A Taste of Cambodia in Chicago: The Story of Khmai Fine Dining with Chef Mona Sang

Aaron Masliansky (00:00)
Welcome to the Chicagoland Guide And I'm your host, Aaron Masliansky. And today I am joined here by chef Mona, Mona Sang. Mona is the chef, over at Khmai Cambodian Fine Dining. And she has a wonderful story to tell. And, you know, we're really excited to hear about it and had a great experience there last night. So ready to share it with the audience, but

Mona, thank you so much for joining us today.

Mona Sang (00:25)
Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

Aaron Masliansky (00:27)
It's a pleasure. you know, really I, it was a lot of fun to be able to come in and see what you're doing over there. And it gives me a lot more context to this conversation. and it's a beautiful restaurant for those who don't know. And, you I'll, be sharing things on my social media. So if you go onto the Chicago land guide on Instagram, you'll see different video of, of the types of dishes and really the ambience, you know, one of the things that I was struck with walking in there is

It's not just a restaurant, you have, you know, murals painted on the walls of, you know, with Cambodian cultural experiences. And you talk about the history of the people of Cambodia and just different types of things. It's not your typical restaurant. So tell us a little bit about that. Like what, how did you come into this space and, and create such a place?

Mona Sang (01:18)
I wanted to create something different, like a different restaurant experience. To me, food wasn't just the food. I wanted to make them feel like once they walk into the restaurant that they're in a different place, different atmosphere. Like one of my great thing about going to different restaurant is that, know, Chicago is huge, but when I walk into a certain restaurant, I want to feel like maybe I'm in like Thailand or Mexico or somewhere else different.

So I wanted to bring that Cambodian feeling here in Rogers Park, you know, and I wanted to educate people a little bit more about our culture. So the mural is our Apsara dancer, which plays a huge role in our culture. And also the greeting and being able to speak Khmer and teaching that to our employees is important. So that way, again, they feel like they're somewhere different.

And there's a lot of history with our culture. And I feel like it comes out with people talking about it, our service talking about it. And it comes out through the food, through the painting, through everything that we put in the restaurant. There's always a story to tell. So if you walk around the restaurant, there's two different parts to it. Everything kind of signified like how the restaurant came about, what it means, the painting on the walls, even

Stuff in the bathroom, you know, it tells a story of our family, our journey and our culture and everything altogether. You know, I wanted to feel like it's more than just a restaurant that you're coming to eat, but a place that you can enjoy, learn about our culture and then taste our cuisine.

Aaron Masliansky (02:50)
Yeah. And I think that food is such a way to understand cultures. and you certainly see that. And by the way, like going into the bathroom, even there, like you just said, like it's, it's different than what you typically experience. mean, there's beautiful artwork in there and you have candles burning that just, it's the whole place is a whole experience. It's really incredible. But

You know, what's this? Why is it so significant to you? mean, tell us a little bit about your background, your history, how you got here today.

Mona Sang (03:16)
Well, my mom, she is a survivor of the genocide that happened in Cambodia. She was born and grew up living in Cambodia. And then when the war happened, she basically like lost everything. She was taken from her home. She was captured. She lived in the camp and she was like tortured. She went through a lot, a lot, a lot.

And she, you her story is like another journey. coming here to America, like after she had lost like her kids, her husband being here, you know, I never kind of understood like my culture. I never understood like where I was from because my mom never talked about it. Because back then after the war, like

Her generation never wanted to talk about it, never wanted to tell the kids what happened. So I grew up being like embarrassed and about my culture, not understanding where I was from. And so I kind of steer away from my culture and not wanting to learn about the food or any of that. And, you know, we were a poor family coming into America and my mom did whatever she can to survive.

She would work odd jobs to kind of feed us and she would cook. She would get the money from cleaning people's houses and she would go buy the food that she remember making in Cambodia. And she would cook for us and then my room.

was like next into the kitchen. It wasn't really a bedroom. It was more like a pantry, but we have to share our household with everyone else. So there wasn't enough room for everyone to sleep. So I had to be in the pantry. And so when she cooks in the morning, my clothes, everything, it just smells like Bok, which is what a lot of the Cambodian people use. So I always say that I'm Harry Potter without the magic. just, I was that smelly kid going to school.

