GOLD: BAO BEI CHINESE BRASSERIE
Silver: Campagnolo | Bronze: Phnom Penh | Honourable Mentions: Pidgin, The Union
A cozy, welcoming, shabby-chic room, Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie (Gold) is the place to kick back with friends. The home-style cooking is authentic yet prepared with exacting professionalism. Dishes arrive in small waves, for a leisurely meal illuminated by savvy wine pairings. Another trailblazer revamping a sketchy corner of the city, Campagnolo (Silver) presents remarkably wide-ranging choices for rustic northern Italian fare driven by nose-to-tail enthusiasm. The rear bar remains a great place to hide out. Phnom Penh (Bronze) has long been Chinatown’s most welcoming, ecumenical dining mecca, despite (or maybe because of?) its unapologetic fluorescent ambiance.
