Life’s too short for bad coffee. So goes the slogan on the back of the tee shirts for Sister Srey.

I went to a really great café the other day. I was a little naughty, because I went on a Sunday morning, when they were busy, with no appointment and I took up the owner’s time. But in Cassie’s own words “I’m a woman and I can multi-task”. I was eating at the time and she told me my reply should have been “I’m a man and I can’t”. Such is the humour of a really great girl.

Let’s start the usual way. Sister Srey Café is on the river, right next to the old market. In fact, come out of the old market, turn left and it’s no more than 50m on the left hand side. It’s open from 7am to about 6pm. They close evenings (you’ll understand why in a minute). I love going there for breakfast. My favourite is the “Bodhi Breakfast Trifle”. This is a layer upon layer of fruit, yoghurt and muesli, served in a tall sundae glass. It’s wonderful. More to the point, they serve a really great cup of coffee. The owners are two Australian sisters called Cassie and Lauren. Cassie said the most usual question next was how old were they? I replied I was far too much a gentleman to ask that question, but she told me anyway. She’s 21 and Lauren is 23. They were travelling from Melbourne where they lived to London in the U.K. to emigrate. On the way they had decided to spend 3 months in S.E. Asia. They had a plane ticket to Malaysia and three months later, one out from Thailand. The gap in the middle was flexible.

They had booked for 3 days stay in Siem Reap. Like many people who visit here, they visited a Pagoda school, about 8km from town, and the 3 days turned into a week. That week became 2 weeks, and eventually 2 months later they flew out. When they eventually got to London, they quickly decided London was too much like Melbourne, they couldn’t settle and yearned for Cambodia. So after a mere 10 days in London, they decided to come back.

That was in June 2012. Not being independently wealthy, they needed to work, but they wanted to do something worthwhile. So the idea of a café was born. Sister Srey opened in November 2012.

They really decided they wanted to put a little back into the community. So, they help the staff. All of them are being put through university. One wants to be a lawyer, another a banker, yet another an interior designer – you get the picture. They are also putting them through English school. Moreover, the children of the staff (and there are 6 of them) are also being put through English school. Hence the closure around 6.30 pm. This is to allow the staff to study.

We talked about the future. Cassie said it was never in her plans to stay here in the first place. She would be here as long as she was happy. She wants to see the current staff through their education. She’s just taking it day by day.

As I said. I love the breakfasts and (shame on me) I’ve never been there for lunch. They advertise a roast on Sundays, which today was chicken. However, just having eaten breakfast and being only 11am, I couldn’t really sample that. Cassie said one of their most popular dishes was the veggie club sandwich (with or without chicken or bacon). More humour!

They also have a comfy lounge upstairs. This has bookshelves and a very small shop. They have wifi and you can settle there and compute!

All I can say is “give them a try”. You’ll not meet a nicer pair of girls, or more friendly staff while you travel the town. The food’s wonderful. And oh yes! The coffee is amazing!

Bless both of you. I am already a frequent visitor and one day I’ll be there for Sunday lunch!

UPDATE I did go back and had the Veggie Club sandwich. It’s HUGE and great value for money. I managed to finish it, but I didn’t eat for the rest of the day. But it’s the meld of flavours that’s really worth it WOW! Note, they are closed on Mondays.

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