So I hated going to school. I despise just being around anywhere because I smell so bad, you know, and I didn't know why my food, the things that my mom cooks smell that bad. And I just didn't even want to eat it. I didn't even want to care for it. I was like, this is just horrible, you know?

Aaron Masliansky (05:20)
I think he became a chef.

Mona Sang (05:21)
Yeah, and then fast forward, you know, I started working for Lettuce Entertain You and I always had a passion for cooking, you know, but wasn't passionate enough to cook my culture. So again, I wanted to get away with that. I just didn't understand. So I worked with Lettuce Entertain You for a little bit and I came for catering. My mom does catering at church, you know, for the church people, the community. Sometimes I would help her here and there. And then

about a year before the pandemic, my oldest brother had passed away and she's the one who found him in his sleep. like that just tore her whole world apart. I don't know how to explain it. Even to now when I talk about it with my mom, we don't even really talk about it. She just kind of like pretend that it doesn't exist right now.

So her whole world shut down. She didn't want to talk to anybody, but she always continued because her cooking was part of what she knew growing up and what helped her through the war, what helped her when she was captured and tortured, was like cooking. She's always loved cooking, you know? And so she would still continue to cook after my brother had passed away and that's kind of how she was healed from it.

and I was still continuing to work at Lettuce and Atinio. And then when the pandemic shut down, she was isolated from everyone else. So cooking for the community, cooking for the church was no longer exists. Like she was now alone. She had just lost her son. She had nightmares. She would scream in her sleep. Yeah. And then...

you know, she came to stay with me for a little bit because I didn't want her to be alone. And every day, you know, that goes by, you know, she just shut down more and more. And eventually she just kind of like, you kind of see it in her face. Like she just sort of like gave up. Like, what's the point? I don't know what's happening. I've lost everything already in my life. And this is where I am right now with nothing, you know? And I'm sure a lot of people felt that way during the pandemic, you know? So things got worse for her.

And then eventually she just didn't wanna talk to anybody. She didn't want to eat. And she just went into like this coma. Like she would sit there and you wouldn't be able to talk to her or connect with her. She just gone, you And it had happened in the past before, but not like this severe. And basically the doctor was like, you know, it's a mental thing that she's gonna have to snap out of it. And either she snap out of it, she don't. But my son one day was like,

I miss Maya's cooking. And the one thing that my mom used to make for him is banchao, which is like a Cambodian crepe, you know? And I was like, I don't know how to cook it, but I'm gonna try. So I went to Argyle and I start grabbing a whole bunch of stuff, you know, and start cooking here and there. I remember she taught me how to make baokthi, which is also one of our Cambodian staple food. So I would try to bring her into the kitchen. She wouldn't talk. She would just sit there. A lot of times she'd...

You could, she just cries, you know, she, again, no one would, couldn't wake her up, you know. But every day I would start cooking still. I cook, I remember hoh kthee, I cook log la, and you know, and I kind of never gave up, you know, and I know that she smells it and I know that she knows what I'm doing. And then like one day, I think I was cooking in the kitchen and then I was cooking, I don't know, I think I was still cooking bohokthee. And then like,

She literally was like, you're doing it wrong. And I'm like, Like she literally just woke up from it. And then like she pushed me to the side and started like adding all these like ingredients from like my cabinet and like, and I'm standing to the side. was like, okay, I'll let you do what you need to do. Like I could hear her mumbling and she's like, she's doing it wrong. How could you not know how to do this? And that it had done.

Aaron Masliansky (08:55)
us.

Mona Sang (09:02)
And then every day from then on, we just sort of like cook together, you know, and bond through stories that I would ask her through everything, you know, and then I would post the things that her and I were doing together. And people were like, what's Cambodian food? And I said, do you, how people not know what Cambodian food is? So we started sharing our culture and our food.

and sharing it to Chicago. And then people were like, can I order some or can I get some? And then my mom and I would like just start taking small orders for people, you know? And then when the pandemic died down a little bit, we went back to her catering kitchen and we started taking bigger orders for parties and events. We did a wedding together and through cooking, I was able to learn a lot of things about her.

through her trauma that she went through from losing my father and my two brothers, even losing her monkey she had. That monkey. She had a monkey that had died and she was lucky. So we so I learned a lot through my her cooking. I started to discover who I was, who I am, you know, that I was the refugee child.

