Siem Reap’s most attention-grabbing Cambodian cuisine these days is surprisingly its most traditional, coming out of the very rustic upstairs kitchen of Pou Restaurant, which occupies an unrenovated wooden house on a dusty street opposite the historic Wat Damnak Pagoda.

Pou translates as “uncle” in Cambodia, where it is customary to use the local equivalents of “father,” “brother,” or “sister” in restaurant names to create a sense of hospitality and familiarity, in the same way Cambodians call older women “aunty.”

But while Pou has a casual feel underscored by mismatched secondhand furniture and hand-written blackboard menus, its name is an unlikely one for a restaurant helmed by a chef who, at 28, hardly seems old enough to be anyone’s uncle. - source destinasian.com

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