ASANA OLD WOODEN HOUSE Cocktail Bar

"Learn to make Khmer cocktails at Asana Most visitors to Siem Reap will sign up for a Cambodian cooking class but very few have discovered Asana bar and its fun Khmer cocktail making classes. Located in one of the last traditional timber houses in the old town of Siem Reap, laidback Asana bar is owned by Siem Reap-born jazz-loving Sophari ‘Pari’ Ung and her French expat architect spouse Guilhem Maitrepierre. Pari invented the Khmer cocktail and in these relaxed classes she or her sweet Cambodian staff teach participants about Khmer ingredients such as tamarind, turmeric, lemongrass, and wild ginger, before showing them how to make a couple of her cocktail specials, such as the Asana Sling, made with gin, triple sec, cointreau, grenadine, cherry brandy, bitters, lime, pineapple juice, and Sombai’s Galangal-Tamarind rice spirit. If you're feeling creative, you then get a chance to mix your own cocktail. If not, the staff will teach you another Asana specialty. Unlike a lot of cooking classes, which non-cooks can find a tad nerve-racking if they don't have knife skills, Asana's 90-minute cocktail class couldn't be easier. After, you can recline on the stuffed rice sacks that are Asana's sofas and keep on sipping or pop around the corner to Miss Wong for more. I recommend you have a restaurant pre-booked for dinner. Pari is very generous with her pourings! Classes are offered daily at 6pm ($15 per person) by appointment only, but it's essential to book ahead."

"Learn to make Khmer cocktails at Asana Most visitors to Siem Reap will sign up for a Cambodian cooking class but very few have discovered Asana bar and its fun Khmer cocktail making classes. Located in one of the last traditional timber houses in the old town of Siem Reap, laidback Asana bar is owned by Siem Reap-born jazz-loving Sophari ‘Pari’ Ung and her French expat architect spouse Guilhem Maitrepierre. Pari invented the Khmer cocktail and in these relaxed classes she or her sweet Cambodian staff teach participants about Khmer ingredients such as tamarind, turmeric, lemongrass, and wild ginger, before showing them how to make a couple of her cocktail specials, such as the Asana Sling, made with gin, triple sec, cointreau, grenadine, cherry brandy, bitters, lime, pineapple juice, and Sombai’s Galangal-Tamarind rice spirit. If you're feeling creative, you then get a chance to mix your own cocktail. If not, the staff will teach you another Asana specialty. Unlike a lot of cooking classes, which non-cooks can find a tad nerve-racking if they don't have knife skills, Asana's 90-minute cocktail class couldn't be easier. After, you can recline on the stuffed rice sacks that are Asana's sofas and keep on sipping or pop around the corner to Miss Wong for more. I recommend you have a restaurant pre-booked for dinner. Pari is very generous with her pourings! Classes are offered daily at 6pm ($15 per person) by appointment only, but it's essential to book ahead."

"Sample fresh organic produce at Asana Farmers Market Every Sunday morning the quiet courtyard of laidback Asana bar in the old quarter transforms into Asana Organic Farmers Market, a petite farmers' market which started in December 2014. If you're staying in a holiday rental or serviced apartment and have a kitchen then grab a basket and get down there early before things run out. If you're not, you can safely turn up around 11am and settle onto a rice-sack cushion to sip a coffee and sample a pastry and buy some picnic snacks. Hidden away on a narrow alley off The Lane, which is best known as being home to Miss Wong bar, the tiny market has just ten stalls selling locally grown organic produce, jars of creamy palm sugar, free-range chickens and eggs, homemade French charcuterie, including delicious pâtés and terrines, delicious Middle Eastern dips, and freshly baked German-style bread. The market is an initiative of Asana's charming owners, Sophary ‘Pari’ Unn and her partner Guilhem Maitrepierre, who, with young children of their own, became concerned about the quality of some of the Thai-grown produce being sold in Siem Reap . While tiny now, they have plans to widen offerings. Expect to see local honey and seasonal fruits from Mount Kulen soon."