How Rosewood’s rooftop bar, Sora, is raising the cocktail game in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Looking down from the 37th-floor expansive terrace of Rosewood Phnom Penh’s Sora sky bar, the sprawling urban metropolis comes in full view. Cambodia’s capital buzzes with a youthful population, a swarm of two-wheelers and tuk-tuks. Interspersed in the traffic are glitzy cars, big pick-up style vehicles and one Rolls Royce the city boasts of.

Once a French colony and now on the express path to urbanisation, Phnom Penh is shaping up in the image of Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City, only more laid back and significantly less choked with traffic.

Among the bustle stands the tallest building of the city, the ultra-modern Rosewood Hotel boasting 175 luxuriously appointed rooms complete with plush spa facilities, dining venues and seven bars, of which Sora sky bar stands out. Quite literally, as its outdoor terrace projects out of the building like a futuristic spaceship’s landing bay. I am sipping a Louis Roederer 242 champagne and taking in the city’s contrast as the bartending crew, led by head bartender Udom Chhoun, are prepping to introduce their brand-new menu, the Book of Yokai.

Sora, meaning ‘sky’ in Japanese offers a world-class drinks programme designed by Singapore’s Proof and Co. I am told the spirits ‒ including Caribbean rum, calvados and a range of vermouths – are widely available in Cambodia except for a few accents like grenadine, which are made in-house.

The new menu takes inspiration from Japanese mythical shapeshifting creatures called Yokai. It matches four of these mischievous beings to three cocktails each, connecting them by way of native Cambodian ingredients like rice, palm sugar, the much-celebrated Kampot pepper, and bananas. Local produce and ingredients feature generously in the drinks. Director of bars, Bob Louison, lets me know this is by design. Rosewood’s philosophy, he said, is a sense of place. “It's very important that the beverage and the food programme represents where the hotel is based, so it expresses the culture of the people, the cuisine and the ingredients that are available locally.” 

From the dozen drinks on offer, Sora 75 hits the spot. Served in a champagne flute, this sparkling sake and passionfruit sherbet refresher is built on a base of London dry gin. For garnish, the side is brushed with sugar lime dust and the fruity red Kampot pepper. The bar team encourage me to lick the side before a sip, and I follow the instructions obediently. The result is a revelation – the pepper mingled with the bubbles dances on my palate.

Another favourite, the Bow and Arrow, is equally refreshing and complex. Here, the flavours are intensified with the clever use of two milks - rice and almond - and two citrus notes. The first comes from grilled lemons and the second from lemongrass. It is a textural drink and a perfect start to the evening.

Louison, who earned his stripes in bar-centric cities of Paris, London, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Seoul, aspires to place Sora on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. Last year, he started the Rosewood’s Bar Series inviting mixologists from a host of 50 Best Bars to run guest shifts (including ones with Singapore’s Rusty Cerven and Shelley Tai) and masterclasses. The idea is not only to enthral his guests but also to lift Cambodia’s mixology game.

A 50 Best listing, he believes, will have a knock-on effect on the local bar economy.  “We want to have the award to put a flag on the map and say, ‘There are great things happening in Cambodia; come visit us.’”

THE VIBRANT BAR SCENE

Outside the swanky confines of Rosewood, Phnom Penh’s bar scene is flourishing. Local and expat bartenders are equally aspirational and contribute to the burgeoning drinks culture. The Bassac Quarter is a great place to catch the vibe. The narrow alleys, known for thematic dive bars and some sleek outfits, come alive in the evening with live music and ambient lights.

I passed by Alice in Wonderland-inspired micro-bar White Rabbit, biker-inspired Hangar -44 and settled on a whisky bar, Bar Odin. On display was an enviable collection of whiskies from around the world. I counted 18 different Macallans, 25 YO Highland Park and a coterie of hard-to-find Japanese whiskies, all available for a single pour along with bar bites and cocktails.

Mawsim bar is a quaint speakeasy hidden in a gritty, derelict building located in the centre of town. Dimly lit, it offers gin-based cocktails and distils its namesake range of micro-gins on the premise. Among the range of gins, the Tropical Citrus Gin stands out for its fresh green pepper, wild cardamom, and tropical citrus notes. No wonder it picked up a gold trophy at World Gin Awards 2023. Louison adds his favourite haunts to my list. Prei, a speakeasy hidden behind a spirit shop and Sofitel Hotel’s Le Bar, where his compatriot French bartender entertains with his vivacious personality, are his regulars.

The Elephant Bar at Raffles Hotel is a must-visit. The claim to fame here is Jackie Kennedy’s visit in 1967 and the champagne cocktail Femme Fatale was made in her honour. As it happens, the drink still features on the menu. Louison added: “The bar is very playful. They ask you to spot the monkey hidden amongst the elephant paintings around you, and if you can find it, the next drink is on the house.”The local craft distilleries are gaining traction and exporting far and wide to Europe and Asia. Their appeal lies in the local produce, spices and freshwater sources, all used to impart a proud Khmer identity to the distillates.

The country’s ample sugarcane serves as the raw ingredient (molasses) for white and gold rum at Samai Distillery, which doubles as a bar on Thursday nights, complete with live music. At Seekers Spirits, Long-time ex-pats Tania and Marco craft small-batch gins at their craft distillery accented with flavours of the Mekong like green Battambang oranges and Kampot pepper.

On the last morning, Rosewood’s chief concierge Daneth Lin’s organises a custom tuk-tuk to explore the city. Although Phnom Penh is modernising with skyscrapers and mega malls, it retains its historic charm with an eclectic mix of Cambodian palaces and French architecture. Further afield, Lin informed the city’s five pagodas are a must visit especially an early morning visit to Ounalom Pagoda to seek blessings from the local monks. It’s on the list for my next visit.