Angkor Cambodian Cafe preserves authentic Khmer cuisine in Eugene

Mao San, the co-owner of Angkor Cambodian Cafe, frequently tells first-time customers how flavorful the food she serves is, because they’re not familiar with the abundance of the bold aromatics that define Cambodian cuisine: lemongrass, galangal root, makrut lime leaves, turmeric and basil, which are pounded with a well-worn metal mortar and wooden pestle.

Even though Cambodian flavors are unfamiliar to a lot of people in Eugene, for San, each dish is an opportunity to share her heritage through the rich, complex flavors of the country where she was born.

The sound of tradition

On a recent day, a rhythmic thudding and a metallic clang echoed through the small kitchen as San’s mother, Vanny Ros, prepared the flavorful paste for cha krung, a rice dish of lemongrass stir-fried with bell pepper, carrot, onion and jalapeno, topped with peanuts. 

The paste is a core ingredient that San uses in several dishes, including machu krung soup, or sour beef soup. For that, San simmers the intensely flavored paste with beef, green vegetables and coconut, for hours. 

San says Ros is very particular about her food leaving the kitchen only when it’s ready. “Sometimes I say, ‘Mom, we need to hurry because the customer is waiting.’ She says, ‘No, we cannot hurry with this type of food.’”

In Cambodian, “cha” means stir fry and “krung,” sometimes spelled “kreung,” is the paste itself that is foundational to the distinctive taste of Khmer (Cambodian) dishes.

Survival and memory

San began cooking early in life alongside her grandmother, Sivath Kim, in their homes in Phnom Penh and Battambang, Cambodia. It was her grandmother who taught her how to prepare and use Cambodia’s signature ingredients.

“My grandmother [taught] me every day,” San said. “She didn’t care if you do a good job or not, just that you were in the kitchen, you make observations. My grandmother and mother are a big part of our food.”

The restaurant’s name pays homage to Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s iconic ancient temple complex and symbol of Khmer heritage. The world’s largest religious heritage site, it was built in Siem Reap in the 12th century and was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, even though most of the country’s population is now Buddhist. 

It’s important to San to preserve not only authentic Cambodian flavors but also the cultural values that shaped them. Ros and Kim are survivors of the Khmer Rouge period from 1975 to 1979 under the regime of Pol Pot, who carried out a genocide on the Cambodian people resulting in about 2 million deaths. Pol Pot imposed a radical government on the country, attempting to turn it into a self-sufficient agrarian socialist society. He forced people from cities into the countryside to farm; abolished money, private property and religion; and established collective living and forced labor. Anyone deemed a threat to the regime was executed.

Asked about this difficult time in Cambodian history, San and Ros spoke together in Khmer for several minutes. San said Ros’s brother died during the Khmer Rouge regime, not of age, not of starvation, but of a lack of medicine. 

“Cousins, her sibling, the whole family was killed,” San said. “Some did die because of starvation.” 

San balled up her fist and said Ros had “that much” rice to make into a porridge to feed 10 people. She said they would get one orange to share among the whole family. San also said the government separated families into women’s, men’s, and children’s areas, and even the children had to work. The only good thing about that arrangement was that many of the women from the same family were able to stay together. 

When Ros works at the restaurant, she makes sure no food is wasted. 

“Because she has gone through that,” San said. 

San moved to the United States at age 17 to pursue studies in environmental science, and she carried those food memories with her. After graduating from college in California, she worked in Thai restaurants for five years while completing an internship in water quality management. During a 2016 road trip to Washington, she and her husband, Savada San, stopped in Eugene to eat at Angkor Cambodian Cafe, which owner Horn Sov had opened in January 2014. 

“We came here at the time that Horn was saying he wanted to sell the restaurant,” San said. “I believe in faith. In my heart I felt, ‘Oh, I want to buy this.’”

