Skip to content

Food & Drink

Seila: Cambodian Food, Served Haute

Canlis alum Kevin Top shows Seattle the fancy side of Khmer cuisine

By Meg van Huygen January 14, 2025

A person stands indoors wearing a white shirt and gray apron, embodying the essence of haute Cambodian food, as they look directly at the camera.
Chef Kevin Top brings Cambodian flavors to life with his Seila popup.

The line is long in the back half of Stoup Brewing’s Capitol Hill location, but everyone’s chatting excitedly, even strangers with one another. They’re all united by curiosity, waiting to try Chef Kevin Top’s fast-casual menu of restyled Cambodian dishes, which he’s also been serving in a dinner party format as a popup called Seila.

Top grew up in Dallas, the son of Cambodian refugees. Seila was his given name, but his parents legally changed it to “Kevin Seila Top” because Seila was too difficult to pronounce.

Today, he embraces his name, which means “foundation stone,” but at the time, he says, “I wanted nothing to do with the name Seila. (But) my mom adamantly told me, ‘It’s a part of you and will define your story.’” 

He was a late bloomer when it came to embracing Cambodian food culture. Classmates made fun of him for the lunches his family sent him to school with. “My grandmother once packed me some kroeung-and-fish-sauce wings on rice,” he says, and when it was heated up, “my teacher was holding her nose while my classmates were pointing and laughing.” He says he told his grandmother, “I’m not going near anything fish. Stop packing me Asian food!”

Things have changed. Top’s popup — whose full title is “SEILA: A Celebration of Resilience and Roots”— switches between daytime casual bites and night-time multi-course prix fixe menus. Top tells his story through his menus, honoring his Cambodian heritage while mixing in Southern flavors and Pacific Northwest ingredients. One is duck somlar kor kor, a deconstructed take on a ratatouille-like Khmer stew with duck breast, matsutake mushroom, and kabocha puree with the mushroom dashi broth served on the side.

Another is his tongue-in-cheek take on scalloped potatoes, wherein he sears a shio-koji-brushed scallop and then serves it on a single scalloped slice of potato, alongside celeriac, heirloom tomato, rice paddy herb, Mountain Rose apple, red kampot pepper, and a drizzle of tamarind chicken jus. The twists he adds to traditional Khmer dishes spotlight the haute cuisine skills he’s honed throughout his career at destination restaurants such as Canlis and Cedar + Elm. 

Two gourmet dishes served haute on separate plates: the left features sliced beef with watermelon radish and a vibrant green puree, while the right showcases seared fish accompanied by thin apple slices and an elegant herb garnish, reminiscent of refined Cambodian food artistry.
Innovative Cambodian-inspired dishes at Seila.

At Stoup Brewing, though, we got just a small, exhilarating taste of Top’s repertoire on his casual daytime menu. The event showcased two dishes — a smoked duck congee made with Carolina gold rice and a salted duck egg; and a fried chicken-thigh-and-shiitake sandwich with yellow kroeung (Cambodian curry) accenting the chicken patty, as well as pickled mustard greens and fermented chili aioli on a brioche bun. Both dazzled the group I was with, and put Top’s unique skill set and creative innovation on display. It’s like no fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had.

Seila next pops up at Table for 12 in Edmonds, which hosts cooking classes and other foodie events, sometime in mid-February. There, he’ll feature dishes including a dish inspired by pork and winter melon soup: green kroeung-marinated pork cheek, braised winter melon that’s been painted with chrysanthemum amazake, jujubes (red dates), and grated white truffle, all inundated in Phnom Penh soup, an umami-heavy broth made from pork, dried shrimp, and dried squid. The rest of the menu isn’t yet known, but it will be an elaborate affair. 

Top is just getting started, having debuted Seila in late November 2024, and I can’t wait to see where he takes this project. The profound pride with which Top serves these dishes — through which he celebrates his culture, his family, and Cambodia itself — is as delicious as the food itself. 

Follow @seila.seattle on Instagram or check out his website at www.iamseila.com.

Follow Us

Seattle Bars, Restaurants Unite to Support Immigrant Rights

Seattle Bars, Restaurants Unite to Support Immigrant Rights

Fundraiser seeks to counter nationwide immigrant crackdown

More than 100 Seattle restaurants, bars and pop-ups are joining forces in support of immigrant rights. Between Feb. 7-9, they’ll donate a portion of their proceeds (up to 10%, depending on the establishment) to raise funds to counter the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants. According to the American Immigration Council, immigrants make up 22% of…

The Lure of Lamb at Hamdi

The Lure of Lamb at Hamdi

New Year’s Eve dinner features special roast

I want a perfume of the air inside Hamdi. It smells like fire, black pepper, charred herbs, almonds, oak. I want to wash my hair in it. I want a little vial of it to keep in my pocket and inhale on the train. Open since late 2022 on a semi-industrial stretch of Leary Way,…

Blazing Birds: Why is Hot Chicken So Hot?

Blazing Birds: Why is Hot Chicken So Hot?

A friend and I were recently discussing the hot-chicken craze when he asked, “why do we need more chicken places? They’re everywhere.” It piqued my curiosity, and a little research uncovered some interesting tidbits. Thanks to Google, I discovered that the chicken wars began in earnest about four years ago, but its modern roots go…

Saint Bread Nabs Top Bakery Honor

Saint Bread Nabs Top Bakery Honor

The New York Times lists the Portage Bay bakery as one of the best in the U.S.

The New York Times has named Seattle’s Saint Bread as one of its 22 best bakeries in America. It is the only bakery in Washington state on the list. “There are few places more pleasant in Seattle for baked goods than this spot tucked by the shores of Portage Bay,” The Times’ Brian Gallagher writes….