AsiaLIFE

A recent transplant from the Bronx, Nyrola Ung aka “Mama” feeds Mai Lynn Miller Nguyen some good grub and stories. Photos by Conor Wall.

For nostalgic ex-New Yorkers in Cambodia, Mama’s Deli is as close to the Big Apple as it gets. Posters of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building adorn the walls, and the menu offers familiar deli fare like cheeseburgers, corned beef sandwiches and meatball subs, all of which can be ordered by checking off slips of paper, with room for customisation options and additions.

I’m a big fan of the patty melt. With gooey American cheese, grilled onions and ground beef, it’s hard to beat this kind of savoury appetite appeaser for US$4. But although I’d often enjoyed the toothsome sandwich, I’d yet to know Mama besides her voice on the phone.

“Hi! Welcome to Mama’s!” chimes the petite Cambodian woman to everyone who walks into her establishment. After 30 years in the United States, she’s picked up the sense of American hospitality, with a hint of Bronx spirit—“Why don’t you come to see me?” she good-naturedly chides one customer who’s stayed away for too long.

Known as Mama by her kids and customers, her full name is Nyrola Ung. She chose to name the eatery  "Mama’s” because “it makes it feel warm. Everybody can come to eat here and Mama cooks for her children,” she says.

Born in Kampong Cham, Ung grew up in Phnom Penh. After the Khmer Rouge rule ended, she and her family went to a refugee camp in Thailand. She worked as a nurse (also her pre-1975 career) in the camp hospital, until she was resettled in the U.S.

Asked about what it was like to first arrive in New York City, Ung says, “You know, at that time, there was only crying. I couldn’t believe that I could get out from the communist regime.”

This year, Ung came to live again in her birth country. But she still has a deep affection for her adopted city, where she has lived longer than she lived in Cambodia.

“I very much miss New York,” Ung says. “Now, I think over there is like my first homeland.”

Like a true New Yorker, Ung refers to areas of town by the most accessible subway stations. “Was it off the L?” she asks me about where I lived in NYC. “Brooklyn? Everybody comes from Brooklyn, but no one from the Bronx, poor Mama!” she cries.

Ung became a US citizen after five years of living in the States. She can tell a funny story about the citizenship granting process. “I went to the test, they asked me, ‘How long you been here? What’s your address? How did you come to America?’ I said, ‘I came to America by airplane!” she laughs.

Ung cooks the food at Mama’s, using skills she honed from working at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan. Although she started off clearing tables, the chef convinced her to join him in the kitchen. Hearing Mama relate her experiences in the restaurant is another source of great entertainment.

Whether you go for some classic sandwiches with a side of coleslaw or just to spend some time with the affable Cambodian Mama from the Bronx, this restaurant saves you that long flight to Gotham City.

Mama’s New York Deli, 50 Street 63, Tel: 078 948 103, Open daily from 10am to 11pm.