Cambodian Chef Wins Culinary World Cup in Paris
Held between September 11th and 14th, the inaugural Private Chef World Cup (PCWC2025) competition attracted chefs from around the world. The location, Village International de la Gastronomie, an annual food festival held in Paris, in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower.
The festival celebrates French and global culinary traditions, bringing together chefs and artisans from the French regions and many other countries to showcase their food, drinks, and culture. In its ninth year, the annual event has continued to expand, now conducted over 6,000 square meters, with participants from over sixty countries and attendance in excess of 40,00 people.
The World Cup competition featured international chefs creating menus under the theme of “Extending Summer”.
Each chef was given one hour to transform the same ingredients: French meats, salmon, black garlic, and olive oil, into a three-course meal. Cooking was performed on a barbecue, and dishes were judged on flavour, presentation, and originality.
Previously, the exhibition has been all about highlighting the best of European culinary tradition, and many expected this competition to do the same. Instead, it was a Cambodian chef who took home the trophy.
Chef Sopheak Sao from Cambodia won the title after creating an appetiser, a barbecue-style meat dish, and a dessert, with such imagination, innovation, and skill as to win over the judges.
- Winner: Chef Sopheak Sao, Executive Chef, Malis Siem Reap, Cambodia.
- Menu:
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- Appetizer: Grilled watermelon, fish sauce, and dried fish.
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- Main Course: Beef steak with Khmer aromatics and prahok–red wine sauce
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- Dessert: A creative “Egg in Its Nest” panna cotta featuring a coconut & lemongrass jelly with passion fruit coulis, served with a dramatic liquid nitrogen mist.
Sopheak said of his menu: “I wanted to show how Cambodian flavours could meet French traditions without losing their soul.” The jury wholeheartedly agreed.
This is a proud moment for Cambodia, for its chefs and the culinary industry here. It lights a torch for the very bright future of modern Cambodian cuisine. It demonstrates the endless possibilities when, in skilled hands, classic technique meets Cambodian culinary traditions.
For several years, I have known and followed the career of this brilliant young chef, worked with him on food and wine pairing events, and have just been very happy and proud to call him a good friend. I also know something about his humble beginnings and his incredible journey all the way up to the finest kitchens in Cambodia and beyond. I recognize that the future of Cambodian fine dining could not be in more accomplished or more exciting hands.
Darren Gall
