Charlie don't surf the web son - Culinary Inspirations by Richard Bias

Missed Part Three? Catch up here.

Cambodia Part 1

As the sun melts into Angkor Wat and the tour buses leave, there is an opportunity for peaceful reflection as I continue on my weekly run. My days have been busy and the nights have been shorter than I’m used to. Maybe it’s a sign of age when you no longer long to sink a few pints after a busy service and opt for an Indian take-away and a G&T at home with the wife in front of the TV!

Siem Reap is the epicenter of tourism in Cambodia and received 1.6 million visitors last year which is a 23% increase on 2010 so you can see that this small town has enough guests to satisfy most of the vast hospitality industry which is increasing year on year. The ease of opening a business in Cambodia is far more attractive than the rest of SE Asia so this gives an opportunity to many Westerners to settle here and create something of their own. There are restaurants for all tastes and pockets, varying in quality of product and service, so competition is stiff in our little town.

Hotels should find themselves at the top of this food chain with a captive audience on site during the high occupancy times of the year, however this is not the case and everybody is battling to keep their guests in-house, so here my challenge begins.

Four-and-half months into my new position and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s never an option to walk in and change the world in a day but such things as different methods of cooking and recipes will change as you settle and new menus start to evolve through market trips, supplier lists and dining out at the many inspirations we have around us. I am blessed with three dining outlets so this lays the path to three separate dining options, each with their own style and unique features.

In the buzz of menus, settling into a new house and training for a half-marathon we have now come to D-day, the final assault, the day towards which we have been training for the last couple of months: Opening Night!

My blog has been put on the back burner and although I am still inspired daily by all things food, finding moments to put my sausage-like fingers to the keyboard are rare. With D-day in sight I can say, hand on heart, that this will change and dishes and market pictures will be blessing the web in quick succession to this quarterly up-date.