MAWN, a Cambodian-owned noodle shop, will fill Kalaya’s former spot in South Philadelphia

Phila Lorn says he gets the question 10 times a day: “‘Your name is Phila?’” he said. “’As in...?’”

Yes, he will reply: It’s Phila. Say it “Peela.”

In 1986, it was his Cambodian-born parents’ tribute to the city where they arrived in the late 1970s after a church sponsored their immigration.

Lorn and his wife, Rachel, are opening MAWN, what they call a “no-rules” noodle shop inspired mostly by Southeast Asian cuisines, at 764 S. Ninth St. This was where the Thai restaurant Kalaya was before its relocation to Fishtown.

The open kitchen of MAWN — Khmer for chicken — will turn out a variety of noodles, including Vietnamese pho, Laotian khao poon, Cambodian beef bone noodle, a vegan three-mushroom noodle soup, and — in homage to Rachel’s Jewish upbringing — a chicken noodle soup. There also will be Cambodian-style sandwiches called num pang made with rolls from Sarcone’s Bakery up the block.

At night, MAWN’s menu will expand to include traditional Cambodian dishes, such as grilled skewers, herbaceous salads, and entrees (steam clams with pepper and lime sauce, banh chiao, etc.). “I think the idea for this dining experience at night would be one where people could get a bunch of things and share them,” said Rachel Lorn. “During the day will be more like quick noodle shop.”

Sunday brunch will feature Cambodian hot pot as a shared meal.

Phila Lorn, who grew up in South Philadelphia, got into the restaurant business right out of high school, as a food runner at 1225 Raw in Center City. “Honestly, I was just trying to stay out of trouble,” he said. “I was a kid from South Philly looking at a kitchen and saying, ‘Oh, wait. This is not like McDonald’s. These were some real dudes. It was appealing to me.”

One day, he was cutting scallions when a line cook called out sick and he was summoned to the line. “You know the story,” he said. He started cooking and was there for four years.

As he was walking past the Rittenhouse Japanese restaurant Zama, a former Raw coworker beckoned him in to talk to chef-owner Hiroyuki “Zama” Tanaka. Lorn started at Zama as a line cook; that’s where he met Rachel, who grew up in East Falls but had moved to South Philadelphia.

They opened Tanaka’s second restaurant, CoZara, in University City, working there for four years before he joined Christopher Kearse in the kitchen at Will BYOB in 2017. Rachel Lorn is director of banquets at the Logan Hotel.

Perhaps Phila Lorn was inspired by his switch to fine dining. One night, he woke up Rachel and said, “We have to open up a restaurant.” Referring to Kearse, he said, “He’s a dude that is making his food unapologetically, being himself. And I was like, we should attain this.”

But this did not happen right away. “I probably left about four spots telling them that I’m going to leave to open up a restaurant,” he said, mentioning subsequent jobs at Stock in Fishtown and Barbuzzo in Center City before the pandemic sent him to Terrain in Glen Mills, owned by Urban Outfitters. He most recently was at Mighty Bread Co. after a chef’s residency with Jose Garces at Volvér.

The Lorns, who say no major construction is required, are aiming to open in early 2023. The target is Jan. 27.

Why?

“We still have family in Cambodia, and my mom asked a family member in Cambodia to go ask a monk [for an auspicious date],” Phila Lorn said, before adding with a wink: “They don’t take money. It was just purely for a mitzvah.”