Organization

Mawn


Mawn is a Cambodian and Southeast Asian BYOB restaurant on South 9th Street in Philadelphia. Phila and Rachel Lorn opened it in 2023.[1][2] Its name means "chicken" in Khmer. For the Lorn family the chicken is a symbol of peacetime, and the name carries that history.[3] Phila Lorn, a first-generation Cambodian American chef, won the 2025 James Beard Award for Emerging Chef.[2]

History

Mawn is the first restaurant of the couple, both restaurant veterans, and grew out of their long-held dream of running a place of their own.[3] It opened in 2023 in the former Kalaya space in the Bella Vista neighborhood, near the Italian Market.[4][2] The restaurant calls itself a noodle house "with no rules."[3] Rachel Lorn runs the front of the house.[2] The couple later opened a second restaurant, Sao, at 1710 East Passyunk Avenue.[5][1]

Food

Phila Lorn draws on his roots in a menu of Cambodian food and dishes from across Southeast Asia, with Thai and Vietnamese influences.[2][3] The Khmer-rooted dishes include beef noodle katiew; wild boar prahok, a savory dip served with fresh vegetables; steak with prahok, a sliced 20-ounce ribeye topped with Cambodian chimichurri; and the banh chow salad, built on a crispy coconut-scallion crepe and dressed with "Sunday fish sauce."[2][1][4] The khao soi is a northern Thai curry with braised chicken, chili jam, pickled greens, and both crunchy and tender noodles from Neighborhood Ramen.[4] Thai crab fried rice is also on the menu.

Seafood runs through the menu. There are oysters with rau răm and Cambodian black pepper mignonette, head-on soft-shell shrimp glazed with fish sauce caramel, whole fish in hot ginger-scallion oil and, as a special, prawn crudo in chili oil.[1][4] The papaya salad mixes papaya with tamarind, Thai chili, dried shrimp, peanuts, Thai basil, mint and cilantro, and there are Burmese salads.[4][1] Desserts include funnel cake with miso caramel and jasmine rice pudding with mango-infused whipped cream. Nonalcoholic drinks include coconut and a sweetened iced coffee with green cardamom.[2] Vegetarian and vegan choices include yellow curry noodle soup with tofu and Burmese melon salad.[5]

Recognition

  • 2025 James Beard Award for Emerging Chef, Phila Lorn[2]
  • OpenTable Icons, 2025 and 2026[6]
  • No. 46 on Yelp's Top 100 US Restaurants, 2026
  • Banh chow salad named among The New York Times' 23 best dishes in America
  • Top honors at the Tasties, a Philadelphia culinary awards show[1]

The restaurant also states that The New York Times named it among the 50 best restaurants in America.[5]

Visiting

Mawn has 28 seats at about ten candlelit tables, with the kitchen open to the dining room.[5][4][2] Guests bring their own alcohol. Dinner is by reservation through OpenTable. Tables take parties of up to seven.[5][7] Lunch is walk-in only. There is no takeout and no phone; the restaurant answers by email or Instagram message.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mawn (October 2024)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Condé Nast Traveler, Mawn review (September 2025)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Mawn, About us
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 The Infatuation, Mawn review (March 2023)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Mawn, FAQs
  6. ↑ OpenTable, Mawn
  7. ↑ Mawn, home page

Sources

Retrieved from "https://dev.khmerconnection.com/w/index.php?title=Mawn&oldid=8667"
This page was last edited on 29 September 2026, at 02:30.