Just a few steps away from the Royal Palace and Supreme Court is Paul's BrewHouse, one of Cambodia's biggest coffee shop chains after Brown Coffee. It's the perfect place to cool off after a few hours of walking around the grounds of the Royal Palace.
Paul's BrewHouse is famous for their donuts that have the 'original U.S. taste' which sets them apart from other coffee shop chains such as Brown Coffee and Costa Coffee. Apparently, to get that distinct 'American' flavour, almost all of the components of making the famous donuts and pastries are all U.S. imports. Even the baker.
After 20 years in the donut business in California, Cambodian-American founder Paul Quach decided to bring the original American donut taste to Cambodia, opening his first store in Boeng Keng Kang 1, Phnom Penh in November 2012.
This particular branch on Sothearos Blvd. opened February of this year, making it the sixth chain. In an interview with Cambodia Daily, CEO Mengly J. Quach mentioned how they had plans to open yet another branch later on this year. So watch out for that.
The Sothearos branch (No. 52, Sothearos Blvd., neat St. 246) is decorated with European accents, with a mini replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a mural of the Venice waterfront.
Paul's has a huge variety of food and drink options - all sorts of hot or iced lattes, smoothies, sandwiches, pastas, etc. Their drink sizes mimic those of Starbucks: tall, grande or venti. But the staff do just refer to them as small, medium and large.
Hmm... how good do those pastries look?
Seating area outside
No denying that the coffee shop gives off the whole modern, Western vibe. It's got the whole industrial/rundown, yet classy feel. No complaints here.
How much does that table scream coffee-inspired-modern art?
Paul's seems like a perfect place to hang out and do some work - there were a few people, both foreigners and locals, typing away on their laptops whilst munching on a few snacks. It's pretty quiet and chill. You could spend the whole day here. I would.
On to the donuts!
They had such a wide variety of donuts it was sooo hard to pick which one to get. We ended up getting (starting from top left to the center) the white peanut, glazed and coconut donuts. I also got an iced hazelnut latte, which was so nice after being out in the heat.
Urmf... I could definitely have a donut right now.
As I didn't really eat breakfast that morning, I also got myself an egg and bacon croissant which tasted SO GOOD. No jokes. You have to try it. And oh my gosh, I would definitely recommend you try the coconut donut. It is absolute heaven! It's so fluffy and light, not too sweet and very filling. I'd definitely put it up there with J. CO Donuts (although the range isn't as wide as J. Co's).
Price-wise, pretty affordable. A donut costs about $1, while lattes are about $2-5 depending on what size you take. The croissant was $2.75 and the price was definitely worth it.
If you're thinking that it's somewhat like Starbucks and J. CO thrown together, you're probably right. If they had Paul's back in the Philippines or Canada, I'd be all over it. That is how much I love it.
I whole-heartedly (yes, I mean it) recommend you check out Paul's BrewHouse if you're ever in Phnom Penh. It's a great place to unwind after a day of exploring, and the food so good you'll want to come back for more.
I'm definitely going to come back and try out the pastas. They've also got a whole breakfast menu I'd love to try. And of course, to have another donut.
Happy discovering!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete