Marco Di Pasquale is joining the Grand Millennium Al Wahda as the restaurant manager for the hotel’s Italian restaurant Porto Bello.

A highly qualified sommelier Di Pasquale studied his craft with the Georgio Locatelli owned award-winning Zafferano restaurant in the heart of Knightsbridge London. From here he spent time in Alain Ducasse’s Monte’s and Che before joining Gordon Ramsey at Claridge’s.

Di Pasquale has also spent time in Sydney where he developed his skills in the selection and stocking of wines managing all aspects of drink service and wine sales.

However his biggest achievement to date has been the opening of the Imago restaurant at the Hassler Hotel in Rome, where the team gained Michelin star within two years of opening. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes used this 5-star hotel as their chosen venue for the days before their wedding in Italy.

'With his wide-ranging experience in the successful running of restaurants, Marco is already proving to be an asset for the hotel and we fully anticipate that Porto Bello will do very well under his command,' said general manager Michael Sorgenfrey.-TradeArabia News Service