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យប់Night · The table

Market & Table with Chef Nak

As the lamps come on, Cambodia’s greatest storyteller is in the kitchen.

  • Phnom Penh
  • Evening
  • Private
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A Cambodian market stall with dried river fish

The experience

Chef Nak, award-winning author and the guardian of royal Khmer cuisine, leads you through the market stalls as vendors light their lamps. Then, at her table, a private dinner built from what you gathered together: the recipes she has spent a lifetime rescuing, told course by course.

Highlights

  • An evening with Chef Nak, award-winning author
  • The market as the vendors light their lamps
  • River fish, kroeung and palm sugar, chosen by hand
  • A private dinner at her table, course by course
  • Fish amok, steamed in banana leaf

In pictures

The evening in pictures

People eating on mats under the lights of Phnom Penh’s night market
01After darkPhnom Penh’s night market as the lamps come on.
Fresh river fish laid out on a market trader’s board
02River fishAbout 70% of the animal protein Cambodians eat comes from freshwater fish.
Fishermen casting a net from a wooden boat on the Tonlé Sap
03On the Tonlé SapCambodia’s rivers and great lake fill the market’s fish counters.
A spoonful of green kroeung paste
04KroeungLemongrass, galangal, turmeric, fingerroot, kaffir lime, garlic and shallots, pounded together.
Sugar palms rising from flooded fields in Kampong Speu
05Sugar palmsCambodia’s national tree, here in Kampong Speu.
Bamboo tubes tied to the trunk of a sugar palm to collect its sap
06Collecting the sapTappers climb 20 to 30 metres and catch the sap in bamboo tubes.
Hands spooning palm sugar into small rings to set
07Palm sugarThe sap is cooked down slowly and set in rounds.
Fish amok in a banana-leaf cup, served with rice
08Fish amokSteamed in banana leaf until it sets as soft as a mousse.

Photos: 1 Mx. Granger, CC0 · 2 PiktourUK, CC BY 2.0 · 3 Dmitry A. Mottl, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 4 Goomba King, CC BY-SA 3.0 · 5 nicolas pascarel, CC BY 2.0 · 6 Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 7 Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 8 Ben Yapp, CC BY 2.0

The story

A lifetime of rescued recipes

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 for Cambodia and placed joint third in the world among books by women chefs.

Her second book went 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.

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. Palm sugar comes from the sugar palm, Cambodia’s national tree, tapped by climbers twenty to thirty metres up. 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 she puts it, “We go to the market twice a day.”

Itinerary

How the evening unfolds

  1. The market by lamplight

    Meet Chef Nak among the market stalls as the vendors light their lamps.

  2. Choose by hand

    Pick out river fish, the herbs and roots for kroeung, and palm sugar, with Chef Nak beside you explaining what to look for and why.

  3. To her table

    Carry what you gathered to Chef Nak’s heritage house for a private dinner built around it.

  4. Course by course

    The recipes she has spent a lifetime rescuing, told as each course arrives. Among them, fish amok: fish, kroeung, coconut cream and egg, steamed in banana-leaf cups lined with noni leaves until it sets as soft as a mousse.

Plan your trip

The details

Duration
An evening
When
Any evening that suits you. We set the start around dusk, when the stalls light their lamps.
Format
Private
Where
Phnom Penh: the market, then Chef Nak’s heritage house
Dietary needs
Tell us about allergies and dietary needs when you enquire, and we will pass them to Chef Nak’s kitchen ahead of the evening.
What to wear
Closed, comfortable shoes for the market, where floors can be wet
Good to know
Pairs naturally with a morning by cyclo for a full day in Phnom Penh.

Before you go

Questions, answered

Who is Chef Nak?

Rotanak Ros, the author of NHUM and SAOY, two award-winning books on Cambodian cooking. SAOY brings back the royal recipes of Princess Norodom Rasmi Sobbhana.

What is kroeung?

The herb and spice paste at the heart of Khmer cooking: lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, fingerroot, kaffir lime leaves, garlic and shallots, pounded together. There are several kinds, and every kitchen has its own.

What is fish amok?

A steamed curry of fish, kroeung, coconut cream and egg, set in banana-leaf cups lined with noni leaves until it has the texture of a mousse. It is widely considered Cambodia’s national dish.

What about allergies and dietary needs?

Tell us when you enquire and we will pass every detail to Chef Nak’s kitchen before the evening.

Is the evening private?

Yes. The market walk and the dinner are for your party alone.

When does it start?

There is no fixed start. We set it around dusk on your date, when the market stalls light their lamps.

Arranged around you

No fixed times. You choose when.

Every One Journey experience in Cambodia is private. Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will arrange it around you.

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