Authentic flavors

When San took over, she increased the use of the specialty ingredients like the trio of lemongrass, galangal and lime, even though these items are more expensive in the United States than they are in Cambodia, because they are essential to the taste San wanted to share.

San says she thinks there are only four or five Cambodian families in town. Most of her customers are American, and she said they didn’t immediately embrace the authentic curries and stews, rich with coconut milk and aromatic herbs. San adjusted by guiding customers through the menu, helping them understand the dominant flavors of some foods and also clarifying the differences between Cambodian and Thai food. 

“Our soups, we cook for a long period of time,” San said. “It’s very similar to Vietnamese pho, but the difference is we use pork broth and pho is made with beef, and we use a lot of garlic in our soup.”

Thai recipes often call for sugar to balance flavors, but Cambodian cuisine relies on fermented fish, called prahok, and fresh herbs for depth. San sometimes steers American customers away from her favorite dish, prahok kriss ($14.50), which is ground pork cooked with spices, coconut milk, and prahok served with fresh vegetables, because the prahok is prevalent. Fish sauce, common in Thai and Vietnamese foods, is fermented fish in liquid form, but prahok is a thick, salty and pungent fermented fish paste — and while it is a key ingredient in the prahok kriss, its aroma is much more noticeable than the taste.

Now that a few years have gone by, the cha krung ($14.50) is a more popular dish, with fans who order it on every visit. San’s Chef’s Favorites section of the menu includes mi-ko-la ($12.95), a dish of steamed noodles with a homemade sauce with pickled veggies and other toppings, which is a traditional food from Battambang. 

Also on the menu is amok trey ($6.95), sometimes called fish amok, which San makes with sole. This is the dish Cambodia is most known for. There, the fish would be steamed in a banana leaf for a light, airy texture. Here, there’s no leaf, but it is light and soft and richly flavored with savory notes from the fish sauce, fresh herbs and the ever-present krung. San said fish amok is not as popular as it used to be, because the younger generation doesn’t take the time to perform the traditional preparations like San and her mother do.

“The new generation, they just want something new,” she said.

Ros’ signature dish on the menu is the stuffed chicken appetizer ($11.50). For that, Ros removes all the bones from chicken wings while keeping the skin intact before stuffing it with the chicken mixed with generous amounts of lemongrass. 

The menu is large and varied, offering nine lunch-size dishes, 10 appetizers including garlic wings ($11.50) and coconut prawns ($9.95), five salads, 14 soups, six noodle dishes and 16 rice dishes, the six Chef’s Favorite dishes, mango sticky rice, a soft drinks menu and a bar serving cocktails and beer. 

Building community

Walking into the restaurant, one first notices the Khmer alphabet painted in vibrant colors on the walls, and the use of richly embroidered fabrics as decor. Khmer artisans are world-renowned for their handwoven textiles, and San and her family wear and sell beautiful aprons made from traditional Khmer fabrics. 

The restaurant was tested during the COVID pandemic, when San fell ill and couldn’t work for months. With bills mounting, the small team of San, Ros, her husband, Savada San, kept the restaurant going through takeout only. Now, San’s niece Reaksa Neak also helps out at the restaurant. 

San and her husband just happen to have the same last name. They are married, she said, but in Cambodia a woman can marry without having to change her name. 

San and her husband also own Da Ra Cafe and Brew on Country Club Road (da ra means “star”), offering a menu with some Thai and Cambodian rice and noodle dishes along with burgers, sandwiches and chicken noodle soup.

Nine years after taking over Angkor from Sov in a leap of faith, San has successfully educated Eugene’s palates about the true tastes of Cambodian foods. At Angkor, as each batch of krung leaves the mortar and pestle, authentic flavors survive, nothing is wasted and the traditions that endured even the darkest chapters of Cambodian history continue to be remembered.

Want to go?

Angkor Cambodian Cafe
1810 Chambers St. 
541-343-0485
angkorcafeeugene.com
Monday through Saturday: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.