Chef Nak and Royal Khmer Cuisine: Fish Amok, Kroeung & a Market Dinner in Phnom Penh
Khmer food is one of Southeast Asia's best-kept secrets - built on herbs, river fish and palm sugar. To understand it, there are few better guides than Chef Nak. We start where she does: at the market.
Who Chef Nak Is
Chef Nak, born Rotanak Ros, published her first cookbook, NHUM - Recipes from a Cambodian Kitchen, in 2019: more than eighty recipes, in Khmer and English. A year later, it won two Gourmand Awards and placed joint third in the world among books by women chefs.
Her second book goes further back. SAOY - Royal Cambodian Home Cuisine reinterprets the recipes of Princess Norodom Rasmi Sobbhana from the 1950s and 60s, and in 2023 it was named Best of the Best at the 29th Gourmand Awards. It is why we call her the guardian of royal Khmer cuisine.
Kroeung, Fish and Palm Sugar
Her cooking starts at the market. Kroeung, the paste at the heart of Khmer food, is pounded from lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, fingerroot, kaffir lime leaves, garlic and shallots. There are several kinds, and every kitchen has its own.
Palm sugar comes from the sugar palm, Cambodia's national tree, tapped by climbers twenty to thirty metres up. The sap is cooked down slowly and set in rounds. And fish comes from the rivers and the Tonlé Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake: about seventy per cent of the animal protein Cambodians eat is freshwater fish. As Chef Nak puts it, "We go to the market twice a day."
Fish Amok: Cambodia's National Dish
Fish amok is widely considered Cambodia's national dish. Fish, kroeung, coconut cream and egg are steamed in banana-leaf cups lined with noni leaves until the curry sets as soft as a mousse. It is the dish to order on any trip to Cambodia, and the one to learn from someone who has spent a lifetime on it.
An Evening at Her Table
Our private Market & Table with Chef Nak evening begins at dusk, as the market vendors light their lamps. You choose river fish, the herbs and roots for kroeung, and palm sugar by hand, with Chef Nak beside you explaining what to look for and why. Then you carry what you have gathered to her heritage house for a private dinner built around it, course by course, with the story of each recipe as it arrives.
It is arranged for your party alone, with no fixed start - we set it around dusk on your date. Let us know about allergies and dietary needs when you enquire, and we will pass them on to Chef Nak's kitchen ahead of the evening. It pairs naturally with a morning by cyclo for a full day in Phnom Penh.
Market & Table with Chef Nak at a Glance:
- Where: Phnom Penh - the market, then Chef Nak's heritage house
- When: An evening of your choosing, starting around dusk
- Format: Private, for your party only
- Signature dish: Fish amok, steamed in banana leaf
- Wear: Closed, comfortable shoes - market floors can be wet
Want a table with Chef Nak? Write to [email protected] and we will arrange the evening around your dates.
