Cambodia’s Song Saa Private Island: couple behind luxury resort talk about sustainability and plans for Siem Reap
- Over lunch at Louise in Central, Rory Hunter and Melita Koulmandas Hunter, the Hong Kong-based couple behind Song Saa Private Island resort, talk about environmental conservation and empowering the local community
Passion with a purpose is what defines successful entrepreneurs.
We try to source locally as much as possible – the ceramics that we serve food upon were designed and made for Song Saa, and inspired by Cambodian culture
I first met Rory Hunter and Melita Koulmandas Hunter nearly a decade ago when they were completing a resort on the twin islands of Song Saa in Koh Rong, near the Cambodian beach town of Sihanoukville. Song Saa Private Island was a project born out of the Australian couple’s love for Cambodia – their adopted son Naryth, now 11, is from the area.
On a sunny Wednesday, I join them in the downstairs bar of Louise – Jia Group’s latest collaboration with Singapore-based French chef Julien Royer whose eatery Odette currently tops Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.
The two-storey restaurant’s bright bistro vibe comes courtesy of Hong Kong’s design wunderkind André Fu. A long bar faces a casual room with wicker and bentwood chairs leading to a leafy patio spilling out to the renovated former Police Married Quarters (PMQ). At the far end is a colour-saturated private dining room outfitted with a green fireplace mantel, a back wall depicting a jungle landscape and a tropical-patterned rug.
A Parsons School of Design-trained designer, Melita is immediately struck by the warmth and elegance of Fu’s creative flourishes. “It’s a beautiful restaurant and shows Andre’s incredible diversity,” she says.
We head upstairs to the dining room, stopping to admire a row of banquet seating along one wall. Decked out like a swanky living room, Louise’s combination of sofas and armchairs makes the space feel warm and inviting.
We start with a pretty tartine amuse bouche featuring zucchini and olive tapenade. The thin bread provides just the right amount of crunch while the fresh cherry tomatoes offer an acidic pucker complementing the sourdough.
“We have two outlets at Song Saa plus 11 private destination dining venues,” notes Melita. “We try to source locally as much as possible – the ceramics that we serve food upon were designed and made for Song Saa, and inspired by Cambodian culture. As we are in a marine conservation zone, one of our dishes is line-caught sea bass with lotus stem, local basil and coconut.”