Located between bustling Old Market and the leafy French Quarter, tourists don’t exactly stumble upon it. Not yet in any English language guidebooks, Hup Guan Street still remains something of a secret, even amongst Cambodians and expats. While Kandal Village has developed organically, according to Loic and Sirivan Chak Dumas it took a collaborative effort on the part of the business owners to get people there. “They can easily spend an afternoon here because there’s quite a few shops and they can stop for lunch, go for coffee, and at the end of the day have a spa.” “People really enjoy Kandal Village and comment on how nice it is to stroll without being hassled,” Loubatieres says. “But in the last year, we’ve had lovely businesses like Trunkh, The Little Red Fox Espresso, and just recently, Sirivan (an atelier, opposite) open.”
“When I opened, there was only Common Grounds (an American-style NGO café), Frangipani Spa and a few travel agencies,” Loubatieres says. “It’s getting there,” says Loubatieres, a young London-born designer with Cambodian, Vietnamese, French and Spanish heritage, who moved to Siem Reap in 2013 to work with local artisans, weavers and craftspeople to develop original collections. Tucked in between the trendy businesses are travel agencies, ticket offices, a pharmacy, and residences with motorbikes parked out front. “My brother has a shop there.”īoasting just a dozen small businesses, including a few cafés, an Italian trattoria, a silk textile shop, spa, and a handful of boutiques and concept stores, Kandal Village is not yet Hackney, nor is Hup Guan Street Columbia Road yet. “Columbia Road,” Loubatieres, a former Londoner, suggests, referencing the engaging shopping street near buzzy Spitalfields and Brick Lane that’s home to scores of fascinating shops, galleries, cafés, delis, antique stores, and a famous flower market. “It’s a bit like Hackney,” he comments, referring to the East London neighbourhood that’s home to interesting independent shops, vintage clothes stalls and hipster markets. The couple has spent a few hours on the street, shopping and having coffee. Inside, their affluent occupants, sent here by the in-the-know concierge of a nearby five-star hotel, browse the eclectic range of products: retro hand-painted Cambodian signs, carved wooden cows, kitsch tea-towels illustrated with Angkor attractions, and other curios.Īt nearby Louise Loubatieres’ chic home-wares shop, a young British holidaying couple – newspaper editors from London – are deciding which handmade ceramic dish to buy. Several tuk tuks are parked outside the hip concept store Trunkh. An early hip-hop vinyl spins on the record player beneath an enormous portrait of Amy Winehouse, who appears to watch over the packed room of expats and tourists sipping what has quickly become regarded as Siem Reap’s best coffee. “It’s a far cry from Old Market,” she says to me.“I’ve been here an hour and haven’t been hassled to take a tuk tuk or buy anything once!”ĭown the street, the Little Red Fox Espresso café and hair salon upstairs hums with the chatter of conversation. Aside from two young Cambodian girls quietly cross-stitching opposite, there’s not a soul around. “It’s so peaceful here,” she observes, surveying the rows of modern shop-houses that stretch down the short street. On a balmy afternoon on tiny Hup Guan Street, hidden behind busy Samdech Tep Vong Road (also known as ‘ANZ Bank Road’), a solo woman traveller sits in the shade outside Frangipani Spa, writing in her journal as she nurses a glass of lemongrass tea. Hip Hup Guan Street and Kandal Village, Siem Reap
See our separate guide to where to shop, sip, eat, and spa in Kandal Village, Siem Reap’s hippest neighbourhood. Here’s how it happened and what to expect. Rapidly undergoing gentrification, the gritty little district, which also takes in surrounding streets and lanes, is home to some of Siem Reap’s most fashionable spots, and has emerged as one of the northern Cambodian city’s coolest destinations. Hip Hup Guan Street in cool Kandal Village is where Siem Reap’s savvy expats are shopping, sipping and eating. Kandal Village is Siem Reap’s secret shopping, eating and drinking destination, centred on and around hip Hup Guan Street in the increasingly cool little northern Cambodian city.
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