If sweet treats make you weak, beware these strong women in Siem Reap

Hid­den in a maze of small side roads, behind flowers and palms, it may not be the easi­est place to find but it is well worth it. The little oas­is is a lovely spot for a gen­er­ous break­fast, brunch, sweet indul­gence, or even an after­noon chilling in a relax­ing ambience. 

I vis­it the Bay­on Pastry School Cof­fee Shop on every trip I make to Siem Reap, Cam­bod­ia. Pop­u­lar for its pastries and breads à la française, the café’s menu offers a selec­tion of deli­cious sweet and savoury options. If you are into sweet break­fast clas­sics, their authen­t­ic but­ter crois­sants with cof­fee are a must. 

The inside track

Soph­ie Hart­man is a team mem­ber at the Asso­ci­ation of South­east Asi­an Social Enter­prises for Train­ing in Hos­pit­al­ity & Cater­ing (ASSET‑H&C), a net­work of voca­tion­al train­ing centres that pro­mote the inclu­sion of vul­ner­able people in South­east Asia.

On my last vis­it I was in a more intrep­id mood. I decided to explore the cake dis­play counter at the back. It was such a feast for the eyes that I found it hard to make up my mind. When it comes to sweets, I take things very ser­i­ously. On a staff mem­ber­’s recom­mend­a­tion, I finally picked the lem­on meringue pie, and I did not regret it. I loved the fla­vour and tex­ture com­bin­a­tions of tangy lem­on cream, sweet and sour pastry, and Itali­an meringue.

The most excit­ing thing about this little café is not the excel­lent food. It’s the human story behind it. The cof­fee shop is run by Bay­on Edu­ca­tion and Devel­op­ment, a Cam­bod­i­an NGO, and is part of a bak­ing and pastry school oper­ated by and for women. All the shop’s staff mem­bers are alumni who have grown into strong and con­fid­ent hos­pit­al­ity pro­fes­sion­als through the train­ing and work exper­i­ence provided. Every year, some 20 women in very pre­cari­ous situ­ations are offered a chance to gain voca­tion­al skills that will help break the cycle of poverty. Stu­dents learn how to bake breads, pastries, and cakes while gain­ing food and bever­age ser­vice skills. 

It is a well known fact that women make up the major­ity of the tour­ism work­force. How­ever, their con­cen­tra­tion in lower status pos­i­tions and lower paid jobs means that women’s poten­tial to fully con­trib­ute to the industry remains largely untapped. While more should be done to close the income and skill gap between men and women employed in tour­ism, ini­ti­at­ives have emerged to provide path­ways to empower­ment for under­priv­ileged women by mak­ing them eco­nom­ic­ally inde­pend­ent. The Bay­on Pastry School, an ASSET‑H&C mem­ber, is one such initiative.

Anoth­er women’s solid­ar­ity dimen­sion is reflec­ted in the sourcing of ingredi­ents for the café. The veget­ables used are loc­al, organ­ic products which are grown by female farm­ers trained in agro-eco­logy, which is anoth­er pro­gram of Bay­on Edu­ca­tion and Devel­op­ment. Fur­ther­more, most of the oth­er ingredi­ents are provided for free by part­ner com­pan­ies will­ing to con­trib­ute to a social enter­prise that empowers women.

Excit­ing travel exper­i­ences are for me not so much about dis­cov­er­ing new places but more about find­ing new ways to explore them. Travel is about learn­ing and shar­ing. Being able to sup­port the loc­al com­munity while doing what I love makes every travel exper­i­ence I have abso­lutely unique and rewarding.

Where is this?

Bay­on Pastry School Cof­fee Shop
Taphul Street, Siem Reap, Cam­bod­ia
Tel: +855 63 210 561 | E‑mail: info@ecoledubayon.org

Where next?