A Rare New Cambodian Restaurant Has Opened: Here’s What to Order

While New York City has had dozens upon dozens of Vietnamese restaurants, beginning in the aftermath of the Vietnam War in 1975, our supply of Cambodian restaurants can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Maybe this is because the Cambodian population in the city has historically been low: The local Cambodian population hit barely over 1,000 as of 2005, and has been declining since the last century.

In addition, many Vietnamese restaurateurs originally came from the southernmost Mekong Delta adjacent to Cambodia, and thus our Vietnamese menus have often displayed Cambodian influences anyway. The cuisine also overlaps with the food of Thailand, though it tends to be less spicy. Cambodian dishes often show Chinese, Indian, French, and Portuguese influences, too.

Recently, a promising new Cambodian restaurant opened on the Upper East Side. Bayon appeared in January at 408 East 64th Street, just east of First Avenue. The owners are Minh and Mandy Truong, who previously opened Angkor on the same spot in 2015; a decline in business during the pandemic prompted its closure. Before that, the pair operated Royal Siam, a restaurant I loved in Chelsea that specialized in the cuisine known as Royal Thai, a class of now-familiar dishes that placed an enhanced emphasis on appearance, something taken for granted in restaurants today. Bayon continues that tradition with handsome platings.

Bayon takes its name from a Khmer Buddhist temple, characterized by over 200 carved faces, in the Angkor Watt Park, Cambodia’s foremost tourist attraction. Inside the restaurant, Buddhist statues are everywhere in a maze of an interior featuring exposed brick, tropical plants, and lattice screens that give adjacent tables a bit of privacy. It feels like dining in a resort.

Here are five dishes to try that distinguish the food of Cambodia from its neighbors.

Prahok crudite

Cambodian dishes can sometimes be a buffet unto themselves, and no dish on Bayon’s menu illustrates this better than prahok crudite ($22). Three dips are the centerpiece, all involving the fermented fish paste called prahok, here mixed with ground pork but startlingly different preparations: with steamed egg, in coconut curry, and in a tart relish with garlic and lime leaves. The crudite are for dipping along and iceberg lettuce for wrapping. Run out of lettuce and the waitress will provide more.

Phnom Penh roast duck

In Cambodia’s capital, which is located in the Mekong Delta, 150 miles or so from the former Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, a similar roast duck ($32) to the Chinese style is sliced and deposited in a rich red curry that displays Thai influences, too. It’s laced with coconut milk and dotted with fresh basil leaves.

Khmer fish cakes

These lovely deep-fried fish cakes ($15) represent a dish popular in much of Southeast Asia, here given a uniquely Cambodian spin and name-checking the country’s predominant cultural group. The cakes are composed of both fish and shrimp, minced fine and seasoned with curry powder, rather than paste, and lemongrass. They develop a lovely bouncy quality when cooked. They are presented with sliced vegetables, a dipping sauce, and a sweet-sour slaw of white radish and carrots.

Kuythiew cha

Scintillatingly fresh rice noodles ($22) have been boiled for just seconds, then stir-fried with shrimp, sprouts, eggs, and scallions. The sweet and tart flavor comes from tamarind, a frequent ingredient of Khmer dishes. You can find similar noodle dishes in Vietnamese restaurants but with a different balance of flavors.

Baked Amok

This brilliant dish ($30) is often regarded as the national dish of Cambodia and has sporadically been found in the city’s Isan restaurants (a region of Thailand that lies just north of Cambodia across the Mekong River). It is based on a souffle laced with fish sauce and coconut milk and flavored with lime leaves. In this luxe version, the mousse is layered with prawns and scallops and steamed in a banana leaf.

Bayon

408 East 64th Street, New York, NY 10019 Phone number (646) 476-4709 Visit Website