elegance, design, storytelling, and local anchoring.

Through Botanical Spirit, its collaboration with Seekers, the spotlight on five talented bartenders, and the inclusion of the winning cocktail on its menu, the hotel affirms that Siem Reap at night can be more than just a festive extension of visits to Angkor. It can become a cultural experience in its own right—more premium, more embodied, more memorable.

As a jury member sent by Cambodge Mag, a resident in Cambodia for four years and in Siem Reap for four months, a sustainable tourism consultant and founder of Millennium Destinations—a consulting company specializing in the development and promotion of sustainable tourism, as well as destination branding and marketing—I can only welcome the emergence of this new scene.

A scene that invites further exploration, glass after glass, place after place, in search of rare, elegant, and sustainable gems. Siem Reap by night will surprise you, with many new unique and transformative experiences that we will introduce to you soon.

Of course, I can only advocate moderation when it comes to alcohol.