Russian Market

Nobody here is Russian and nobody has been for decades but the name stuck. Back in the 1980s, when most of the foreigners around were Soviet, this was where they came to shop, and the city has called it the Russian Market ever since. To Cambodians it is Phsar Tuol Tom Poung, and these days it is the hippest, most loved market in town: a low, sprawling warren of impossibly narrow alleys where you turn a corner and lose all sense of direction in the best way.

This is the one to come to when you want to find something. The labyrinth is famous for its treasure-hunt energy — silk scarves and stone carvings, miniature Buddhas, ceramics turned by hand, antiques, racks of clothing carrying every brand label imaginable (most of them optimistic) at prices that make you laugh. Wander deep enough toward the back and the souvenirs give way to a wonderful jumble of scooter and machine parts, all brake discs and tangled wire — proof that for all the tourists, this is still a market where the neighbourhood gets its actual errands done.

Come Hungry

If you only eat in one Phnom Penh market, make it this one. The food stalls here are a destination in their own right: the kuy teav, Cambodia’s beloved noodle soup, the broth rich and the toppings yours to choose is regularly argued to be among the best in the whole city. Pair it with a glass of fierce, sweet Khmer iced coffee, grab a grilled banana on the way out, and you’ve eaten exactly what the locals queue for. All around the market the neighbourhood has bloomed into one of the city’s best café-and-brunch districts, so you’re never far from a second breakfast.

Why it’s worth your morning

The Russian Market is where shopping, eating and watching daily life all happen in the same breath. It rewards the traveller who slows down, gets a little lost, chats with the carvers and the coffee sellers, and treats the haggling as a friendly game, start at around half the asking price and meet somewhere fair in the middle. For souvenirs with character and food worth crossing town for, nowhere else in Phnom Penh comes close.