One of NYC’s Only Cambodian Restaurants Has Closed for Good

For the second time in six years, one of the very few places in New York City serving Cambodian food has gone dark. This one isn’t a pandemic casualty or a rent dispute, though. The last dinner service came and went on Monday, August 3, and the reason behind it is actually a happy one.

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Bayon, at 408 East 64th Street between First and York avenues, announced the closing on Instagram, writing that “the time has come for our chef/owner to retire” after 45 years in the city’s restaurant community.

The name was newer than the reputation. Minh and Mandy Truong opened Angkor Cambodian Bistro in the same space in 2015, then shut it down in 2020, when Eater described it as one of the only Cambodian restaurants in New York. The husband-and-wife team had also run Royal Siam, a Thai restaurant in Chelsea, for about two decades before that.

They didn’t lose the space for long. Their old landlord reached out once the storefront freed up, and the couple appeared before Community Board 8 in January 2024 for a beer, wine and cider license as they planned their UES return. Bayon opened later that winter with 14 tables inside and a small seasonal backyard.

Recognition followed quickly. Bayon was one of four Upper East Side restaurants added to the guide by Michelin inspectors in November 2024, and it later picked up a Bib Gourmand, Michelin’s designation for good cooking at a good price. The guide’s reviewers singled out the fried chive dumplings served with ginger soy sauce, along with nyoam, thick rice noodles tossed in a red curry sauce made with ground fish.

The farewell post thanked the guests who celebrated milestones there and made the restaurant part of their lives, then asked them to keep supporting Cambodian-owned businesses. It pointed readers toward Artara Coffee, Bong, Cambodian Now and Lula Mae, plus Cambodian restaurants in other cities like Khmai in Chicago, and one day Cambodia itself. Serving the neighborhood, the Truongs wrote, was the honor of a lifetime.

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