The Dorchester promotes Mario Perera to executive chef

The Dorchester hotel in London has promoted Mario Perera to executive chef with immediate effect.

Perera first joined the five-red-AA-star, 250-bedroom luxury hotel on Park Lane more than 18 years ago and most recently worked directly under his predecessor Stefan Trepp as executive sous chef. Trepp had held the role of executive chef since May 2019.

Sri Lankan-born Perera was part of the culinary team at the Taj Samudra in Colombo before he moved to London in 1995 to take up the role of commis chef at the Dorchester. He moved on after 15 years to be part of the reopening team for the Four Seasons Park Lane hotel as executive sous chef, returning to the same role at the Dorchester in 2017.

In his new position, Perera will assume responsibility for overseeing the brigade of more than 100 chefs within the Dorchester’s six kitchens serving the Grill, the Promenade, the bar, private dining and events, in-room dining and the Spatisserie at the Dorchester Spa.

Regional director UK and general manager at the Dorchester, Robert Whitfield, said: “We are so proud to have Mario at the culinary helm of the Dorchester. He has demonstrated such a passion for excellence and creativity during his years at the hotel, and I know he will succeed in taking our food and beverage into the next chapter as we look towards reopening this September.”

Perera added: “I am so honoured to be taking on this role. I had a dream of working for the Dorchester as a child, after seeing an advertisement in a catering magazine stating, ‘the Dorchester, the place to be and the place to work’. Over the past 18 years, this historic institution has become like a second home to me, and I have learnt so much. Preparing food for people is one of the most precious things you can do and I’m hugely excited for this next chapter in my life at the Dorchester.”