And I came here to America, you know, trying to stay away from my culture. But I knew that my culture is who I am. It defines who I am going to be growing up, you know, like my background. And I started to learn about more about the war and how much she suffered, how much my dad and everyone went through and how my oldest brother who passed away, fought his way to America. But

to lose his life so soon. I understand what my mom meant, how sad she got about losing my brother at such a young age. She was very young.

Aaron Masliansky (10:46)
How old was he?

Mona Sang (10:47)
was 42.

so yeah, so she, so through that, I was able to learn a lot about her, about just how she came, how much passion she had for cooking and that that's what kept her going through all these times. You know, like she said, one time in the camp, she had to find scraps on the food on the ground just to cook, just to make herself something to eat, you know, and, for her to still retain some of these

recipe that she used to cook before the war. It's amazing to me. And I wanted to share that with the world. And I wanted to let people know that, this woman went through a lot, a lot, a lot. And she's, and what kept her alive was through cooking, through remembering what she used to do. And I wanted to continue that journey for her. And that's why, so then when Lettuce Entertain You offered me my job back, I was like,

I was like, hesitant. And then in the end I was like, no, I don't wanna leave my mom. I don't wanna do it again. So I told my mom, like, hey, do you wanna open up a restaurant? And she was like, it's really hard. I was like, it's our chance. It's now or never. It isn't really a traditional Cambodian restaurant here in Chicago. Either we do it now, we do it together, don't do it at all. She's like, okay. And so then I took.

My partner and I took all of our savings that we were going to, that we save up for the kids and the house that we were going to buy. the kids that they're to go to college later. It's fine. You know, that can, have to get scholarship. so we put all our hard earned money into, getting this small little place at Howard and then we built from there.

Aaron Masliansky (12:22)
OK, sure.

Mona Sang (12:20)
Howard and Rich.

Yeah, and it was a small little space, little really small kitchen too. But at that point, I didn't care if it was like, you know, fabulous or big or like fine dining. It was to tell my mom's story and it was to keep her journey going, to keep her alive, you know, and to continue what she lost and what was taken from her. And every day that we worked together,

I learned more and more about my culture. I learned more and more about her. And I realized that, you know, five, 10 years from now, her generation will be gone. And there's no one to tell the story or teach other, like the future, how to cook traditional Cambodian food. There's not a lot of her out there that know how to cook the food that were fed to the kings and queens and that taste, that traditional taste, you know. I've traveled.

in the United States to try the Cambodian, some Cambodian restaurant and some people can get close to it. But my mom's food, I will say, is always on point. Like that's the traditional Cambodian food. And each food that she puts out there and taught me how to cook, tell a story of like what happened to her and how she and how each dish like kept her alive. So I wanted to share that to Chicago and to Raja's part.

Aaron Masliansky (13:39)
I think it's wonderful that you've done that. Yeah, you certainly have. And you've expanded where you have your fine dining portion and then you have more of your a la carte type of side of the restaurant as well. So it's like whatever you're kind of looking for, but you go in and you have the experience throughout both places. And, you know, a lot of times, you know, when people move from another place and I had a previous show called Inside the Skev, which is all about Skokie and Evanston pretty similar to this, just a little bit more localized.

And I interviewed several people who came from other locations around the world and have moved here. So Kamari Koon, who you know from, you know, she has a strong Cambodian background and very involved at the Cambodian Heritage Museum. And, you know, that's been great to be able to show, you know, the history of Cambodia, bring the culture, the music.

I've interviewed people from Tibet, from the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago, and they try to bring their culture and heritage and be able to sustain it because the next generations just don't know it. And I feel like by bringing the food and everything here, it's really important to be able to share that story with other Cambodian people, but you're doing it with a lot of people throughout Chicago. So...

One of the questions I have is when you started doing these, you you started cooking during the pandemic with your mother, the people who were ordering, was it people from Cambodia through the Cambodian community in or was it general public? Because when I saw, when I was there last night, I mean, you have everybody from every culture coming to enjoy the food.

