Tertúlia

Tertúlia is a whitewashed room with eight wooden tables, a long Portuguese wine shelf, and a chalkboard that changes every evening depending on what the market and the boats delivered that morning. The chef, a Lisbon transplant who has lived in Kampot for almost a decade, cooks everything himself.

The menu reads like a Douro family lunch — grilled octopus with Kampot pepper and olive oil, bacalhau à Brás for one that arrives for two, cataplana of local clams, a house flan that is genuinely one of the best desserts in Cambodia. The wine list is short, Portuguese-leaning, and every bottle on it is worth ordering.

Everything about the room is understated and romantic — candlelight, an open kitchen you can see from every seat, the chef himself bringing over the plates. It is the opposite of a formal first-date restaurant, which is precisely why it works.

Why it fits First Date

First Date belongs here because the room gives you permission to relax. The kitchen is excellent enough to impress; the prices are low enough to remove pressure; the chef's presence gives you an easy conversation starter between courses.