Philadelphia’s Southeast Asian community has been hosting a popular seasonal market at FDR Park since the early 90’s. Last year, the market included over 70 vendors offering an array of goods from Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and more. While many of the vendors have been established since the beginning of the market, those from younger generations are planting their roots too.
In April of 2022, Pidor Yang decided to create Sahbyy Food with her longtime friend, Sabrina Bass. Sahbyy Food’s menu features, in the words of the creators, a ‘modern’ take on Cambodian street food. Bass, who is an elementary school teacher, originally suggested to Yang, who was in the hospitality industry, that she should become a vendor after Bass stumbled upon an advertisement on Instagram. Though neither of the two professionally worked in the culinary industry, they both share a strong, familiar bond with food. “I’m the oldest of five. So growing up in Khmer culture, I was always in the kitchen helping mom,” Bass said.
Initially, Bass believed she was too busy to open a business. “When she told me, I was like, Sabrina, I’ll do it if you do it. I’ve always wanted to do this. Do you want to go in it?” Yang said. After much consideration, they decided to collaborate.
In the beginning, Yang and Bass went through trials and errors when figuring out what worked best for their business. Their original menu consisted of more traditional Cambodian street food, such as lemongrass beef skewers and crispy egg rolls, as well as gluten-free fried chicken. “I think we changed the menu four or five times by the end of July. In August, we finally found our niche,” Bass said. Despite their initial frequent change in the menu, they always offered their own original twist to what they served.
Currently, Sahbyy’s rotating menu features items such as lemongrass chicken, beef cheesesteaks, chili pepper chips, fried curry potato balls, and ginger turmeric tea. Yang and Bass split the work creating these items, with Yang credited for the lemongrass cheesesteaks and chili pepper chips and Bass credited for the fried curry potato balls, ginger turmeric tea and vegan jello. The duo’s process when creating these dishes are all but simple. Everything is intentional, from the ingredients that go into them, to the entire cooking process.
Yang recalled the story of how she came up with the lemongrass cheesesteak, which she referred to as a “blessed mistake,” being the result of some left over beef sticks after selling at the Cambodian Temple. “I believe I did 1000 sticks myself, and I was gonna cry … I was like, “What do we do with it?” Yang said. Shortly after, her husband decided to fry the meat, which led them to add other components that make it a fusion-inspired cheesesteak: cheese, pickled vegetables, fried pepper chips, and cilantro.
Although she was weary of taking on the responsibility of becoming a vendor at the Southeast Asian Market, Bass has enjoyed cooking from a young age. Inspiration for the fried curry potato balls originally came from Bass’s sister, who lives in California. “She had a Cuban restaurant by her house, and she remembered them making these croquettes… She did the research, we tested it out and from there, it worked,” Bass said. To make it her own, Bass incorporates flavor profiles that are distinct to Southeast Asian cuisine, such as lemongrass, galangal root, kaffir lime leaves, and massaman curry.
Sahbyy prides themselves on creating unique, fun dishes with the best ingredients. Yang grows her own lemongrass, as well as other spices and herbs used in her dishes. She also hand cuts and preps all her peppers for the chili pepper chips for each season, and offers unique flavors, such as original, pork fu, and lime.
Despite struggling in the beginning, Yang and Bass were able to figure out what works for them, and with the help of marketing and community support, their business is currently thriving. “It kind of blew our minds,” Yang said, “I’m crying for a different reason, [but] it’ll all be worth it.”
While they currently only sell their food at the Southeast Asian Market, the future of Sahbyy Food is looking bright. Yang is looking to expand in the near future and hopefully, the delicious chili pepper chips will be available to purchase online. They are open at FDR Park at the Southeast Asian Market every Saturday and Sunday from 11AM until they sell out, which is typically around 3PM. Those interested can spot Sahbyy Food by their unique watermelon printed tablecloth and find updates via their Instagram.
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