Nite Yun wants to know why you’ve never had Cambodian food

I recently spoke with the Stockton native about her journey, prahok—the fermented fish paste that makes Khmer food, Khmer food—and her hopes for the future of Lunette and Khmer food.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Samantha Pak: What were your first memories in the kitchen?
Nite Yun: My first memory in the kitchen was sitting on the kitchen floor with my mom. We spread out some newspaper and we sat on the floor and I helped my mom prep. There's a big wooden butcher block that we placed on top of the newspaper, and sat around it as she chopped up some meat or whatever. I’m picking basil or helping her peel lemongrass. This could maybe go back to when I was in elementary school, in fourth grade—even earlier.

SP: Was the big butcher block a big round block?
NY: Yes.

SP: My mom has that too! [Laughs.]
NY: Yeah, it’s a Khmer thing. She still has that butcher block today.

SP: You didn't really get into cooking until later. Can you talk about that journey and how visiting Cambodia encouraged you to dive into Khmer food?
NY: I was always into food. My first obsession was eating, and so learning how to cook just went hand in hand. But I didn’t really become serious with cooking until I moved out for college. That's when the conversation between my mom and I, of learning how to cook particular cravings, started. But it didn't become serious until my first trip to Cambodia (in 2009), where I just fell in love with the food even more. The country and the people inspired me to really learn how to cook the food that I grew up eating, the food that my ancestors ate.

SP: What was it about being in Cambodia that sparked you?
NY: I've always had this deep desire as a young girl to learn more—mainly about my mom and her past. Even at a young age, I knew she went through a lot. By the way she looked at things, or by the way she would talk about certain experiences, and the way she hustled, there’s this strength that she carries with her, and her unconditional love for my brothers and I.

When I landed (in Cambodia), everything made sense—the language, the food, it was so familiar. I wanted to share the beauty of Cambodia, and also, this journey of learning about my family's history sparked my interests even more. Food is a way of storytelling. It's helped open the conversation up with my relatives back in Cambodia. So food has always been the middle ground and almost an excuse to talk. It's a conversation starter—you know, very lively and light, and then maybe eventually, leading to deeper conversations about my family's history and hearing little stories about my mom, here and there. I fell in love with Cambodia. I'd never been to Cambodia and it just felt like I was back home.

SP: And it was after that trip that you wanted to share Khmer food with other people, beyond your immediate circle.
NY: (That first trip in) 2009 sparked this interest of, “I gotta do something.” Something was brewing, but I didn't know what it was. At that point, I already took interest in learning about the food, and was on this quest to learn about my family's past. But I wasn't able to connect the dots of why I did all these things. It wasn’t until my third trip to Cambodia, which was around 2013 or so, when I had that epiphany. Sitting in the central market in Phnom Penh, as I was sipping on a bowl of soup, was when I had that idea of opening up a Cambodian restaurant.

SP: Were you already living in San Francisco? And did you know of any Khmer restaurants in the area at the time?
NY: There were Khmer restaurants in San Francisco, like two, but both of them had closed down unfortunately. And I was always just—not disappointed, because I understood why the menu was the way that it was formulated, where there were more Thai dishes rather than really pushing Khmer flavors, using prahok and things like that. Khmer food is so f*cking good. We're downplaying this by putting Thai food on the menu.

But then frequently, Khmer restaurants here in the city, when they were open, there was a “secret” menu where the owners would say, “Oh, you want it Khmer style,” where they would actually make dishes with prahok. Why don't you just do this in general? When people talk about it, the process of fermentation, people kind of get turned off. But prahok itself, it's what defines Khmer food. And so it was this conversation that I constantly would have with the owners at the restaurants. Let's just try!

SP: Yeah, prahok is so quintessential Khmer, and so quintessential Khmer food. It's just our thing. I don't know how else to describe it. It's just us.
NY: Yes. It's been part of our culture for thousands of years. If you look at the stone carvings at Angkor Wat, you can see the process of the villagers making prahok—fishing around the lake, smoking it, and preserving it in clay jars. It's a way to connect with our past too. So every time I cook with prahok, it just reminds me of our amazing culture.

SP: Your new restaurant Lunette Cambodia is obviously Khmer food. But is it traditional Khmer food? Or do you add a modern twist? How would you describe it?
NY: Some people might not say it’s authentic Khmer food, but it's the food I grew up eating. It's the food that I learned how to cook during my travels in Cambodia. I don't think there's any modern twist to my cooking. It's homestyle Cambodian cooking at its finest, I guess.

SP: This is probably more for Khmer folks, but what are some of the dishes that you serve? I'm assuming, kuyteav Phnom Penh?
NY: Yes.

SP: What else do you serve?
NY: Oh, you know, cha kroeung (meat and vegetables stir fried in a yellow spice and herb paste, served with rice), loc lac (shaking beef salad).

SP: You’ve learned how to cook all these dishes. What was the most challenging to learn?
NY: Kuyteav Phnom Penh. I thought it would be instinctual to learn how to cook it, because I grew up eating it, but it was the most challenging dish that I made. It was a lot of trial and error learning how to make that broth, for sure. I was trying not to use chicken bouillon. I know my mom and aunties love chicken bouillon. I was trying to stay away from using that. And so coming up with the perfect recipe without bouillon was the challenge.

SP: Can you describe that feeling when you finally felt, “This is the broth,” when you felt you mastered the kuyteav?
NY: Just a deep satisfaction, and knowing that I get to share the soup with people made me extremely happy and excited.

SP: How are things going at Lunette? How does it feel to have a restaurant again?
NY: I took a really long break, and so I think I rested enough. Cooking Cambodian food is my lifelong passion, and my mission is to share Cambodian food. It's forever continuous. And so when I was ready to come back, it made sense to open up another restaurant. But it's even more special because it's in a food mecca of San Francisco, here in the Ferry Building, where you get folks from all walks of life that come through the terminal. And so just being able to have Cambodian food available to people who have never heard about Cambodian food before has been such an incredible win in so many ways. It just feels good.

SP: For those people who are first learning about Khmer food when they walk through your doors, what do you hope they take away from their experience and their meal?
NY: I want them to question why they haven't had Cambodian food. Why is it so good, but not available? How come it's not accessible to more people? Why hasn't there been Cambodian food around? Hopefully, that will spark some type of curiosity in terms of why Cambodian food has been in the shadow of Vietnamese and Thai food. But to not be so serious about that question too, people can just walk away and say, “Wow, that was an amazing meal. I'm going to come back and talk to people about Cambodian food.”

SP: What do you hope for the future of Lunette and for the future of Cambodian food?
NY: I just hope that it will have a ripple effect in the Khmer community to really celebrate their culture, and to be proud of their roots. But also to celebrate and be inspired by their families’ histories. And if they want to pursue something that's outside of the career that is expected, in terms of doctors and lawyers, they can make a path for themselves.

And also just to have Cambodian food more accessible to people. It's sad to say that Lunette is the only Cambodian restaurant in San Francisco. I would love to see more Cambodian restaurants open up.