a year, it wasn't till last night that I sat down to dine with him. And it was such an enjoyable dinner for me.Of course, it was in essence to discuss business (we're engaging Luu Meng to cook up a storm for a charity event for the Red Cross) but of course, it being dinner and all, we got to talking about his life as a chef. Not that I was interviewing him or anything like that, I just found his story and the food well-worth writing about.
All the while that I have known Luu Meng, he always appeared to be a very humble and down-to-earth guy - one of the nicest Cambodians that I have had the pleasure of meeting. Even though his schedule is outrageously tight (what with him being Cambodia's ambassador for their Khmer cuisine, President of the Cambodian Hotel Association, Chef for a few restaurants in town and managing a few other hotels in Phnom Penh), he never declines you. He may be late, but he never turns you down.
We had dinner at one of the finest restaurant for Cambodian cuisine - Malis - which, appropriately, is owned by Luu Meng. Malis happens to also be one of my favourite restaurants in town - however, I wouldn't be considered one of the "quality" clients since my bill never exceeds USD30 each time! The quality clients, I heard, chalk up tabs amounting to USD600 - USD1,000 per table!
Anyway, the ordering of the menu was left in the good hands of the Chef himself. We started with Scallops and Cucumber salad and Sach Krark (Grilled Pork Sausage) with pickled vegetables. I felt all out of sorts that Luu Meng was serving me the food! Then we had the Khmer Soup with Smoked Fish and Bamboo Shoot and for mains, we had a taster menu of the Prahok Ktis (my favourite - fermented fish paste with minced pork), Fish Amok and Stir-Fried Eggplant with Garlic and Fish Sauce (another favourite) with bai sor (steamed white rice). For dessert, I had this absolute-haven of a pudding - Luu Meng told me it was an infusion of honey, ginger, milk and jasmine flower. Yes! Jasmine flower! The smell, the taste - I just cannot describe it! I had always loved the smell of jasmine flower, but to be tasting it too, was too good. In my excitement, I asked Luu Meng if I could throw in a few buds the next time I make dessert on my own. His response? - He laughed. The answer was no. It would be extremely bitter. To extract the taste from the jasmine flower, there's a long process of double-boiling it and creating and matching the right balance with ginger. It sounds all too complicated for me and my "easy-cooking" style.
I would have loved, loved, loved to take photos of the food that I was enjoying last night. But I was a little embarassed to whip out my camera in front of the Chef himself. Well, I could always go back again on my own to take them photos :)
Whilst Luu Meng is now in a position of over-seeing his business empire, he told me that he still loves cooking very much and once a month, he will still take his team out - to the markets, to discover new ingredients, to experiment new dishes and he will work in the kitchen with them and develop new menus. The market visits sometimes takes them as far as the farms over in Vietnam.
His love for cooking was the reason why he stopped working with the hotels, citing that Executive Chefs in the big hotels are more "paper chefs" these days. He still loves feeling, smelling and tasting the ingredients. Out of all the chains of hotels he has worked with (he named a few, now I don't remember all, but Sofitel stood out and also the fact that he had worked in Malaysia in JB too! - which explains why he is familiar with our "cencalok") it was his last posting in Siem Reap which he found most satisfying as he got to learn from a Michelin Star Chef. One of his tale recalled him being woken up at 3am in the morning by the Chef because he dreamt of a recipe that they must, must, must try out. So there they were, at 3am in the morning, experimenting in the kitchen.
He told me that he actually started out studying Hotel Management, but he heard the F&B students constantly being yelled at by the Chef and he found that very exciting (ok, go figure) and very soon, he switched his majors. He told me it was hard work. Extremely hard work. So when I asked him why he preservered, his answer was so simple, yet so spot-on. He said "there can be ten waitresses or waiters, but there can only be ONE chef." Bravo to that, Luu Meng!
I was also very shocked to learn that he's only 36 years old! Married, with two kids. Maybe the years of hard work had really aged him or it was just the way he carried himself - he had always seemed like "Uncle Luu Meng" to me (so glad I did not tell him that!!). Still, I really like him. The fact that he has achieved so much yet he has no airs about him. That is hard to find these days.
As I very nearly considered licking my dessert platter clean (which I didn't!) and finished the last of my Green Mango Shake, I sheepishly asked if I could take a photo with him and of him. As he always does - he obliged :)
Here's toasting Luu Meng and his passion for cooking!
Luu Meng and I :)
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