Friends-International Blog

Situated on Street 174 in Phnom Penh (very close to Romdeng restaurant!) the Friends headquarters in Cambodia is the administrative and strategic heart of the organization. Behind the colorful front door, painted by students from Mith Samlanh, and across three floors the building houses the multinational international support teams who are essential to the success [...]

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The wait is almost over… all the renovation,restoration, preparation and perspiration over the last few months is about to come to fruition… Marum is nearly ready for business! Marum is the new TREE Alliance training restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia, following in the footsteps of renowned and established restaurants such as Friends, Romdeng, Makphet and [...]

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We are delighted to announce the launch of a new website for the TREE project, a global initiative from Friends which not only will get disadvantaged young people into training and on into employment in a fast-growing international market, but will provide a quality experience for customers also. Standing for Training Restaurants for Employment and [...]

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In this edition of ‘A Day In The Life’ we are introduced to Nina, cooking teacher at Mith Samlanh. My name is Nina and I have been teaching the level 1 cooking vocational training class for the past seven years. I usually arrive at Mith Samlanh at 7.30am and begin my day by checking that [...]

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We were recently delighted to welcome two special guests on a flying visit to the Phnom Penh training kitchens at ‘Friends the Restaurant’ and ‘Romdeng’. Lim Sien Chian, (Demi Chef) and Khoo Jit Yong (restaurant manager) came to us from the InterContinental Hotel in Singapore, through the Project Hammer volunteer initiative. This was an amazing [...]

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Fond of Friends’ food? Like to ruminate in Romdeng or masticate in Makphet? Love a snack and a coffee in Cafe Mith Samlanh? Then please help us to a place amongst Asia’s top restaurants by voting for us in this year’s Miele Guide. In 2009-2010 the Miele Guide recognised our training restaurant Makphet in Vientiane, [...]

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On a balmy Monday afternoon, February 28th, Mith Samlanh proudly launched its NFE (Non Formal Education) Tool Box educational kit at Romdeng Restaurant in Phnom Penh. The Tool Box is a tool for primary school teachers, presenting activities in 3 fields: literacy, mathematics and science. The project was created by Mith Samlanh, in collaboration with [...]

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Friends-International will be celebrating its 15 year anniversary with a special exhibition of children’s art and a cocktail party at Romdeng in Phnom Penh. The exhibition will feature a selection of wonderful artworks by Mith Samlanh students, from the past 15 years. While you enjoy the art, you can also enjoy another of our students’ [...]

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Friends-International’s cookbook From Spiders to Water Lilies, Creative Cambodian Cooking  with Friends won two awards at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, held in Paris on July 1. The first award was for ‘Best Asian Cuisine Book’, chosen as the winner out of 22 other countries. This was the first time a book from Cambodia has [...]

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