Kingfisher chef discusses journey to Michelin-starred restaurant
Executive Chef David Sim is a first-generation Cambodian-American who began his culinary career at In-N-Out Burger.
SAN DIEGO — A Michelin-starred restaurant in the heart of Golden Hill offers diners modern Vietnamese-French cuisine made with fresh, local ingredients.
Chef David Sim was appointed Executive Chef of Kingfisher in March 2023.
“I like to cook with high acidity foods, salt, spices and sugar, and find the balance between them for certain dishes,” said Chef Sim.
The first dish he shared with me was geoduck clam with buckwheat broth, pickled taro root, rice paddy herbs and chili oil. The flavors are bold, the sauce is mouthwatering.
His culinary career began at In-N-Out Burger. It was his first job. He stayed with the chain for nine years.
“They’ve got it all set up, their system, it’s such a well-run machine that you kind of learn how to run an efficient business properly,” he said.

Sim is a first-generation Cambodian American raised in San Diego. He grew up in City Heights in the 1990s, eating Vietnamese food because he said there weren’t many Cambodian restaurants around. He graduated from Crawford High School.
“Growing up, I tried not to cook Asian food, especially Cambodian food. I cooked a lot of American food,” Sim said. “I was afraid it would be too weird for people.”
“There is not much refrigeration in Cambodia, so they marinate and ferment everything in salt,” he explained.
“I’ll put fermented shrimp on the menu, find a way to balance it to make it more appetizing to people,” he added.
Aged 38, he is the youngest of three boys.
“We were very close growing up, inseparable,” he said. “Our parents were very affectionate, but gave us a lot of space growing up. In the ’90s, we were out and about doing our own thing. As long as we got home before dark, no questions asked. So we got in a lot of trouble, but we had a lot of fun,” he laughed.
His family history is just as remarkable as his cuisine.




Sim’s parents fled genocide in Cambodia in the 1970s.
“I think they went to the Philippines first, then to Thailand, that’s where my brothers were born, to a concentration camp there,” he said.
“My parents went through very difficult times, they had crazy stories to tell,” he added.
His family eventually settled in Washington, where Chief Sim was born. The family moved to San Diego when he was very young.
“I was the first to be born in America, they didn’t forget to remind me, I was the ‘Golden Child’ who was supposed to save the family,” he laughed.
“It’s something that humbles me, something that our parents don’t let us forget, about the difficulties they had to overcome to get us here. We have to take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.
When his parents found out he had been appointed executive chef at Kingfisher, he joked that they asked him how much money he was going to get paid.
“That’s typical of Asian parents,” he said with a laugh.
He said the promotion made him super happy and nervous at the same time.
“I remember getting goosebumps,” he said. “I felt like this great wave of relief and satisfaction, knowing that all the hard work had finally paid off.”
Photos | Kingfisher Restaurant, recognized by the Michelin guide
In the kitchen, he teaches me how to prepare his favorite dish on the menu, homemade egg noodles with a fluffy poached egg and black truffles.


Despite his success, there is still one person who makes him nervous in the kitchen.
“I find it difficult to cook Cambodian food in the kitchen with my mother,” he admits with a smile.
“If I make something that’s not very traditional, she’ll say, ‘We don’t do that,’” he laughed. “If I make a traditional salad and cut it like a restaurant would, she’ll say, ‘That’s not right. You’re supposed to cut it like that,’” he added.
While he is proud of all he has accomplished and is looking to the future, he said the journey his family took to get here is still with him.
“I think about it all the time, every day, I don’t forget what my parents did for me,” he said.
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