Friday

What’s On the Menu?

The excellent LF restaurant team holds the soft opening of their brand new Kebab House tonight, with special offer $5 kebabs, cold beer and music from the Balkan Boys. Based on the excellent Turkish cuisine on offer at their first two locations, this is sure to be another hit (7pm, LF Kebab House, St 308)

What’s On Stage?

The Vagina Monologues is back – and now, in a mixture of English and Khmer! Catch the hit show (if it hasn’t already sold out) at Chinese House (7pm, Sisowath Quay)

Hailing from East London via Berlin (and presumably with veins that run with craft beer and soy latte), the psychadelic folk group Geography of the Moon play LF Social Club tonight (9pm, St 308).

At Alchemy in Tuol Tom Poung, Antonio and Intan will serenade you with pop, blues, soul, rock and reggae covers (9pm, St 123), there’s old-school blues and rock from The Fender Benders on FCC Rooftop (8.30pm, Sisowath Quay), and an intriguing mix of latin boogaloo, funk and ’80s French pop courtesy of The Passion Fruit Social Club at Duplex (9pm, St 278).

Or, check out Canadian musician Pardell on the Phnom Penh stop of his Southeast Asia tour. Pardell uses a looping pedal to create multi-layer reggae performances, and for this show will jam with percussionist/vocalist Stevie Blakeburn and bassist Rod Wolfe (6.30pm, Farm to Table, St 360).

What’s On Late?

Tonight’s hip hop takeover at Cloud is led by 12ME, whose Khmer, French and English-language rap always goes down a storm in the Penh. This time, his set also features an acoustic showcase from Pervez and Joe Wrigley (8pm-1am, Cloud, St 9)

Meanwhile, at META House, as standard, there’s European techno with a surprisingly unpretentious crowd (9pm-2am, Sothearos Boulevard).

Saturday

Top Pick

We’re VERY excited about this one: Penh Fem Fest is the city’s first festival of feminist arts… and it’s going to be fabulous. Bringing together theatre, art, sustainable fashion, live music with punk goddess Vartey Ganiva and even a drag show by the the beloved queens from Blue Chilli, this is going to be bloody brilliant. Read more about it here. (Opens 12.30pm, Chinese House, Sisowath Quay.)

What’s On Show?

Mariune, Falcon and Dr0pd3d collaborate on a joint art exhibition, “BOYS FOOD AND TOYS” at Bong the Gallery (6pm-10pm, Sothearos Boulevard).

What’s On Screen?

Heart-wrenching and intimate, Matthew Watson’s 2009 documentary The Girls of Phnom Penh follows three young girls on the edge of childhood as they resort to prostitution to support their families (7pm, META House, Sothearos Boulevard).

What’s On Stage?

The French Institute hosts a gorgeous open-air contemporary Khmer dance performance with star dancers Nam Narim and Hun Pen tonight – and it’s free!  (7pm, St 184).

For theatre-lovers, there’s another chance to see the excellent Vagina Monologues (7pm, Chinese House, Sisowath Quay). Again, it’s in English and Khmer.

Music-wise, at tonight’s Bassac Lane street party you can skank your heart out to dub-reggae and ska covers of classic pop hits, courtesy of Siem Reap outfit, Angkor Music Lovers Band (9pm-Midnight, Bassac Lane / St 308).

Young Khmer rockers Batbangers (from, you guessed it, Battambang) play Oscar’s On the Corner (10pm, corner St 113 & 104) and there’s another chance to catch visiting psychadelic-folk rockers Geography of the Moon at Bona’s Pub (9pm, St 130). Or, for something gentler, catch the peaceful acoustic duo Hills & Bells (Marianna Hensley and Scott Bywater) at Cloud (8pm, St 9).

What’s On Late?

There’s cosmic electronica (yes, it’s a thing) at META House (9pm-2am, Sothearos Boulevard). Or just go rack up tomorrow’s regrets amid the carnage of St 51.

What Else?

Love reading but despair of Phnom Penh’s limited bookshop options? Bring your pre-loved novels (in English and Khmer) to the Phnom Penh Book Exchange and swap them with new ones for free. More details here. (10am-Midday, Factory Phnom Penh, National Road 2)

Sunday

What’s On the Menu?

La Plantation has been busy developing its award-winning ecotourism project, La Plantation Kampot Pepper, since 2012, creating a sustainable pepper farming business that incorporates sustainable tourism. At today’s Meet the Maker event you can find out more about the story behind the project (2-4pm, Farm to Table, St 360)

What’s On Screen?

META House screens three documentaries exploring the relationship between ethnic minority communities and environmental destruction. The first is Tola Sam’s Ben and the Community, filmed in Preah Vihear, followed by Cobra Gypsies and Death Blow, exploring the threatened ways of life of tribes in Northern India and Borneo respectively. (7pm-9pm, Sothearos Boulevard)

What’s On Stage?

Hungover? Kick back and wallow in someone else’s misery at Mad Monkey, while Phnom Penh-based stand-up Sam Thomas delivers his weekly Volunteer Comedian set (4.30pm, Mad Monkey Hostel, St 302) The $1 ticket fee goes to the Cambodian Children’s Fund.

Or for something more sublime, head over to the French Institute for their third and final (free) open air dance performance, this time with the contemporary Khmer dancers Nam Narim and Belle Sodhachivy Chumvan (7pm, St 184)

Aaaaand it’s your last chance to see this English and Khmer-language production of the Vagina Monologues at Chinese House (7pm, Sisowath Quay). Don’t miss out!

What Else?

Feeling inspired to express yourself? Put on your dancing shoes and sign up for a fitness ballet class in Tuol Kork (3-5pm, Urban Space Playground, St 284) or fiery Argentine Tango in the heart of town (4-5.30pm, Dance Academy Cambodia, St 51).

That’s all for this week folks! Have an event coming up you think we should know about? Drop us a note through our Facebook page or email hello[at]whatsonphnompenh.com