From Cambodia To Dorset
George Norbert-Munns founded Dorset-based Stony Groves to share exceptional ingredients, beginning with Cambodian Kampot pepper and expanding into gourmet salts and blends, earning Great Taste recognition and prestigious culinary customers.
E xceptional ingredients often have a story to tell, and George Norbert-Munns has built Stony Groves around the pleasure of discovering and sharing them. His Dorset-based business brings together a love of food, travel and provenance, with Cambodian Kampot pepper at its heart. For Taste London, his journey offers a reminder that culinary inspiration can begin with something as familiar as seasoning supper.
Having spent almost a decade living and working in Phnom Penh, George brings a personal connection to Cambodia and an appreciation of the experiences that surround food: choosing ingredients, cooking with them and gathering people around the table. That thoughtful approach gives Stony Groves its character, while his willingness to experiment has produced distinctive creations such as Oak-Smoked Kampot Pepper.
Great Taste recognition, including three stars for the Rockfish Spice Blend, reflects the quality of the collection. Yet equally engaging is the instinct behind it: a founder who noticed that ordinary pepper was failing to deliver flavour and decided to pursue something better.
We admire George’s curiosity, his respect for an ingredient’s origins and the family traditions that continue to influence his cooking. In this interview, he shares the conversations, discoveries and everyday pleasures that have shaped Stony Groves—and explains why exceptional flavour deserves a place in every kitchen.
Highlights
- Founder and operator of Dorset-based Stony Groves.
- Previously co-founded and operated Bassac Lane and Street 240 destinations in Phnom Penh.
- Spent almost a decade living and working in Cambodia’s capital.
- A conversation while cooking beef bourguignon revived his pepper business idea in 2020.
- Kampot pepper became the starting point for a wider gourmet collection.
- Won four one-star Great Taste awards in 2021.
- Rockfish Spice Blend received a three-star Great Taste award.
- Family recipes and ingredient provenance continue to influence his approach.
Stony Groves grew out of your passion for food, travel and discovering exceptional ingredients. What first inspired you to turn that passion into a business?
I was actually going to set this business up almost 20 years ago but my brother and I got heavily involved in F&B in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh and the pepper business sadly got left behind. Fast forward to 2020 after the pandemic had pretty much blown over and I was running numbers on a few ideas. While cooking supper one evening I was cracking vast amounts of very basic black pepper into a beef bourguignon complaining to my wife that the pepper had no flavour. It was then in that moment that it came to me. I said to my wife, ‘what about the pepper’ to which she said, ‘you should do the pepper’. And just likthat, it was on.
You spent almost a decade living and working in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. How did that experience change the way you think about food, ingredients and cooking?
I’m not sure it changed the way I think about food, more so I think it’s further developed my love of the experience which food gives you. From where the ingredients come from and who you buy them from to what you do with the ingredients and then who you share those plate of food with, that’s the whole experience.
Kampot pepper became the starting point for Stony Groves. What was it about this particular pepper that made you believe it deserved to be introduced to a wider audience in Britain?
Methods to produce Kampot pepper are passed down from generation to generation and the rules and regulations are very stringent, failing to follow them can see you in very hot water and potentially prison time. Furthermore, once you’ve tasted Kampot pepper, you’ll never go back.
Kampot pepper has a fascinating history and is produced in a very specific region of Cambodia. How important is the story and provenance behind an ingredient when you introduce it to your customers?
The story and provenance behind every ingredient we take onboard is imperative.
You have developed products such as Salted Fresh Kampot Pepper and Oak-Smoked Kampot Pepper. What inspires you to experiment with an ingredient that already has such a strong identity?
To be honest, when it came to the Oak-Smoked Kampot Pepper it was sort of by chance. I was smoking some salt one day and I just thought, why not, so I smoked some pepper too. And the result, sensational.
Your childhood memories of cooking with your mother and grandparents have clearly influenced your relationship with food. Are there particular family dishes, memories or traditions that still inspire your cooking today?
There are loads of dishes from my childhood which I cook for my children today. Things like – Nicky Fisher’s Schnitzel and Sasa’s Chicken. The chocolate sauce I make for the children’s pancakes and baking recipes come from my mother most of which were probably her mother’s.
Stony Groves has grown from its original focus on Kampot pepper into a wider collection of gourmet salts, spices, blends and cooking products. What has been the biggest turning point in the company’s journey so far?
Back in 2021 we won four 1-star awards at the Guild of Fine Food, Great Taste Awards. Those awards gained us trust within the industry and opened new doors to both retail and trade customers. This year we won one 3-star award, two 2-star awards and two 1-star awards so we’re super excited about the doors which they are helping to open.
Read Editor’s Note for Stony Grove.
