Koffeteria’s Brunch Goes Beyond Pastries, Fusing Cambodian Classics With Big Houston Flavor

Koffeteria pastry chef-owner Vanarin Kuch is just getting started. The Houston-born, first-generation Cambodian chef, who competed on Top Chef: Just Desserts in 2011, has gained a cult following for his inventive pastries at his East Downtown bakery and coffee shop, including his quirky, viral, nacho cheese-stuffed Hot Cheetos croissants and iconic pho kolache, which distills the essence of a Vietnamese staple noodle soup into a traditionally Czech-Texas pastry.

Kuch feels a fire has been lit under him following his James Beard Award recognition as a semifinalist in the Outstanding Bakery or Pastry Chef. His eyes are firmly on the prize — one goal is to earn both a Beard and Bib Gourmand now that Michelin Guide is in Houston. The chef also imagines going far beyond pastries. “I’m at a point where I can start showing off a lot,” he says.

Kuch says he hopes to put Cambodian food in Houston on the map. For nearly a year, the former Tiny Boxwoods pastry chef has hosted a savory weekend brunch at Koffeteria with a rotation of dishes that connect his playful pastry-making to his Cambodian American heritage. The shift began in 2019 when he moved back to Houston to open Koffeteria. “Cambodian cuisine doesn’t really have a platform right now, and I think there’s a huge evolution of people going back to their roots and shining a spotlight,” he says.

Kuch’s experience in cooking and baking goes back to when he was 12, frying chicken at his aunt’s doughnut and fried seafood and chicken joint on Navigation Boulevard. He later went to culinary school and worked in restaurants, including a short stint under Daniel Boulud and at Houston’s Jean-George under chef Brian Casewell. Finally, his mother, Sokha Baker, one of his many inspirations for Cambodian cooking, helped him find a space in Houston to make his pastry dreams a reality.

Koffeteria is now a full-on family affair run by Kuch, his husband Andreas Hager, and other relatives. Kuch’s aunt Ky Vouch provides some of the shop’s most essential ingredients, including herbs grown directly from her garden and its three-year-aged salted preserved lemons used in pastries and Koffeteria’s salted lemon soda. Vouch’s prahok, though — a funky fermented fish paste made from fish she catches in Galveston — is undeniably the backbone, he says, and the way he achieves Cambodian cuisine’s signature umami and love-it-or-hate-it sourness in his dishes, he says. “I will not back down on the flavors,” he says. “But my job is also to introduce them in a way that’s not so scary.”

Kuch admits that, like him, his Cambodian creations aren’t very traditional, but they are very Houston. Diners at Koffeteria’s brunch will find local favorites like tacos, but they’re loaded with meats that have been fermented, which is true to Cambodian foodways that date back to when refrigeration didn’t exist. “It’s very much an amalgamation of Cambodian and American foods and what we consider Houston cuisine,” he says. Kuch says he’s seeing this trend more often in the city. “Houston’s finally getting into or defining what it really means to be a Houston local flavor,” he says. “It’s exciting to be a part of that.”

Here are some of the best dishes from Koffeteria’s brunch menu:

Twako taco machete

This Koffeteria mainstay, grilled fresh to order, offers a spin on a Mexican-style taco or, more specifically, a machete. Kuch folds ginger, refried peanut puree, cheese, and twaco or Cambodian boudin — a fermented, slightly sour beef — into beef-fat rice tortillas. Served with green papaya and salsa, the umami-packed taco delivers crispy, cheesy edges and a memorably sour heat. “It’s kind of like the basis and soul of Cambodian food with more of an American approach to it,” he says. It pairs well with a salted lemon soda — best enjoyed with a bottle of Topo Chico used to refill the cup and stir up every last bit of salted lemon that settles at the bottom.

Prahok K’Tiss pupusa

As suggested in the name, prahok — a funky fermented fish paste — is a driving flavor in this pupusa, Kuch’s interpretation of the traditional Salvadoran dish. Pork belly braised in a combination of coconut milk, lemongrass, chili, ginger, galangal, and fermented fish is packed into a coconut-rice flour griddle cake, then topped with herbs like lemongrass and served with a side of Koh Kong cabbage slaw.

Cambodian barbecue chicken (Sach Moin Ang)

In Cambodia, “every street hawker has a version of chicken and rice with pickles,” says Kuch, who visited Cambodia and Thailand before launching his brunch menu. This dish is Kuch’s take, with chicken grilled over oak charcoal. It’s served over steamed rice, topped with fried egg, and accompanied by pickles, often an assortment of pickled watermelon rind, white radish, and green papaya — a dish that Kuch says feels like home. “I love making things that make me comfortable,” he says.

Lort cha

This bright and aromatic menu staple comes to the table steaming. Kuch stir-fries silver pin rice noodles with garlic, chunks of Chinese sausage, and herbs before crowning the dish with a fried egg and bean sprouts. Kuch says lort cha might be the most recognizable brunch item since many cultures, including Thai, have similar takes on this hawker-style noodle dish. “It’s kind of like our version of Pad Thai,” says Kuch. “I really try not to do anything that crosses over between Thai and Cambodian food, but it can be a little confusing sometimes. We’re all so close together. If it tastes similar, it’s probably because it’s very much the same.”

Meringue tart

Kuch flexes his pastry artistry in this spin on lemon meringue. The chef fills a tart shell with a lemon curd made with his aunt’s three-year-aged salted preserved lemons and bakes it for a few minutes before topping it with a torched Swiss meringue and a garnishing of gold leaf. The sweet and salty pastry complements Koffeteria’s “Salty Cambodian” latte: Best served hot, the coffee drink is made with sweetened condensed milk and homemade sourdough butter with a finishing sprinkle of Maldon salt.