Welcome to Cambodia Town | A Celebration of Cambodian Culture in Lowell, Massachusetts

On a few blocks in Lowell, Massachusetts, lies one of the nation’s richest outposts of Khmer culture and cuisine.

Soben Pin orders two bowls of Phnom Penh noodles from a woman she calls Bang, meaning “big sister” in her native Khmer. Soben is cofounder of the biweekly KhmerPost USA, the widest-circulated Cambodian newspaper in America. She’s also my dining mate one soggy May morning at the Red Rose Restaurant, a tucked-away oasis of Cambodian cooking in Lowell, Massachusetts.