From Cambodia and France to Whiteville: How One Couple Revived a Historic Downtown Landmark

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) — From war-torn Cambodia and the streets of France to a small downtown in Whiteville, one couple’s journey spans continents, decades, and the unexpected transformation of a building that has stood since the 1940s.

Guillaume and Sokun Slama are the owners of The Chef and the Frog, a thriving restaurant breathing new life into a historic structure at 607 South Madison Street.

“This building was built I believe sometime in the 1940s and it started as a tire shop or tire parts store and evolved into a furniture store called Colliers,” said co-owner Guillaume Slama.

When the couple purchased the property, their vision was simple — turn it into a restaurant. But what they discovered beneath the surface told its own story.

“When we were digging through the concrete to build the bathrooms, we found all of these car parts like hub caps, leaf springs or brake handles from cars from before the war,” Guillaume said.

Worn down by time and neglect, the building took years of hard work and setbacks to restore. The Chef and the Frog officially opened on June 24th, 2016, marking a new chapter for both the structure and the couple behind it.

For Sokun Slama, the restaurant is more than a career — it’s the result of a life shaped by survival. Her journey began more than 9,200 miles away in Cambodia during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

“My dad was on a list to get killed,” she said. “We had to escape at night.”

Between 1975 and 1979, Sokun and her family fled through dangerous conditions to reach a refugee camp in Thailand before eventually being relocated to France. She didn’t speak the language when she arrived, but she eventually found her voice in the kitchen.

“I enjoy cooking,” Sokun said. “I just try to see what people are doing in different homes, and then I come up with my own spices and recipes.”

Sokun met Guillaume in 1995 at a café on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. What started as a chance encounter turned into marriage, a move to the United States, and eventually, restaurant ownership in Georgia before the late Jesse Fisher presented them with an opportunity to move to Columbus County.

“We had never heard of Whiteville,” Guillaume said. “But he told us it was close to the ocean, and we thought that could be a good thing.”

They built more than a restaurant — they built trust in a community, one plate at a time.

The menu at The Chef and the Frog blends Sokun’s Cambodian heritage with Guillaume’s French culinary influence.

“My chef is my wife,” Guillaume said. “She’ll take Asian flavors and mix them with French techniques. It’s something absolutely amazing.”

But for Sokun, food carries deeper meaning.

“I lost a brother from starvation when we were in Cambodia trying to run for our lives,” she said. “So, I just wish people would take food more seriously.”

What was once an abandoned tire shop is now a cornerstone of downtown Whiteville — and a symbol of renewal.

“Now the whole block is busy because of us,” Guillaume said. “It’s wonderful to know we may have saved not just this building, but possibly the downtown.”

The couple’s journey is now featured in Sokun’s new book, The Chef & The Frog. A book launch and the release of the spring & summer issue of 954 will be held Thursday, June 4th, at the restaurant which is located at 607 S. Madison Street in Whiteville.

In a place where history once sat forgotten, The Chef and the Frog has turned survival, love, and resilience into something shared — at the same table.