The short version is that our choice to serve both Cambodian and French food reflects a profound and personally-significant era in Cambodia's modern history.
The De Monteiros, Cambodian co-founders of The Elephant Walk, were raised under the French Protectorate in Cambodia. The colony of French Indochina, which included Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, was constituted from 1863-1953, with a brief World War II occupation by the Japanese.
Any visitor to Phnom Penh can easily see the French influence in the city's almost Parisian broad boulevards and magnificent 19th and early 20th century colonial architecture. This image, taken during the family's first post-Khmer Rouge visit in 1996, shows Kenthao and daughter Nadsa de Monteiro [now The Elephant Walk's executive chef - in an Elephant Walk t-shirt no less!] in the courtyard of Kenthao's parent's home of his childhood. French architectural sensibility is plainly evident.
Consequently, the De Monteiros, who were born in Phnom Penh in the 1920s and 1930s, were French-educated [their schools in Phnom Penh were administered in French] and their homelives were strongly influenced by French culture. In fact, The Elephant Walk's founding chef, Longteine de Monteiro, learned to cook French food before she learned Cambodian [more on that later in another post].
Comments