The best live music in Siem Reap is at Hard Rock Cafe – Siem Reap! Phew, glad I got that off of my chest, now lets review said venue!
I’ll be brutally honest I am not at all a fan of Hard Rock Cafe in general, I have never been the type of guy that wants to visit every single one of them and collect the t-shirts, in fact before going to Siem Reap the last time I had stepped foot in one was in the Georgetown of the Cayman Islands approximately 17 years ago! There are a number of reasons for this, firstly the expense, but secondly I am hardly in love with chains.
Then after a rather unfortunate night at Darany BBQ I ended up at Hard Rock Cafe Siem Reap! Tough times indeed.
The food at Hard Rock Cafe
With it being a lchain you cannot go wrong with the food at Hard Rock, but it is far from cheap compared to other Khmer restaurants, and personally at least I largely ignore it. Nachos and burgers are decent though, although i’d still rather go to Jungle Burger.
To read about the best burger in Siem Reap click here.
To read about of McDonalds is coming to Siem Reap click here.
Drinking at Hard Rock Cafe Siem Reap
Despite being a chain the drinks here are extremely competitively priced, which means that people are happy to come and party here. A tower of Cambodia beer will set yo back $7.5, whilst even a vodka soda is only 2 bucks. Compared to other Hard Rock Cafes around the world this keeps them competitive.
The best band in Siem Reap – Most Wanted Band
Most Wanted Band are a group of 6 Filipinos led by the legendary Blaise that in some ways are wasted in Siem Reap. They have that typical Filipino flair and powerful voices that only draw people in, but more often that not get people up dancing, singing and partying!
And that is what sets this up as the best live music venue in Siem Reap and one of the best nights out in Siem Reap, Hard Rock Cafe and Most Wanted are just really fun! They play everything from Britney Spears to Hard Rock, with even a few of their own creations thrown in for the mix. And during their breaks, or even at the end of their sets they will come drink with you.
And the icing on the cake? At times they’ve even let the humble Street Food Guy knock out the odd belter. Now aside from being entrepreneur, tour guide and food expert, I am also now a singer at Hard Rock Cafe (kinda).
All good and bad things must come to an end
I was to end up leaving Siem Reap and moving to Phnom Penh for a number of reasons, ones which I won’t delve greatly into here. Towards the end of my time I had stopped going to Hard Rock Cafe – Siem Reap, for a number of reasons. Whilst they certainly had the best band, it turned out Hard Rock weren’t paying them.
This meant that the bad were initially reliant, and latterly expectant of people buying them drinks. This turned what was probably the hottest place in Siem Reap into an empty place. Simply people just stopped going there. No people duly meant no point in opening and eventually Hard Rock Cafe – Siem Reap closed its doors. I am sure it will reopen again when tourism starts, but until then it is but a blip on the map.
I will at some point check out Hard Rock Cafe – Phnom Penh, but I epxect to find much the same……
