Sophon

"Sophon is a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Bar and it can still be tricky to get a table. But fun fact: There are frequently walk-in seats available at the bar. After you’re set up with a plate of p’set ang (spicy grilled trumpet mushrooms) and sach chrouk (caramelized, star-anised pork belly), what you’re probably looking for is a cheese-flavored cocktail, and you’ll be in luck. The Khlang, made with brie-washed rye, nocino, sweet vermouth, and delicata squash tincture, is a rounder, nuttier, deliciouser take on a Manhattan. And since you’re at the bar, you might as well get a Mekong, which isn’t available to the table sitters — it’s coconut cream, blended rum, ripe mango AND unripe mango, and a bespoke orgeat made from roasted peanuts and fish sauce. These two should be plenty to show newcomers why this vibrant new spot has been so hyped since Day 1. There’s just nothing like it in town. —Meg van Huygen" - Mark DeJoy

"Sophon in Seattle is a Cambodian restaurant known for its tasting menu that includes family-style courses, blurring the line of traditional tasting menu formats. It has received several awards for its approach to Cambodian fine dining." - Ashok Selvam

"Owner Karuna Long named his restaurant after his mother, who he tributes to passing down generations-old family recipes to the family. Each dish at Sophon (a 2024 Eater Award winner) tells a story of Khmer culture through a blend of tradition and contemporary experimentation. Start with an order of the kroeung chicken thighs and the blue oyster mushrooms marinated in fermented bean curd. Next up, try flavor-packed mains like the tamari-coconut milk-braised pork belly and pan-fried mackerel over vermicelli noodles soaked in kroeung curry. Don’t skip over Sophon’s innovative cocktail menu, featuring drinks infused with Khmer twists, such as Kampot pepper, toasted rice, and guava." - Alicia Erickson

"An Eater Award-winning bar recognized as a semifinalist for Best New Bar." - Harry Cheadle

"Sophon is both an ode to owner Karuna Long’s Khmer roots and an accessible introduction for non-Cambodians to Khmer cuisine — which means steak with tuk prahok (a sauce containing fermented fish paste), pork belly braised in coconut milk until it’s so rich and tender it practically melts, and small plates fried chicken and mushrooms best enjoyed with sweet, spicy, salty “crack sauce.” The Phinney Ridge restaurant also doubles as an innovative cocktail bar. The drinks include Khmer ingredients like peanut fish sauce orgeat, Kampot pepper (the Cambodian version of black pepper), and clarified coconut." - Eater Staff