about Luu Meng/Almond Group

Once voted the Top Chef in all of Asia, Mr Luu Meng is Cambodia’s most celebrated chef. He is also considered an entrepreneur for his roles as partner in Thalias and CEO of  renowned hospitality company, Almond Group.

Coming from a family of chefs, he fell in love with cooking at an early age. His grandmother worked in the kitchen at the Royal Palace, and his mother owned a restaurant in Phnom Penh. “We always had good food at home,” he recalls. His mother’s cooking, especially her use of flavours and spices, influence him to this day.

By the time he graduated high school, Luu knew he wanted to be a chef. After ten formative years in some of the region’s finest restaurants, he returned to Cambodia and was quickly recruited into the kitchen of the Hotel Cambodiana where he worked hard, becoming Sous Chef within two years, a remarkable achievement.

Around this time, his long-standing aim to “rejuvenate traditional flavours, and fuse them with other influences” came to fruition with the founding of the Almond Group. “I wanted to create a living food culture, a Khmer cuisine that was relevant today and progressive, with an eye to the future,” he says.

Almond Group strives to be an ambassador for Cambodian cuisine and dynamic hospitality through its hotels and restaurants at home, together with exhibitions, demonstrations and personal appearances across the globe. Its continuing professional development training programme enables staff to make comfort and hospitality top priorities every time.