Nena Naek started InNenasKitchen in March 2024 as a home restaurant in Fruitvale, selling bowls of kathiew, the Cambodian beef noodle soup. Her potent broth, made from beef ribs, neck bones, fish sauce and toasted aromatics, such as star anise, onion and ginger, began drawing hundreds of customers per week. By the end of the following year, she was selling enough bowls each weekend that her landlord asked her to stop.
Naek, an Oakland native who started InNenasKitchen as a side hustle to her medical field day job, initially moved the operation to a warehouse. In March, she landed a residency at Oakland’s Aloha Club, where she now runs InNenasKitchen as a counter service spot. And she is selling more kathiew than ever thanks in part to socialmedia, going from slinging 50 bowls a week to more than 100, churning through 200 pounds of beef ribs and 200 quarts of broth.
Inadvertently, Naek’s landlord helped create the most exciting new Cambodian restaurant in Oakland…