(29 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philadelphia – 24 May 2025
1. Various of Chef Phila Lorn talking to a customer
2. Cut away of ceramic chicken docor
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Phila Lorn, owner of Mawn noodle house:
“Mawn means chicken in Cambodian. When my parents were running through the jungles to get away from the s*** that was happening in Cambodia, she said that eating salt and rice was every day, was a four-course thing every single day. And if you saw someone eating chicken, it meant that the gunfire ceased because there's chicken to catch. So, chicken represents peacetime in many ways for us.”
4. Various of customers waiting outside the restaurant
5. Various staff served food to customers inside the restaurant and close up of food
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6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Lorn, owner of Mawn noodle house:
“He always said, I want it to be like, you know, when you say to, you know, say, what are we going to have for dinner tonight? You know, Mexican, Chinese, Thai. He wants Cambodian to be in that conversation. I think that, overall, the timing of when a lot of Cambodian refugees, immigrants came to this country and what they had, they didn't come here with anything a lot of it. So, there was a lot of time where there was not a lot of access to things. There was trauma unlike a lot of other Asian cultures that may have come here over the years, so, I think it's taken this long for the next generation of Cambodian Americans to kind of start their mark and create that, which is kinda now.”
7. Various of Lorn cooking
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8. SOUNDBITE (English) Shauna Hailey, Philadelphia resident:
“The food's really great and I love the variety because at the end of the day, like, we're so used to like getting Chinese food or getting Thai. But it's, it's great to have another country of food origin to like, sample that palette and that their plate.”
9. Various of Lorn and diners inside the restaurant
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10. SOUNDBITE (English) Suzanne O’Brien, Philadelphia resident:
“Philadelphia had a real surge of Vietnamese restaurants that opened. So, I think there is a basis for understanding some of the flavor profile, but this is unique too, or different. And, so, I think people are excited to learn about it.”
11. Various of Lorn and staff cooking
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Phila Lorn, owner of Mawn restaurant:
“I feel great. We broke the cycle, we broke the mold. I was frustrated that every time I saw anything about Cambodians, it was about the Khmer Rouge or gangs and violence.”
13. Mid of staff cooking
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14. SOUNDBITE (English) Phila Lorn, owner of Mawn restaurant:
“If I'm an ambassador of anything is my son, I want him to know that you can do anything you want if you want to do it. You have to want to do it.”
15. Pan of staff serving a noodle dish
STORYLINE:
Chef Phila Lorn did not set out to be an ambassador for all Cambodian food when he and his wife Rachel opened Mawn in his native Philadelphia two years ago.
Mawn — the phonetic spelling of the Khmer word for “chicken” — became more than a noodle shop. It meant representation.
Lorn will be representing his dual cultures — Cambodian and Philly — in June at his first James Beard Awards as a nominee for Best Emerging Chef. In the food world, it's akin to getting nominated for the Academy Awards.
Awards aside, Mawn has been warmly embraced by diners in Philadelphia. Reservations for dinner can be hard to get, and customers frequently queue up before the restaurant opens for lunch without a reservation.
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