A Cambodian Pop-Up Finds a Home in Brooklyn

1. Bong is not a “trad” restaurant.

While the flavors at Bong are rooted in Cambodian traditions, the couple has no interest in being confined by the past — a trope they see at some Asian restaurants. “We’re not trying to be the trad restaurant, because we’re not trad people,” Un says. “We’re not trying to represent Cambodia in the 1960s; we’re in 2025 New York. The food is very much a reflection of my reality of being in a Cambodian diaspora, moving here, reclaiming [my food] and learning about other foodways, combining both of them, and making this a new language of food.”

The duo will bring together flavors Cambodian Americans know from childhood, plus local, seasonal ingredients from the New York area, and contemporary culture in Cambodia from hip hop to street food culture to rollerblading.

2. Just call them “Bong.”

When Un launched her pop-up Kreung eight years ago, she named it after a paste made with lemongrass, galangal, and Makrut lime leaves that is essential to Cambodian cooking. But Bong represents where she and Chaparro are in their lives now.

With years of experience under their belts, they are stepping into the space as bongs, they say. Bong in Khmer is a sign of respect, but also an acknowledgement of kinship. Walking around in Cambodia, it’s a word Un says you will hear again and again as a way to refer to a peer, someone older than you, or someone whose name you don’t know, like a shop owner. As elders, they hope to mentor the next generation of pop-up chefs, including a friend’s mom who will host a monthly Vietnamese pop-up at the restaurant.

3. You will taste the hand of Un’s mother, “Mama Kim,” in every dish.

Un’s parents Kim Mann and Vanchin Un have been deeply involved in her cooking since the early days of Kreung, growing and supplying her with ingredients like lemongrass, galangal, and chiles at their home in South Carolina. For Bong, they will continue to grow ingredients and process them into pastes. “My dad has built this lemongrass guillotine,” Un says laughing. “It’s really psychotic. But, they process it, vacuum seal it, and bring it up.”

You will also be able to taste Mama Kim’s hands in every dish. “I don’t have a hand without her hand. It’s inherited from her,” Un adds. Her mother’s shell-on lobster dish, which developed a cult following through Kreung, will have a permanent home at Bong. It’s a dish that Un says could only have come from a family who immigrated to New England from Cambodia.

She is tight lipped about the dish’s other ingredients, sharing only that it features shallots and ginger; everything else is kept secret. She won’t even share the recipe with her team. “I’m gatekeeping everything,” Un says.

4. The menu blends Cambodian comfort food dishes with more modern offerings.

Few New Yorkers may be familiar with Cambodia’s unique cuisine, which relies heavily on fermented fish, lemongrass, and sour flavors. While Un and Chaparro know that many of their diners may be more familiar with Vietnamese or Thai cuisine, they won’t be mentioning them. “We’re really adamant that Bong doesn’t use other Southeast Asian nations as a reference for explaining the food,” Chaparro notes. “We’re the O.G.s of that continent,” Un adds.

Un describes the menu as “Khmer home cooked classics with seasonal twists.” It will evolve through the seasons and as the team settles in, but a portion of it will feature more classic flavors that members in the Cambodian community in New York have said they want to see. Among them is clams machew, a heaping plate of clams, shrimp, celery, and eggplant in a sour tamarind sauce. The dish is a spin on somlor machew kreung, a sour soup typically prepared with meat and flavored with lemongrass.

Un and Chaparro are also serving steak with tuk prahok, a sauce made with fermented fish paste, herbs, chiles, and lime juice. They wanted to serve shrimp crackers that are made with freshwater shrimp in Cambodia, but sourcing freshwater shrimp was cost prohibitive, so they pivoted to fried shrimp toast on a baguette with a mango salad.

To drink, expect wine and beer as well as egg sodas, which are popular in Cambodia. “It’s a childhood drink that you learn how to make when you’re like five,” Un says. Eggs are whisked with condensed milk and paired with sodas. And to end the evening, look out for soft-serve ice cream in Cambodian flavors.

5. Expect artwork hanging from the ceilings.

Art is everywhere in the tiny space. Look up and you’ll spot a custom chandelier by their friend David Kirshoff that features colored wires woven together with fake foods like noodles, lettuce, limes, and shrimp hanging from it. A fish net that engulfs a large cardboard fish from art collective CFGNY also hangs from the ceiling. And a woven piece by Venezuelan-born artist Cassandra Mayela Allen graces one of the walls. It’s made from pieces of clothing that migrants from Venezuela brought with them to the United States. “It’s an example of the type of artwork that represents us in some way, the people that we’re inspired by, the things that relate to our reality as immigrants in this country,” Chaparro shares.

Another expression of the pair’s identity is a small community altar where diners can light incense and offer blessings. It’s situated in the corner right by where diners enter the space. “It’s like, ‘if you know, you know.’ I’m just gonna leave that out there for people,” Un explains.

Bong will be open for dinner Thursday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m.

Devra Ferst is a Brooklyn-based food and travel writer who has contributed to The New York Times, Bon Appétit, Eater, NPR, and numerous other publications. She is co-author of “The Jewish Holiday Table: A World of Recipes, Traditions & Stories to Celebrate All Year Long.” Follow her on  Instagram. Follow Resy, too.

Ben Hon is a New York-based photographer. Follow him on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.