Mona Sang (15:09)
Yeah, it was actually people who were curious about what our cuisine was all about. People who wanted to know our story. There were just, basically it was just everyone, you know? And then also a lot of our own community reached out because, you know, or my generation, because their parents either got killed during the Khmer Rouge time, or, you know, they lost their parents along the way. So they never were able to experience that traditional

my cooking, you know? So then when they come here or when they order the food, they're like, this is what I remember. It's like their childhood. It's bringing them back their childhood memories. Like, this is what my mom used to make. This is what my dad used to make. I had a lady who came in like about a month ago and I'm sorry, about a few weeks ago, she came in and she just started crying because she saw all the things and murals and.

the traditional clothing, and then she, found out that she had lost her mom just like a month ago. And then right away I was like, give her bhokti. And then my server was like, he's like, really? He's like, you sure? I was like, yeah. And right as the bhokti was coming out, she was the server, the other server that would take care of her was putting an order for bhokti. And they're like, how did you know? I was like, because growing up, she's my age. That means that that's what her mom cooked for her.

And I'm pretty sure that's going to bring her back a lot of memory. And so she ate it, took one bite and she like the whole restaurant kind of kind of here, but she was just balding out. You know, she was just so happy and so overjoyed that, you know, just that one bite can bring a lot of memories of her mom that she lost, you know? So a lot of the Cambodians that were kids that went through a lot of trauma is the food. It's kind of like what heals them. You know, I know it sounds crazy, but

It does. It helps a lot of our community and remind us of what our generation and my mom's generation went through.

Aaron Masliansky (17:05)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, cooking tastes, smells, everything brings back those memories. It's very, very strong. was having a conversation with my daughter about something with the smell the other day. And, you know, I asked her like about something with the smell and she's like, how do you, how does that relate to what you're talking? Like, how do you remember that? I'm like, smells, they go back far. It's just for some reason it hits you. And like if it, could be your culture of something, you know, back from, mean,

When did you leave Cambodia or were were you in Cambodia actually?

Mona Sang (17:36)
I was born in the refugee camp in Thailand, border of Thailand. I have no memories, my brother and sister, all of us. My oldest brother passed away and my sister who's still here went through the war also. None of us have any memory. I think a part of us just shut it down. I couldn't tell you what memory I had as a child.

Aaron Masliansky (17:40)
in Thailand.

Mona Sang (18:01)
And thing for I think a lot of people in my generation is like we sort of shut it all down, you know, I think that we kind of choose not to remember just because we don't want to remember the trauma, you know, I remember my sister talked about like when she was walking along with my mom, she they had to step on human skulls. She saw people hanging from trees. And that was the last time I ever heard her talk about it.

She doesn't talk about it anymore. And a lot of them don't. My mom don't really talk about it unless we're cooking. I remember one time she was cooking and she was chopping something. And then I said, hey, mom, I know that you said that we had two brothers and they died. Where did you bury them? And she's like, I didn't bury them. I had to leave them on the side of the road. And then that was it. She just didn't hear.

And then I realized I was like, if she was not cooking and prepping, I don't think she would have been able to talk about it and she would have just broken down. There were times I tried to talk to her without her cooking and other people wanted to interview her. And it was always hard, you know, even myself, like when people like, hey, you know, tell us a little bit about the stories and stuff. And then I always say, it's very hard. You know, I, my mom and I don't do a lot of interviews because it's hard to hear the story.

Aaron Masliansky (19:12)
Yeah. It brings it all back. Does she still cook with you though? mean, is she in the kitchen?

Mona Sang (19:17)
She's

still, she's still telling me all the things that I'm doing wrong. Yeah. So she sits there and rolls the egg girl. She does the beef skewers. You know, she's, she's a huge, huge part of my life and a part of this kitchen and everyone loved her, loves her. And it keeps her going, keeps her mind fresh, keeps her happy. And it keeps her to continue to have good memories.

Aaron Masliansky (19:21)
She's a mother.

Mona Sang (19:43)
You know, instead of the bad memories flooding, it's now she's enjoying the good memories that she's having cooking in the kitchen, her grandchildren, and the employees who says, good morning, my, and they're all happy to see her. They bring her food. You know, she's enjoying the life that she should have had.

Aaron Masliansky (20:01)
Yeah. And she's creating new memories. And I, and I feel like there's a lot of respect from your employees who are not Cambodian, but have respect for the culture, which is, it's unique for a restaurant. A lot of times in restaurants, I'm sure there's things that go on in your restaurant and, you're trying to get a lot of orders out there stress, but there's a sense of respect throughout, throughout the staff. And even just the, the fact that one of your staff members,

painted the mural on the wall of the woman is just beautiful.

