- November 21, 2024
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Market owner Molyda “Amy” Lim (second from the right) with Far East Fusion partners Yen Kes (far left) and Touch Saing (far right) and employee Sulang Khy. Photo by Sierra Williams
Market owner Molyda “Amy” Lim (second from the right) with Far East Fusion partners Yen Kes (far left) and Touch Saing (far right) and employees Sulang Khy and Wimon Ahinghaga. Photo by Sierra Williams
Market owner Molyda “Amy” Lim (second from the right) with Far East Fusion partners Yen Kes (far left) and Touch Saing (far right) and employee Sulang Khy. Photo by Sierra Williams
A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the head chef and store manager, a married couple. Their names are Touch and Sareena Saing.
Palm Coast residents don’t need to travel far now to get a new taste of Cambodian food.
The Far East Asian Market at 1030 Northeast Palm Coast Parkway has expanded into the storefront next door with a new restaurant: Far East Fusion. The restaurant features a mix of Southeast Asian cuisine: Cambodian, Thai, Vietnamese and even some Chinese.
Molyda “Amy” Lim, owner of the market, opened the restaurant next door in partnership with her the restaurant’s chefs, Touch Saing and Yen Kes. Saing is the restaurant’s head chef and Kes its roasted pork and duck specialist.
The restaurant had its soft opening on Dec. 4 and will have its grand opening at 10 a.m. on Feb. 10. Business has been growing everyday, Lim said.
“We wanted to bring to that to the next generation here and also want to share the good taste of the real food and [our] cultures,” Lim said.
Lim got into the food business specifically because she has a passion for sharing food — she said one day she hopes to travel the world and try food from every country. In the meantime, the food at Far East Fusion lets her share the recipes she was raised on — tied to her childhood memories — with her community.
“We want to share [our food] with everybody,” she said. “It's like part of the memory and love from when we were young, you know?”
Lim was born in Cambodia and moved to the United States in 2006 with her husband and the two moved to Palm Coast in 2008. Florida’s climate, she said, reminds her a lot of Cambodia.
Lim bought the Far East Asian Market in 2018 and having the market right next door is another reason they decided to open the restaurant, she said. It means the restaurant always has access to fresh ingredients should they run out of anything, she said.
“Because the market right there, the restaurant right here, you know, everything is made convenient for us,” she said.
Far East Fusion manager Sareena Saing — wife to head chef Touch Saing — said pho and drunken noodles are the restaurant’s most popular dishes so far.
As a face for the restaurant, Sareena Saing said that she often helps customers decide what to get if they’ve never had Southeast Asian cuisine. They have something for everyone to enjoy, she said.
“We're always trying to make our customer satisfied and being happy with what we have to offer,” she said.
Saing said she is both excited and nervous for the grand opening. They are still a little short staffed, she said, and are looking to hire servers to help with the rush.
“Sometimes it's hard for us to handle because we're short staffed,” Saing said, “but we feel appreciated because we have all the love and support from all the people in Palm Coast.”
This is the second restaurant she and her husband have had, Saing said, having previously opened one when they lived in Massachusetts. She said she’s proud to work in a restaurant that sells the food she ate growing up.
“We wanted to bring something new to Palm Coast and be a little bit different,” Saing said. “There's a lot of Thai cuisine in Palm Coast, there's a lot of Vietnamese cuisine, but no Cambodian cuisine. I think we can stand out in the crowd because of that.”
Their best Cambodian dish, she said, is the Cambodian flat rice noodles, which are fried in a brown sauce with carrots, onions, Chinese broccoli and a lot of protein.
Lim said she would always recommend either the pho or their pork or duck meals. Whatever they eat though, it makes her happy, she said, to see people of different nationalities come together and enjoy a meal.
“I see them happy and enjoying eating together,” Lim said. “And that’s all I want to see.”
