Taste of Cambodia and the Art of Culinary Exchange
From 10 to 13 September 2026, Rosewood Phnom Penh became a meeting point for chefs, bartenders, artists and diners as the third edition of Taste of Cambodia unfolded across the hotel. More than a conventional food festival, the four-day programme considered how Cambodia's culinary identity continues to develop: firmly connected to inherited recipes and local flavours, yet increasingly shaped by contemporary technique, regional exchange and a confident bar culture.
The setting suited that ambition. Occupying the upper floors of Vattanac Capital Tower, Rosewood Phnom Penh brought the festival into several distinct spaces, from the Art Gallery on Level 35 and the dining rooms of CUTS, Zhan Liang and Iza to Sora's cantilevered rooftop terrace. Each venue offered a different expression of hospitality, allowing the programme to move between Khmer cooking, French technique, Cantonese cuisine, Japanese craftsmanship, cocktails and visual art without losing sight of Cambodia as its centre.
The festival opened on 10 September with Food Meets Art, a dinner created by Chef Lyngouv Nguon of Brasserie Louis in collaboration with Cambodian artist Dina Chhan. Originally from Koh Kong Province, Nguon draws from recipes passed through his family, refining traditional Khmer dishes while retaining the flavours and character that give them their identity. His menu began with Plea Trey Cobia dressed with prahok emulsion, green oil and Rosewood-grown greens, followed by Samlor Mchu Bangkang Tonlé with Khmer herbs and crisp fried garlic. A duck-leg wrap brought together pork and lemongrass paste, sticky rice and honey sauce, while Mayura wagyu topside arrived with Khmer chimichurri, banana-flower purée and pepper elder. Nom lort with crushed ice, coconut and palm sugar provided a suitably Cambodian finish.
Cocktails accompanied each course, moving from the Rosewood Basil Fizz and a Khmer G&T to a Lemongrass Daiquiri, the whisky-led Bold Fashion, and a Purple Lady made with purple sweet potato, palm sugar, and coconut foam. Chhan's work added another narrative layer to the evening. Based in Phnom Penh and exhibited internationally, the artist often explores resilience, social change and the energy of contemporary Asia. Presented within the gallery, the dinner put food, drink and art in conversation, treating each as a way to preserve memory while interpreting Cambodia in the present.
Over the next two days, the festival expanded its scope through a series of guest-chef collaborations. At CUTS, Chef Thierry Drapeau, Executive Chef of Signature Bangkok, introduced his approach to what he calls Cuisine of the Soil. At his Bangkok restaurant, the philosophy has evolved into Floral Cuisine, using edible flowers and herbs to connect dishes with landscape, season and place. His three-course lunch moved from prawns and caviar with Savoy cabbage, pickled celeriac and kombu to wagyu beef accompanied by amaranth soufflé, beetroot gnocchi and umeboshi plum. Candied blueberry closed the meal with cucumber espuma, sudachi granita and green shiso sorbet. The progression expressed Drapeau's botanical sensibility through acidity, savoury depth and restrained colour, without allowing decoration to overtake flavour.
Zhan Liang, meanwhile, welcomed Chef Bill Feng of the one-Michelin-starred Lingnan House. With more than two decades of Cantonese culinary experience, the Guangzhou chef joined the restaurant for set dinners on 11 and 12 September. The meal made the collaboration visible dish by dish. Zhan Liang contributed roasted pork belly, followed by Lingnan House with pickled tomato in plum sauce, beef shin with pistachios and double-boiled fish maw soup. Pan-fried Japanese A4 wagyu with fresh Sichuan pepper and steamed green lobster with minced yellow chilli carried Feng's menu into richer territory. Meanwhile, Zhan Liang returned with tiger grouper in garlic sauce and fried crisp rice with shrimp and Chinese sausage. Seasonal vegetables poached in chicken broth with goji berries and a dessert of honey-glazed pineapple with crisp walnuts completed a menu that allowed two interpretations of contemporary Chinese cuisine to retain their individual signatures.
Cocktails played an equally important role in the festival. On 11 and 12 September, Sora opened its rooftop to seven guest bars from across Cambodia, joined by Elysian Bar from Budapest. Sora entered the 2026 extended Asia's 50 Best Bars list at No. 100, following its No. 65 debut and the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award in 2025. Its festival programme used that regional visibility to direct attention towards Cambodia's wider cocktail community, presenting different styles and flavour profiles from bars across the country rather than treating Phnom Penh's scene in isolation.
Elysian contributed a European perspective built around seasonal ingredients, house fermentation, zero-waste methods and a sustainability-led approach. Against the city skyline, the two evenings showed how Cambodia's bar culture is becoming more assured and diverse, with local bartenders participating in an increasingly connected international conversation while developing identities of their own.
Iza turned to Japanese culinary ritual on 12 September with a tuna-cutting experience led by Chef Teerapat Kaewphirom. The ceremony offered a close look at the precision required to break down one of Japanese cuisine's most prized ingredients, before the fish appeared as maguro yukke and in the chef's selection of sashimi and sushi. The menu then shifted towards warmer, richer dishes: wagyu sukiyaki soup with somen noodles, caramelised onion, shiitake mushroom and leek, followed by roasted bone marrow with grilled wagyu, uni, ikura and miso butter, served with wagyu-fat garlic rice. Coconut jelly and milk-custard dango ended the dinner. In a programme rich with collaborations, the experience introduced a focused form of theatre: technique performed not merely for spectacle, but to explain craftsmanship and respect for produce.
The same evening also carried a charitable purpose. The IBC Annual Ball, The Soirée, gathered six chefs for a 12-hands dinner in Salon 1 on Level 36. Thierry Drapeau and Bill Feng were joined by Sothea Seng, Kimsan Pol, Navy Chhem and Reaksmey In, bringing together culinary talent from Cambodia, Bangkok and China on one menu. Proceeds supported Il Nodo Cambodia, an organisation working with vulnerable children, young people and women through education, vocational training, healthcare and community development. It gave the festival's language of collaboration a tangible social dimension, linking an evening of gastronomy with longer-term work in the community.
Taste of Cambodia concluded on 13 September at Brasserie Louis, where Chef Kimsan Pol of The Embassy in Siem Reap joined the hotel's team for Sunday brunch. Known for preserving and reinterpreting Cambodian culinary traditions, Pol brought the breadth of Khmer flavours to a generous spread that included fresh seafood, a premium carving station and a live pastry counter by Chef Reaksmey, alongside made-to-order French favourites and Khmer classics. Live entertainment from the Big Side Band gave the final event a celebratory rhythm, closing four days of considered dinners and collaborations on a more relaxed note.
Across its third edition, Taste of Cambodia presented culinary culture as something living rather than fixed. Family recipes stood beside floral fine dining, Cantonese expertise, Japanese knife work and modern cocktail techniques; Cambodian chefs and bartenders shared the programme with international guests without becoming secondary to them. The result was a portrait of a dining scene increasingly comfortable with exchange, but still attentive to the ingredients, memories and creative voices that make it distinctly Cambodian.
Rosewood Phnom Penh
Tel: +855 23 936 888
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosewoodphnompenh/
Email: phnompenh@rosewoodhotels.com
Location: Vattanac Capital Tower, 66 Monivong Boulevard, Sangkat Wat Phnom, Khan Daun Penh, 120211, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Credits
Article: Wariya Intreyonk
Photos: Wariya Intreyonk and courtesy
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