The iconic Elephant Bar at Raffles Hotel Le Royal won four honors at the “Top 30 Bars Cambodia” awards for 2023, earning recognition for its signature cocktails, impeccable service and distinctive special events. The outlet was recognized as the “Top Bar of the Year” in the awards, which were announced on March 30. It was also named one of the “Top 30 Bars in Cambodia” and landed two honors for “Top Bar Team of the Year” in separate awards presented by Heineken and Chivas Regal.
“The Elephant Bar is a long-time institution in Phnom Penh,” General Manager Dennis de Groot said. “Over the past nine decades, we’ve welcomed the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Somerset Maugham and Jacqueline Kennedy, who sipped our first Femme Fatale, which is now a signature cocktail.”
The awards were announced as the bar introduces many unique special events this year.
The World Gin Tour, launched in January, showcases highlights from one of Southeast Asia’s most diverse and thoughtfully curated gin collections, with more than 150 labels. Each month introduces a new special cocktail menu featuring refreshing drinks made with a different country’s gin, in addition to a “gin masterclass” that includes cocktail flights for two hours highlighting the featured gin (priced at $28).
Additionally, Elephant Bar’s popular “bar takeover” series has welcomed top regional bartenders, such as Wong Wee Siong of the renowned Smoke & Mirrors rooftop cocktail bar in Singapore who mixed exclusive drinks for Elephant Bar patrons in April.
In March, Raffles Hotel Le Royal hosted the Confrérie du Sabre d’Or, the worldwide organization dedicated to the noble art of Champagne sabrage. The group is globally renowned among Champagne aficionados for the ritual, which involves severing the top of the bottle with a sword.
Elephant Bar exudes timeless charm and sophistication with its rich wood accents, colorful ceiling frescoes and historic photographs on the walls, while wicker chairs and leather sofas bask behind high French windows and arched colonnades in true colonial style.
Voted the No. 1 hotel in Cambodia by readers of the US-based travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler in its annual Readers’ Choice Awards in October, Raffles Hotel Le Royal originally opened in 1929. The hotel features 175 rooms and suites that underwent a full refurbishment as part of a meticulous one-year restoration project in 2019.