Sandro Gamba & Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai Pudong

Born in France, Sandro Gamba entered Lycée/P de Sarreguemines in 1984 and graduated CAP de cuisine in 1988.  He then went to apprentice under Chef Gaston Lenôtre and his 2-star Le Pre-Catelan “Lenôtre” in Paris.  In 1989, he moved down to Provence to work under Great Chef Roger Vergé at Le Moulin de Mougins as chef de partie.  In 1990, he moved back to Paris as chef de partie at Le Jamin Joël Robuchon for two years, before going back south in 1993 as sous chef under Great Chef Alain Ducasse at Le Louis XV in Monaco, Monte Carlo. In January 1995, he accepted his first position as chef de cuisine at Relais & Chateaux La Cabto d’Or in Baux-de- Provence, France.

In 1998, 10 years after graduating, he immigrated to the United States where he was appointed as executive chef of the only 5-star / 5-diamond hotel in Washington DC, the Lespinasse Restaurant, in the St. Regis Washington.

In March 2000, he became the pre-opening executive chef for the new flagship Hyatt Hotel in Chicago, and the NoMI Restaurant.  The Great Chefs team showed up a year later in 2001 to tape Chef Sandro Gamba at NoMI for the Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs of America television series.

Five years later in 2006, he accepted the position again as opening executive chef, this time for the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake, California, where he stayed almost two years before joining the Sofitel Hotels in 2008 as corporate chef in Paris.  Two years later in 2010, he was brought together again with famous designer Tony Chi (NoMI, Chicago), as Food and Beverage Director of the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland.  The following year in 2012, he was appointed as executive chef of the Emirates Palace and all of their 16 outlets in Abu Dhabi. In 2014, they added to those responsibilities by making him executive chef of their Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai, China as well as the Palace.