The Leela Palace Bengaluru’s sought-after dining destination, Zen, hosts celebrated chef Rotanak Ros for a two-day Cambodian Pop-up. We didn’t just eat—we travelled. Somewhere between the first rice crisp and the last bite of shaved ice, we found ourselves gently nudged into Chef Nak’s Cambodia, where food is memory, warmth, and cheeky bursts of joy.

The meal began with Chicken Natang Curry—creamy, coconut-laced, and served with rice crisps that crackled like applause. Dip. Crunch. Melt. It was a curtain-raiser that didn’t scream for attention—it simply deserved it.

Then came the Kompot seaweed salad—light, whispery, and bright with citrus. The freshness tiptoed on the tongue while still hinting at the briny breeze of Cambodia’s southern coast. This wasn’t your usual salad; this was a poetry.

Chef Nak, soft-spoken and sincere, introduced each dish like she was handing us pages from her own childhood. ‘Namh’ and ‘Saoy’—the titles of her two books—mean to eat in Cambodian. Enter Muktaa—the White Pearl Soup. As soon as it hit the table, the ends erupted in innocent excitement:
Boba Soup! A few spoons in, we weren’t laughing at the comparison; we were smiling with it. Because Muktaa was comforting, rounded, with pearls that bobbed like tiny treasures in a clear broth. It was a reminder: food is allowed to be playful.

The fourth course arrived like a festival in a bowl—rice noodles, prawns, curry, bitter gourd, and beans—each one claiming its space but dancing in harmony. The bitter gourd didn’t hide, the curry didn’t drown, and the prawns… well, they were just showing off. It wasn’t fusion. It was a celebration.

And then: shaved ice. A cool, syrupy finale. Not overly sweet, not trying too hard. Just enough to make us pause, close our eyes, and smile—the perfect goodbye. What tied it all together wasn’t just the food. It was Chef Nak. Her warmth, her quiet joy in watching us taste things for the first time, and the way she translated her culture onto our plates made this more than just a meal. It felt like home—even though many of us had never tasted Cambodian food before.