Cooking up his next big
“ It ’ s the most demanding city I ’ ve ever worked in ,” says SandrO Gamba . That says something about Shanghai , especially coming from a chef who has lived on four continents and trained under Michelin-starred legends .
The executive chef of the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai Pudong is comfortable with those demands , and he is adapting to the speed at which the city moves . Shanghai ’ s customers , voracious for new experiences , bore quickly and are never without their camera phones , ready to snap and post an attractive plate . “ They are mini-journalists ,” Gamba says . It has upped his game a little in terms of presentation , he says , but at one of the top hotels in a city of 24 million people , the pressure is already very , very high .
Gamba , a Frenchman by birth , started cooking when he was 14 . He burnished his skills and reputation with Joel Robuchon in Paris and Alain Ducasse in Monaco . Now in his mid-40s , his first passion has always been to develop himself as a chef : “ You can work in the business for 50 , 60 years , and always grow and always do the same job , but differently .”
That passion played out as he moved to executive chef roles at Lespinasse at the St . Regis in Washington , D . C ., and to the Park Hyatt Chicago at NoMI , whose reputation he built into one of the best hotel restaurants in the world , and then to the Four Seasons Westlake Village in California . He rose into corporate roles for the Sofitel brand , where he supervised 200 chefs globally , and for the InterContinental . At the Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi , an opulent Kempinski hotel , he ran more than a dozen move
Chef Sandro Gamba is an ambassador to a global audience in Shanghai .
by BarBara Bohn , managing editor
restaurants , cafés and lounges . And while appreciation for fine food is universal , he has seen how it plays out on each continent .
In America , he says , it ’ s about relationship : You find the best , most local sources for food , and you know the names of its producers . Chefs and customers are friends ; so are chefs and the media , which likes to elevate celebrities .
“ In the Middle East , it ’ s completely different ,” Gamba says . “ For sourcing , you can buy whatever you want , but it ’ s coming from all over the world by airplane .” And while one or two customers are happy to be friends , and fine food is appreciated , people don ’ t get carried away .
China , though : “ China is a completely different monster ,” Gamba says with a
52 HOTELS April 2016 www . hotelsmag . com