Born in Naples in 1974, Francesco Apreda started life attending business school until his family moved to Formia, on the Campania-Lazio border, when he was thirteen years old. The local culinary school was held in high regard, so Francesco enrolled despite never having cooked before. As he grew older, Francesco started working in pizza restaurants and butcheries until he was nineteen, when he gained a commis chef position at Hotel Hassler, in Rome. He rose through the ranks to become chef de partie, learning the fundamental skills needed to cook at a high level.

In 1995, Francesco’s old classmate Maurizio Morelli rang him and asked if he wanted to come and work in London. For the next five years, he worked in some of the cities top restaurants, including Le Gavroche, Ibla and Green Olive. But what Francesco enjoyed the most was discovering new international cuisines that he hadn’t encountered before. ‘I discovered Japanese food and Indian restaurants,’ he says. ‘I started eating different foods whenever I could – it was so inspiring!’

Back in the kitchen, Francesco learnt a great deal from Maurizio, one of the most celebrated Italian chefs in the UK at the time, and it wasn’t until 2001 that he decided to move on. Francesco was approached by Roberto E. Wirth, his former employer and the owner of Hotel Hassler, who had followed his progress as a young chef. Impressed with what he saw at Le Gavroche and at a couple of events in London, he asked him to work at his restaurant Cicerone in Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel. In Japan, Francesco learnt to appreciate the integrity and innate characteristics of each ingredient, as well as new cooking techniques, but he soon found that he was able to rediscover the value and flavours of Italian cuisine.