Bar Santos
This little bar across the street from the Mezquita serves what is claimed to be the world’s biggest tortilla de patatas (30 eggs and 5 kg of potatoes). I'm not arguing. It’s damn good. Thick wedges are deftly cut from giant wheels of the stuff and customarily served with plastic forks on paper plates to eat outside under the Mezquita's walls. And while you may have come for the monster tortilla de patatas, stay for a bowl of salmorejo and some of the other home-style tapas offered. It’s a tiny spot with just two small tables (a low one in front of the window, another tall one in the corner) so it’s mostly standing-room-only at the bar. Most people prefer to take their tapas and drinks outside and sit along the low stone Cathedral wall in front of the bar.

Garum 2.1 bistronmic tapas bar
Set in the Jewish quarter with very traditional decor, this “bistronomic tapas bar” includes an exposed section of Roman wall inside. In the dining room, this historic eatery serves a traditional and informal menu of modern, prize-winning tapas. Be sure to try the tender stewed oxtail, wrapped in pastry and served with a bitter chocolate sauce. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

Casa Pepe De La Juderia
A Córdoba institution, Casa Pepe serves excellent traditional Spanish cuisine on its roof-top terrace and throughout its labyrinth of dining rooms. Enjoy a complimentary glass of Montilla before launching into the house specials, including Cordoban oxtails or venison fillets. This is a great place to try the “holy trinity” (salmorejo, flamenquín and fried aubergine).

Regadera
This charming little restaurant is just a stone’s throw from the Mezquita and the Roman Bridge. Small and intimate, with a friendly staff headed by Chef Adrián Caballero, La Regadera offers seasonal and daily dishes, mostly on larger plates. Don't miss the richly flavored puntalette, a tiny rice shaped pasta with duck confit and boletus mushrooms, and the cochinilla (roast suckling pig). Make sure you book a reservation, as La Regadera is a very popular place and fills up fast.

Rohatt Cafe
A great Siem Reap spot for authentic Cambodian food, Rohatt Cafe specializes in Khmer homestyle cooking meticulously prepared and elegantly served. Styled after a traditional Khmer wooden house, the restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating that looks out onto the river. Ingredients are sourced locally and the menu isn't dumbed down for tourists, as the Khmer clientele proves. One of the menu’s classic Cambodian dishes to try is the sweet and spicy river fish braised with palm sugar and black peppercorns.

Chanreash 10 Makara
This small restaurant is always packed with locals, and visitors are starting to cotton on to its low-budget charms. Chanreash 10 Makara is a simple place with decor that could be described as "lacking," but the menu is filled with inexpensive, traditional Cambodian dishes that won't be found at more popular Pub Street eateries. Prahok, a type of fermented fish, is a signature of Cambodian cooking and can be found in many dishes. Prahok ktis is one of its most palatable incarnations: cooked with coconut milk and minced pork and served with vegetable crudités, it is light, savory and downright delicious.

Marum Restaurant
Run by Kaliyan Mith, a local NGO that is part of Friends International, Marum is a training restaurant that helps prepare at-risk youth to work in the hospitality industry. The service is spotty but always incredibly friendly, and proceeds go to pay the trainees and staff fair wages and to fund Kaliyan Mith's programs to help street kids and other marginalized youth in Siem Reap. The creative Cambodian menu offers tapas-sized portions that are perfect for sharing, but be warned, you won't want to share your dessert! The deep-fried banana fritters are flaked with ambok, young pounded rice, and served with palm-sugar caramel and lemongrass-galangal ice cream, and they are superb.

Khmer Touch
Local chef Oeng Somontha offers high-end Cambodian food at her new restaurant, Khmer Touch. Oeng was previously the sous chef at the $1,500-per-night Amansara luxury resort, and her experience catering to the very rich shows. Dishes are impeccably plated, as if for a photograph, and staff are helpful to the point of obsequiousness. The lotus salad is a masterpiece, featuring lotus stems, roots and seeds (a combination first seen at Cuisine Wat Damnak) with chicken, Asian basil and peanuts, all in a sweet vinegar dressing. The finishing touch is tart pink water-lily petals that offset the dressing's sweetness.

Psar Leu Market
Psar Leu is the largest market in Siem Reap, and a busy cornucopia of sights and smells. The large wet market is packed with fresh ingredients, including freshwater fish, just-butchered pork, pounded spice pastes and local herbs, and the shops around the outside sell everything from clothes to kitchen equipment to hand-made baskets. There are also lots of small stands selling all types of Cambodian food, but since it's a primarily morning market, breakfast dishes are most abundant. Pork and rice, called bai sach chrouk in Khmer, is one of the simplest and most delicious Cambodian breakfast dishes. Thinly sliced sweet pork is grilled over hot coals, then served on broken rice with a side of fresh pickled cucumbers, carrot, ginger and daikon radish. Chili paste is optional but favored by those who like an early-morning kick.

Armand's - The Bistro
The sister restaurant to the famous French-Khmer-owned Armand's in Phnom Penh, Armand’s - The Bistro in Siem Reap is even classier than the original. The wood-paneled interior lends the place an intimate vibe that you’ll enjoy whether you sit at a table for two or enjoy a classic cocktail at the bar. Armand's take on the time-honored tenderloin rossini, a dish reported to have been invented by chef Auguste Escoffier at Paris's Savoy Hotel, has an imported steak cooked to your specifications and topped with a buttery and delicious foie gras sauce. Served with a side of green beans, grilled tomato and pomme frites, this is truly a memorable dish.