Despite calling Australia home for 15 years, Ivanra and Linna Hun have never forgotten the Cambodian food they grew up with.
"There's so much food I love back in Cambodia. I remember the kuyteav [noodle soups] and rice dishes sold as street food were especially delicious," Ivanra tells SBS Food.
Though street food was particularly memorable for Ivanra, he didn't have to look further than their home kitchen for the best dishes.
"My grandmother, mum and sister all loved to cook. They made the best meals," Ivanra says.
His sister, Linna, adds, "Since I was young, I would always be in the kitchen helping grandma and mum with the cooking. I learnt so much from both of them. When they were busy, I would go into the kitchen to make easy meals for them using all the skills I knew."
Cambodia's Kitchen
Cambodian food is known to be less spicy than some of its Southeast Asian neighbours. Source: Griffin Simm
Now Linna is putting what she learned to good use as the head chef of , a restaurant she owns and operates with her brother Ivanra.
Ivanra says, "We focus on easy, memorable food like noodle soups and rice dishes with marinated meats."
What we want to do is to bring the flavours of Cambodian food to Australian memory.
Popular dishes on the menu include nom ka chai (chive cakes), stewed beef noodle soup, the restaurant's signature Cambodian noodle soup (noodles in a pork broth with slices of pork, pork liver and heart, pork and beef ball, fish ball and fish cake) and the signature Cambodian fried pork on rice, served with pork broth and a side of cucumber, pickled vegetables and special homemade fish sauce.
"What we want to do is to bring the flavours of Cambodian food to Australian memory. We're hoping that when people talk about Cambodian food, what they remember are the flavours in Cambodia's Kitchen," Ivanra says.
An introduction
While the duo is currently focused on a small menu of fast and easy food, Linna wants to introduce Melbourne to some of Cambodia's more iconic dishes such as amok (a traditional seafood curry).
"When I chat with friends about different food, there will always be a particular dish you already have in mind about that cuisine," Ivanra says. "For example, when you think Japanese, you think ramen and sushi. When you think Thai, you think pad Thai and tom yum. But with Cambodian food, very few really know about it."
The flavour of our food is deep.
Cambodian is similar to Vietnamese or Thai, but it's less spicy and coconut milky.
"The flavour of our food is deep," Ivanra says. "We like using a lot of garlic, lemongrass, prahok (a salted, fermented fish paste) and lime leaf. Our food is very tasty. We want other people to be able to know about it as well."
Linna adds, "I strongly believe that Cambodian cuisine is quite unique and packed with so much flavour.
Cambodian cuisine features noodle soups. Source: Griffin Simm
"My hope is that through the success of Cambodia's Kitchen we will further engage Melburnians with Cambodian cuisine, culture and the wider community."
Photographs by Griffin Simm.
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