Le Méridien Angkor

Since publishing this review, Le Méridien Angkor has temporarily closed it’s doors due to the COVID-19 business downturn. This highlights just how precarious the situation in Siem Reap currently is and we wish the staff team all the very best in their search for employment.

Le Méridien Angkor is the closest international luxury hotel to Angkor Wat. Boasting impressive landscaped gardens and expansive communal areas that are adorned with gorgeous smelling fresh flowers and art created by local artists, as you enter the grand lobby space it’s hard not to be impressed. We loved the instant sense of calm at Le Méridien Angkor whilst walking in the Palm Garden with lush tropical plants, sweet smelling flower laden frangipani trees, pretty Khmer style statues and lotus filled ponds. The gardens and grounds at this luxury hotel are well established and well tended, making them a real asset to the property. But would we be as impressed with our return stay as vegan guests? We certainly were, in fact our expectations were exceeded with a delightful 5 course chefs table experience being the highlight of our stay.

The spacious rooms and suites have everything a guest might need during their stay. The huge bed was super comfortable and during our recent stay, our ‘Garden View Suite’ offered the perfect place to relax and refresh. Again, we spent a lot of time at the hotel pool this time because it was just so inviting and a refreshing escape from the heat. Different to most pools in the city, the pool at Le Méridien Angkor is a unique design inspired by the ancient Khmer temples that are literally just up the road. Swim under the bridge and around the stone plinths with trees sprouting out of them and enjoy the scenery before relaxing on one of the comfortable beds poolside.

The Vegan Food

We enjoyed breakfast at Royal Angkor Cafe where our vegan breakfast dreams came true. At check in we advised the food and beverage team that we were vegan and when we headed down to breakfast we were greeted with an array of vegan delights. Including a flavour packed dahl and mango sticky rice, both favourites of ours, we were suitably impressed with the collection of vegan breakfast dishes. The dahl was served with paratha whilst the other hot dishes incuded oven roasted vegetables, a light but flavoursome broth and veggie fried rice. Fruit salad and a spicy papaya salad completed our feast and only left us to reflect how every day should start like this!

Dinner at L’Angelo was a plant based extravaganza. Le Méridien Angkor are currently offering a 5 course chefs table experience where one of the talented chefs will curate a meal based on your desires. Select from the Khmer chef, Indian Chef or Italian chef which was our choice, and a great choice it was too as Chef Andrea guided us through a vegan tour of Italy.

Our journey commenced with a delicate carpaccio of water melon ‘meat’ topped with hazelnuts, beetroot, a duo of mushroom and aubergine purées with dehydrated black olive and mixed leaves. Tender paper thin slices of water melon were the canvas for a beautiful pattern of ingredients, exquisite textures and a perfect balance of flavours finished with a kick of black pepper and salty dehydrated olive crumb. Next up was a flavour packed panzanella with cauliflower, onion, trio of bell peppers, avocado, celery, dehydrated tomatoes, asparagus and a single baby carrot which combined to pack a punch. Chewy dehydrated tomatoes pieces, bread soaked in vinegar to bring sharp overtones and the crunchy fresh vegetables each brought their own signature flavour profiles and variety of textures to this simple Tuscan classic.

A perfectly cooked and creamy pumpkin risotto with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper was followed by a delicious fagioli. The fresh herbal tones of imported Italian oregano and a rich sauce of tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery and beans was home cooked Italian food at it’s best. Last but certainly not least was a divine bowl of drunken pineapple; cubes of fresh pineapple with toasted coconut, home made coconut sorbet (OMG this was insane), strawberry compote and mint leaves. Quite simply this was a bowl full of pina colada and we were in dessert heaven.

Creative and thoughtful plant based cuisine throughout, proof that with a talented chef and the finest of ingredients vegan Italian food is hard to beat.

The Vegan Essentials

The hotel has excellent mountain bikes that guests can borrow, with the new cycyle tracks throughout the Angkor archaeological park starting just 5 minutes from the hotel this was an opportunity we couldn’t miss. We loved our 25km bike ride before breakfast, missing the crowds and before it got too hot, this was the perfect way to visit the temples. The bathroom amenities at Le Méridien Angkor are now from Malin+Goetz who don’t test on animals and many of their products are suitable for vegans. Having checked the wesbite, we can confirm that the body wash, shampoo and conditioner are all vegan, but not the moisturiser. This is a great addition as during our last stay, they were using own brand products and it was impossible to know if they were vegan or not.

The Vegan Food Quest Verdict

Check in to Le Méridien Angkor for a luxury hotel stay near Angkor Wat, one of the world’s most amazing sights. Enjoy the garden setting, the relaxing pool and the comfortable rooms. Vegans can rest assured that they will be very well catered for, just ask to speak with one of the helpful F&B team at check in and they will make it happen. Or treat yourself, and book one of the chefs table experiences for the ultimate in plant based indulgence!

We were guests of Le Méridien Angkor but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views

Le Méridien Angkor
Charles de Gaulle
Siem Reap
Cambodia

Telephone: +855 63 963 900
Cost From: £62 / $82 per night – Nov 2020 (discounted rates during COVID)