Luu Meng is the Cambodian celebrity chef and hotel entrepreneur. He was born in Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh but was compelled to move to a U.N.-run refugee camp in Thailand when he was three years old.
Meng's family moved back to Phnom Penh in the early 1980s, He began working at the Sofitel Cambodiana in 1993 as a trainee cook, then he was promoted to sous chef and executive chef.
Meng spent six months traveling throughout Cambodia to gather traditional recipes for the restaurant's cuisine, which he then presented utilizing farm-sourced products and contemporary cooking methods.
In 2012, French government honored Luu Meng with the Order of Agricultural Merit for "creating Cambodian nouvelle cuisine and bridging the gap to different culinary traditions".
The Malaysian business and lifestyle publications "Top 10 of Malaysia" and "Top 10 of Asia" presented Meng with the title of Asia's Top Chef in 2014. In 2016, he released the guidebook "Cambodia Sevensea's," which Meng and food critic Darren Gall co-wrote and contained recipes for coastal dishes from Kampot, Kep, Sihanoukville, and the islands.