So one of the cool things about your restaurant is you're getting a lot of recognition. You were a James Beard semi-finalist. mean, that's, that's a huge deal for owning a restaurant and being a chef. What does that mean to you? How's that helped you?

Mona Sang (20:43)
It helped a great deal because when I opened up my first location, the first couple of weeks or the first couple of months, few months, nobody came. We had maybe two, three people came a day. And so some of them were just curious. And then my mom was like, nobody's coming. And I said, it doesn't matter, mom. Let's continue to cook. And then more and more people started to come and they started sharing.

their story and their experience at the restaurant. And then more and more started coming. And then three months later, I was sitting at the bar with my friend at the house manager. And then it was like a Tuesday. then we saw, and it was just me and her. It was just me and my mom cooking. We had no dishwasher. We had no other chef. We had no server. It was just three people in that restaurant, you know, cause we had nobody. Then the next thing we know, had like, I believe we served.

50 people that night. And I was like, my God. And then my friend of the house manager was like, maybe it was just luck. And then from then on, we were always booked out, you know, and it was crazy. And I was like, where's all these people coming from? And then we would, people would tell us like, hey, we heard your story and we wanted it. And we had such a good experience and your food is different. And it's nothing like we ever had before. So we told our friends and their friends start telling friends and you know,

someone was like, even my dentist knew about you. I was like, oh, that's great. And to just share that and for people that just share our culture was beautiful. And then being nominated was great because I don't think that there was a lot of, I don't think there's any Cambodian restaurant, like traditional Cambodian restaurant that like ever won a James Beard or got a Michelin star or any of that.

And I always say, you know, I'm not here to chase stars at all. I'm not here to chase any kind of recognition. I'm just here to spread the words and experience my culture and to keep my mom going. But being recognized on it. It's great. I love it. You know, I'm going to let that people sharing it, which is great. Yeah.

Aaron Masliansky (22:40)
It's really cool.

Yeah, I mean, and also just like to go from that small shop that you're on and Howard to where you are now, just to give people kind of a, an idea of what we're talking about. I mean, you have, it's a pretty good size, you know, restaurant for fine dining. The other side where it's more a la carte is also pretty good size. So you've grown tremendously. And then, you know, I made a reservation. never really see this where I had to put a deposit down for each person because you don't want to have any no shows.

And I think that really says something like you've got like you have such demands that like hey you better show up We have we have a line of people who want to get in

Mona Sang (23:18)
because

Well, because we also make everything fresh the day of too. And my mom and do get up early in the morning and everyone's prepping and working really, really hard to put these dishes on the table, you know? And we care about the quality of the food. We literally do not like freeze anything, you know? We try to make sure that we cut all our fruit and vegetables that day. She makes the curry every single day, fresh every single day.

She hates it. He's like, love the curry. And then with the two restaurants, the two different experiences, I always say it's me divorcing my mom just because she wants to keep everything traditional. She does not let me use like micro greens. She does not let me alter anything. So the Khmer side, which is the original side, is more of like my mom take on like Cambodian keeping everything traditional, very funky.

Bahuk, the beat, whatever it is, like very traditional. And then the Gond Khmer, Gond means, know, children of, Gond Khmer means children of Cambodia. It's more of like the fun side, it's more of my side a little bit that I can like add Michael Green's, that I can, you know, infuse some of the stuff and play around with a lot of things. So I would say, yep, one side is my mom, the other side is mine, you know. And then the bar side, you know, cause.

she does not drink, but you know, sometime I'm like, I'll have like a glass of wine and she'll just call me an alcoholic. And I was like, well, that's why I have to buy her.

Aaron Masliansky (24:48)
Yeah, you need a separate side away from her.

Mona Sang (24:51)
One time I took something traditional of hers. think it was the goodie, you know, the curry. Um, and I wanted to add some like nice micro green basil and she was like, what the hell is this? I was like, could green. She's like, we don't put that in Cambodia. I was like, well, people eat with their food. They don't, you know, they, they have to look at it. It hasn't been nice first. She's like nonsense. She's like, don't put on there. So I was like, all right. So that I don't.

