Joannès
Joannès Rivière was born and raised near Roanne, a small French town in the Loire, a region famous for its gastronomy. Joannès obsession with seasonality and farm-to-table eating began early, when he worked at the family restaurant run by his father, who also grew vegetables for the renowned Michelin three-star restaurant, La Maison Troisgros. After graduating from cooking school in France, Joannès worked as a pastry chef in the US for two years and learned an impressive amount of American slang.
In 2003 he first came to Cambodia as a volunteer cooking teacher for the Sala Bai Hotel School in Siem Reap, where he wrote the school’s cookbook, Cambodian Cooking. Before opening Cuisine Wat Damnak, Joannès spent five years as the executive chef at Siem Reap’s famed Hotel de la Paix. In Cambodia he also met his partner Carole Salmon, with whom he originally created Cuisine Wat Damnak. Fluent in Khmer, the couple have embraced their adopted country, its culture and its food. Their hard work has been rewarded with critical acclaim, and the restaurant was named one of Asia’s 50 best restaurants.
VENGCHHAY (cHAI)
Nguon Venchhay is a Co-owner and Partner at Cuisine Wat Damnak, the globally-renowned restaurant recognized as the first Cambodian establishment on the official ‘Asia’s 50 Best’ list. Venchhay is instrumental in leading the operations across the restaurant’s locations in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, driving its philosophy of world-class, seasonal Cambodian gastronomy.
Born in 1982 in Battambang, Northwestern Cambodia, Venchhay began his hospitality career in Siem Reap after high school. His talent was quickly recognized, leading him to be handpicked for the prestigious opening team of the luxurious Hotel De La Paix in 2005, alongside future partner Chef Joannès Rivière.
By 2007, as Assistant Manager at the iconic Meric Restaurant, Venchhay’s exceptional skills in natural hospitality earned him an advantageous career opportunity in Singapore.
Driven by a commitment to excellence, he pursued an Advanced Diploma in Hotel Management from the accredited Boston Business School while perfecting his English at the esteemed British Council Singapore, graduating in 2009.
Venchhay’s subsequent decade-long career is marked by vast international experience, having successfully managed operations for:
- A range of international five-star hotels across Cambodia.
- An elite members-only club in Singapore.
- A luxury island resort in Fiji.
- The highly distinguished Casino Integrated Resort in Macau.
He reconnected with Joannès upon his return to Cambodia and officially became a full partner in Cuisine Wat Damnak in 2019, bringing his decade of international operational and leadership expertise back to Cambodian soil to elevate one of the country’s most celebrated culinary ventures.