Artillery Cafe
Siem Reap, Cambodia
We’re always excited to hear about places that cater well for vegans and so when we saw that Artillery Cafe was opening in Siem Reap, with a whole bunch of raw and cooked vegan dishes on their menu, we thought we’d take our Vegan Food Quest down there to eat our way around the menu and see whether our excitement had been justified.
We love their mission statement
If you love the raw food movement then this place is for you; if cooked vegan food is more your thing then this place is still for you. In fact, if you aren’t even a vegan you can still fall in love with Artillery Cafe because there are some non-vegan things on the menu too (but obviously we didn’t try any of these).
Teapots on the wall…
It’s light, airy and wonderfully smoke-free (a rarity in Siem Reap sadly) with an emphasis on healthy, seasonal, fresh whole foods. Located on Wat Bo Road and away from the touristy Pub Street / Central Market area, the vibe is relaxed and even a bit classy, with pieces of art from local artists being displayed on the walls and healthy superfoods to take away on the shelves.
Healthy superfood takeaway options too!
It’s reasonably priced too, making this place a near revolution in the raw / health food movement which can sometimes get a little carried away with their prices. Not here though; at Artillery Cafe we found the food to be reasonably priced and generously portioned. Hallelujah.
The Vegan Food
Aside from the lovely atmosphere and the very friendly staff, we really fell in love with Artillery Cafe because of the food (and we haven’t even tried all of the vegan options on the menu yet). Expect well presented plates of living food, tasty collections of cooked food and desserts that you won’t want to end.
Our first choice was the raw pizza; a flaxseed and almond base with a sun dried tomato sauce and a heap of fresh veggies and greens, finished with a nut cheese swirl. It was so full of flavour and tasted really fresh so we’ll definitely be ordering this again.
Raw Pizza
We then embarked on eating our way through a small zoodle mountain, opting for the cashew pesto sauce to cover our spirallized raw courgette ‘pasta’. The zoodles were really long (which made sharing them a lot of fun) and it was a great rich, yet somehow light, plate of food; we particularly loved the dehydrated tomatoes which sat atop our zoodle mountain like jewels in a crown.
Zucchini ‘Pasta’ or a courgette zoodle mountain as we like to call it
We also ordered the falafel plate. We should remind people at this point that we have a serious love of falafels and get pretty excited when we see them on the menu and even more excited when we find a good version of them (read here and here if you don’t believe us).
It’s a love that can often lead to disappointment however, as place after place seem to ruin this food of the vegan goddesses, leaving out key elements, going all experimental with textures or just generally missing the mark.
But, we’re pleased to report back that the Artillery Cafe falafel plate was actually really good – awesomely garlicky hummus? A fresh, well dressed salad? Light and fluffy pitta bread? Yes, yes and yes.
And to top it off, the falafels themselves had the interesting addition of sesame seeds inside. Yum.
Being particularly fussy falafel eaters, we’d have loved a tahini dressing and a chilli sauce (and if we’re being really fussy, pickles) to throw into the mix.
Falafel Plate – we loved it
Never ones to miss out on an opportunity for bliss, we thought we best sample a few of the raw bliss balls. Filled with all sorts of goodies and flavour (you need to like sesame though) we think they make a perfect little after lunch or on-the-go snack.
Bliss Balls
Because we have a soft spot for raw cake (ever since discovering the revolution of eating really good raw, plant-based foods at Rasayana Retreat in Bangkok and Alchemy in Ubud), we had to try Artillery Cafe’s raw passion fruit cheesecake.
What can we say? A good textured and flavoured base with a smooth layer of heavenly ‘cream cheese’ made from cashew nuts, finished with a suitably sweet, sour and fruity passion fruit top. We can also say that we love this cake and we love the Artillery Cafe chefs who made this cake.
Love is Raw Vegan Cheesecake.
The Vegan Food Quest Verdict
No need to make a reservation at Artillery, just drop by to fall in love with their raw vegan or cooked vegan food. Eat your way around their menu where you’ll be spoiled for choice, filled with fresh healthy food that tastes as good as it looks and where you can indulge in plant-based creations that will leave you smiling.
We love Artillery Cafe
Artillery Cafe
Wat Bo Road
Next to Maison 557
Siem Reap
Telephone: +855 85 85 65 11
Opening Hours: 0800 – 1700