You know, I put just one basil leaf and just call it a day, you know? But here, on the kodekamai side, I actually get to play around with it and make my dish come alive and more beautiful.

Aaron Masliansky (25:25)
That's awesome. It's your experimental side.

Mona Sang (25:27)
Yeah, she does not know that I am doing the tasting menu. So we are doing a tasting menu. And basically each month we're going to take them on a different journey. So this month we're doing semripe and it's all the flavor and tasting of semripe. And next month I think we're going to do penampen. So she doesn't know that I'm doing that yet, but I basically took all the traditional food and I kind of made it little bit smaller and fancier, I guess you can say.

But if she saw what I was doing, she'd be like, what the?

Aaron Masliansky (25:57)
You got to send her on the trip. Maybe she's got to visit Cambodia.

Mona Sang (26:00)
You

would not. She's gonna look at it and like, this isn't my food. I'm like, it is your food. It is your recipe. It's just smaller and prettier. That is all I'm doing.

Aaron Masliansky (26:10)
Just a little bit altered. Man, that's it's a lot of fun, a lot of drama, I'm sure, between the two of you. Yeah.

Mona Sang (26:18)
It is.

I was bickering in the kitchen here and there and then our staff is always like laughing. They're like, what did she say to you? I'm like, I don't know. I don't care. She did not make me. So I cook rice one time and I think that I undercooked it. And ever since then, I have never cooked rice. I was cooking. She is the only one that cooks the rice in that kitchen. She would not allow anyone else to cook it just because she says that we all suck and don't know how to cook.

Aaron Masliansky (26:28)
Yeah, just

Really?

my God.

Pretty soon you're going to need another location just so she could be there or you could be at the other place. yeah, everybody knows. That's right there.

Mona Sang (26:54)
You interview or you talk to any of my staff, you would they would tell you all the stories about her. Absolutely. Yeah.

Aaron Masliansky (27:02)
That's

the book. You got to write a book about your mom's stories.

Mona Sang (27:05)
yeah. absolutely. She'll be like, this is how you do it. And then we do it exactly what how she showed us. And then we do it is still wrong. She never she's never wrong. She's always right. So everybody knows that.

Aaron Masliansky (27:18)
from those. By the way, do you have like plans to expand and open up new locations or anything over the years or?

Mona Sang (27:24)
Eventually, I want right now, my mom's happiness is important. She's turned 81 this year. And I want to give her the most comfortable, happy life as much as I can right now. She's not gonna be around forever. So I wanna learn and I wanna be able to teach everyone else who comes here and learn. And then eventually,

I wanna be able to expand that and teach that to everyone else. And so that our traditional flavor will never go away. It will always be here. And I can teach that to the kids, my children, my grandchildren, and it all started with her. So right now, I think that even all of our employees that come and work here, they love her. And a lot of them, I'm like, hey, what do you like about working here? They're like, I like working with Mai. And I was like, you wanna make her happy. And I think that

My staff is the great, great staff because they're all here to help me educate people about our culture, about what we all went through and to give my mom the best possible happy life that she has right now.

Aaron Masliansky (28:30)
That's really beautiful of you. I mean, and also like, do you see other people in the community? Like, I'm sure you give back a lot to the Cambodian community. So how do you interact with them? And are there other people that come up to you and say, Hey, I want to open up a restaurant too. Do I, what advice would you give to them?

Mona Sang (28:45)
I would say have a lot of patience. Yeah. open up a restaurant, you know, and take your time. Like, don't rush it. You know, take your time to learn about the recipe and to learn the story. Learn your background. Learn the history. You know, all of our server here, I tell them, learn the history. Know what you're what you're talking about when you're talking about Cambodian cuisine, where the Bok is from, you know, what Namajuk is all about.

what any of our dishes, like where they originated from. You know, it's important to learn the history, to learn to know what you're putting out there on the table. Because if you give them the wrong information, then they're not gonna have that good experience and you're not. then opening up a restaurant, it's really, Cambodian restaurant, guess, opening up a Cambodian restaurant is important because it comes with a lot of history, a lot of trauma and a lot of history that you're gonna have to learn and that you're gonna have to go through this journey.

on your own first, and then you'd be able to, you know, take everyone else on that journey. I had to go through my mom's journey first to kind of know, to see it through, everything through her eyes first before I can walk my own journey. And as right now, I'm kind of walking it on my own a little bit, but sometimes when I work in the kitchen night and she's not there, I feel part of something is just missing and I don't know what it is. And sometimes she gets on my nerve, don't get me wrong, you know.

