With experience gained from time spent working in some of the most celebrated hotels in the Mont Blanc region of his native Italy, Gian Franco soon found his niche in restaurant management. Punctuated by a brief interlude in Scotland, Gian Franco quickly found himself in training at Genova’s famed ‘Zeffirino 1939’ to lead the opening of Hong Kong’s own acclaimed restaurant of the same name.

Opening the door on a new chapter in his career, qualified sommelier Gian Franco was appointed as Restaurant Manager to one of
Asia’s most legendary, multi
award's winning Italian restaurants
- Angelini’s at the Shangri-La Bangkok.

Making full use of the platform that Joia provides to flex his creative muscle and showcase his flair for innovation, Executive Chef Alessandro Angelini has continued to wow with the same chic and cosmopolitan cuisine that his name became synonymous with at the ‘sexylicious’ Italian restaurant whose kitchen he headed prior to arriving in Hong Kong.

With eighteen years in the industry though, Chef Angelini is no stranger to ‘A’ list restaurants; his career has already seen him criss-cross the globe from Venice to London to Los Angeles – where he frequently cooked for Hollywood celebrity names.