"New York City has a serious dearth of Cambodian restaurants. Hit mini-chain Num Pang fills some of that void with its sandwiches, but the closure of Angkor Cambodian Bistro has left it without a full-service restaurant representing the breadth of the cuisine of the Southeast Asian nation. Owner and chef Minh Truong ran the beloved Chelsea restaurant Royal Siam before opening this establishment on New Year’s Eve in 2015. Truong fled the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and moved to New York City as a teenager in the early ’80s. At Angkor, along with his wife and co-chef, Mandy, Truong was finally able to fully showcase his roots through dishes like the traditional Cambodian seafood curry amok and the nyoam, comprising curried fish sauce, rice noodles, and herbs. The Michelin Guide gave the restaurant a Bib Gourmand designation the year after its opening, a tremendous source of pride for the Truongs, according to their son Phillip. In fact, the guide had to create a section just for Cambodian food in New York following the distinction, he says. While the restaurant is no more, the Truongs hope diners will remember the establishment’s warm embrace and encourage more people to visit the Southeast Asian nation when the pandemic is over." - Eater Staff