Aaron Masliansky (30:04)
That's why you open this

Mona Sang (30:05)
So

this is right. I have no one yelling at me. I have no one pointing their fingers at me or telling me how much I suck right now. This is nice. And a part of me feels like this isn't right, you know, and not having her next to me. Sometimes I feel self-conscious, am I doing this right? This tastes right. You so that's why I got to finish this journey with her first before I can start walking on my own completely. I think I could.

Aaron Masliansky (30:12)
hope she doesn't listen to this.

Mona Sang (30:31)
You know, so open a restaurant, follow your journey, know, know where it starts and where you want it to end.

Aaron Masliansky (30:38)
And would you recommend that people go to Cambodia if they haven't been there to kind of learn more? Have you been there?

Mona Sang (30:44)
I have not, I have not come back for lots of reason. It's really hard. So when I was born, there was no doctor, there's no nothing around, there's no paper. I don't even know what year I was born, none of my family does. It was all just hazy for my mom. So it's hard for me to get up, even though I'm a resident alien, but it's still hard for me to kind of like...

be a citizen, be a citizen. So, yeah.

Aaron Masliansky (31:10)
Wow, that's.

Mona Sang (31:11)
There's no paperwork. So I've talked to multiple lawyers and they are just like, we need this document, this document to know that you were born. was like, either they got killed or I don't know who they are. Like, you know, it's just a lot to go through.

Aaron Masliansky (31:25)
you could experience what Cambodia is by going to your restaurant, by tasting your foods, by seeing the story, by seeing the artwork. I mean, you're doing such a great service to the community and everybody here.

where we all come from and come together into a wonderful community here, uh, which makes this place great.

So you're certainly part of that and we appreciate that. And, know, I, recommend that everybody come and enjoy your food. where should people go to be able to learn about, your restaurant and to make reservations and where are you located?

Mona Sang (31:56)
they can find us on our website, or our Instagram, Facebook, our menu is on there. Our story is on there. we have, we now have like breakfast and lunch coming. I mean, we are, I mean, not coming, but it's already happening right now. So if people want to enjoy like Cambodian breakfast, like traditional Cambodian breakfast, we do have it on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from nine 30 until two. So if.

they wanna kinda skip the whole dinner rush, cause we do get a little bit busy. They can always come in the morning and enjoy some of the stuff that we do serve a little bit in dinnertime. And they can find all that information on our website too.

When you do come for breakfast, you'll see more of like what you'll find at like a Cambodian small mom and pop shop, you know, down the street somewhere. So it's no pastry really, just a few here and there.

Aaron Masliansky (32:45)
If you want something different than cereal and milk, it's certainly come to you. And the website by the way is khmai-fine-dining.com. I'll have it in the show notes. So everyone and you know, the links to all of your social media and everything will be there too. And then, you know, please follow the Chicagoland guide. have, you go to chicagolandguide.com and it's got the links to everything, but on Instagram I'm going to be posting videos from when I was there.

Mona Sang (32:50)
Yes.

Aaron Masliansky (33:12)
you know, last night, it'll be passed last night from when I actually publish this, but it's pretty cool. and, no, it's, it's fantastic. What, what are, what's something you want to leave us with?

Mona Sang (33:21)
that if you don't know about Cambodian culture and about Cambodian cuisine, definitely come and check us out. Here, I know that there's a lot of issues happening around the world, but what we want to create is that the moment you step here Khmai or go in Khmai is that leave all those worries behind. Come here, enjoy with your friends and family, enjoy really good service, good food, laugh, and create memories, and help.

and let us help you create new memories. And our menu is always changing, so it's never gonna be the same every time you come. It's always gonna be different. There's so many things on this menu and we can't wait to share with everybody. And so yeah, help us share our culture and our story and our cuisine. I think it's important to keep it going.

Aaron Masliansky (34:08)
I love it. Thank you so much for joining us today, Mona.

Mona Sang (34:11)
Thank you. ⁓